Deuteronomy 3:29

So we abode in the valley over against Bethpeor.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(29) So we abode in the valley over against Beth-peor.—Moses’ burial-place, as appears by Deuteronomy 34:6. It is a significant finishing touch to the scene described above. This verse also concludes the recapitulation of Israel’s journey from Horeb (Deuteronomy 1:6) to the banks of Jordan, with which this first discourse of Moses begins. The remainder, contained in Deut. Iv., is the practical part of the discourse, which now begins.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:21-29 Moses encouraged Joshua, who was to succeed him. Thus the aged and experienced in the service of God, should do all they can to strengthen the hands of those who are young, and setting out in religion. Consider what God has done, what God has promised. If God be for us, who can be against us, so as to prevail? We reproach our Leader if we follow him trembling. Moses prayed, that, if it were God's will, he might go before Israel, over Jordan into Canaan. We should never allow any desires in our hearts, which we cannot in faith offer up to God by prayer. God's answer to this prayer had a mixture of mercy and judgment. God sees it good to deny many things we desire. He may accept our prayers, yet not grant us the very things we pray for. It God does not by his providence give us what we desire, yet if by his grace he makes us content without, it comes to much the same. Let it suffice thee to have God for thy Father, and heaven for thy portion, though thou hast not every thing thou wouldst have in the world. God promised Moses a sight of Canaan from the top of Pisgah. Though he should not have the possession of it, he should have the prospect of it. Even great believers, in this present state, see heaven but at a distance. God provided him a successor. It is a comfort to the friends of the church of Christ, to see God's work likely to be carried on by others, when they are silent in the dust. And if we have the earnest and prospect of heaven, let these suffice us; let us submit to the Lord's will, and speak no more to Him of matters which he sees good to refuse us.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Beth-peor, i. e., the house of Peor, no doubt derived its name from a temple of the Moabite god Peor which was there situated. It was no doubt near to Mount Peor Numbers 23:28, and also to the valley of the Jordan perhaps in the Wady Heshban.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

26. speak no more unto me of this matter—that is, My decree is unalterable.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The house or temple of Peor, or of Baal-Peor, of which see Numbers 25:3, whence this place or city had its name.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

So we abode in the valley over against Bethpeor. In the plains of Moab, over against a temple built for Baalpeor upon a mountain, so called from that idol, or that idol from the mountain; this is the valley where Moses was buried, Deuteronomy 34:6.

Geneva Study Bible

So we abode in the valley over against Bethpeor.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

29. the valley over against Beth-peor] Heb. the gai = hollow, glen, ravine, inapplicable to the Jordan plain; rather one of the glens descending to this from the Moab-plateau. That suits the probable meaning of Pe‘or, gap or cleft (Ar. fughrah, ‘a river-mouth’; cp. the ‘other Phogor’ of Euseb. and Jer. near Bethlehem, the modern Kh. Fâghûr, PEF Map Sh. xvii.). Beth-Pe‘or abbrev. from Beth-Ba‘al-Pe‘or, shrine of the B. of P. (cp. Deuteronomy 4:3). This gai of Israel’s encampment, where also Moses was buried (Deuteronomy 34:6), unnamed, but defined as over against Beth-pe‘or (so too Deuteronomy 4:46), is also nameless in E, Numbers 21:20, defined as in the region of Moab, and these words are added, headland of the Pisgah that looks upon the Yeshîmon; and Numbers 23:28 gives a headland of Pe‘or that looks out upon the Yeshîmon; while Beth-Pe‘or is placed by P, Joshua 13:20, with the slopes of the Pisgah and Beth-Yeshimôth. Again Euseb. and Jer. describe Beth-phogor as near Mt Phogor opposite Jericho 6 Roman miles above Livias, the mod. Tell er-Rameh, on the Jordan plain. These data suit the identification of the gai with the W. ‘Uyûn Musa, on the N. of the Nebo or Pisgah headland (see on Deuteronomy 3:17). So Dillm., G. A. Smith (HGHL, 564) and G. B. Gray (Numbers 21:20). Further, Musil (Moab, 344 f., 348) suggests for the headland of Pe‘or the headland to the N. of W. ‘Uyûn Musa, and for Beth-Pe‘or the ruins and shrine esh-Sheikh Jâyel on one of the steps of that headland, ‘thence one gets the best view of the lower slopes and of the Jordan valley.’ The stream of the wady between these two headlands, before it reaches the Dead Sea, passes the ruins es-Sueimeh, in which there is a possible echo of Yeshimon, and Yeshimôth; and the bare district about this lies in full view of both headlands. There is, therefore, no need to read Pisgah for Pe‘or in Numbers 23:28 on the basis of Numbers 21:20. On the whole the above identification of the Gai with the W. ‘Uyun Musa is preferable to that with the next wâdy to the N., the W. Hesbân (Driver). Conder’s proposal for Beth-Pe‘or (Heth and Moab, 146), the headland by ‘Ain el Minyeh, would remove the Gai too far south.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 29. - In the valley over against Beth-peor; i.e. in the plains of Moab (Arboth Moab, Numbers 22:1; cf. Deuteronomy 4:46; Deuteronomy 34:6). Beth-pe'or, i.e. the house or temple of Pe'or, the Moabitish Baah There was a hill Pe'or, in the Abarim range, near to which this town was; it was opposite to Jericho, six Roman miles north of Libias (Eusebius); it was given to the tribe of Reuben (Joshua 13:20). In passing from the historical recapitulation, Moses indicates precisely the locality in which they were when this address was delivered.



Deuteronomy 3:29

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"So we abode in the valley over against Beth-peor," i.e., in the Arboth Moab (Numbers 22:1), sc., where we still are. The pret. ונּשׁב is used, because Moses fixes his eye upon the past, and looks back upon the events already described in Numbers 28-34 as having taken place there. On Beth-Peor, see at Numbers 23:28.