idol or master of the house
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary
BAAL-MEON.A city of Moah assigned to Reuhen. The name occurs in Num_32:38 as Baal-meon, but in Jos_13:17 as Beth-baal-meon; both forms being found also on the Moahite Stone; cf. Eze_25:9, 1Ch_5:8; also Beth-meon of Jer_48:23. It is to be identified with the modern Main, about 5 miles S.W. of Medeba.
G. L. Robinson.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
bā?al-mē?on בּעל מעון, ba‛al me‛ōn; Βεελμεών, Beelmeō̇ň: A town built by the children of Reuben along with Nebo, ?their names being changed? (Num_32:38), identical with Beon of Num_32:3. As Beth-baal-meon it was given by Moses to the tribe of Reuben (Jos_13:17). Mesha names it as fortified by him (MS, L. 9). It appears in Jer_48:23 as Beth-meon, one of the cities of Moab. Eusebius, Onomasticon speaks of it as a large village near the hot springs, i.e. Callirrhoe, in Wādy Zerḳā Ma‛in, 9 miles from Heshbon. This points to the ruined site of Ma‛ı̄n, about 4 miles Southwest of Madeba. The ruins now visible however are not older than Roman times.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Ba?al-Me?on (Num_32:38; 1Ch_5:8; otherwise Beth-Meon, Jer_48:23, and Beth-Baal-Meon, Jos_13:17), a town in the tribe of Reuben beyond the Jordan, but which was in the possession of the Moabites in the time of Ezekiel (Eze_25:9). At the distance of two miles south-east of Heshbon, Burckhardt found the ruins of a place called Myoun, or (as Dr. Robinson corrects it) M?i′n, which is doubtless the same.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.
Baal-meon
(Hebrews Ba'al Miieon/,בִּעִל מְעוֹן, lord of dwelling; Sept. ἡ Βεελμεών, but in Chron. Βεελμαών v. r. Βεελμασσών, and in Ezekiel omits; otherwise BETH-MEON, Jer_48:23, and BETH-BAALMEON, Jos_13:17), a town in the tribe of Reuben beyond the Jordan, or at least one of the towns which were built by the Reubenites (Num_32:38), and to which they gave other names. Possibly the Beth- (q.v.), which is added to the name in its mention elsewhere, and which sometimes superseded the Baal- (q.v.) of the original name, is one of the changes referred to. SEE BAALIM.' It is also named in 1Ch_5:8, and on each occasion with Nebo. In the time of Ezekiel it was in the possession of the Moabites, and under that prosperous dominion had evidently become a place of distinction, being noticed as one of the cities which are the glory of the country (Eze_25:9). In the days of Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast. s.v. Βεελμαούς, Balmen) it was still a very large village called Balmano, 9 miles distant from Heshbon (Ι᾿έβους, Esbus), near the mountain of the hot springs, and reputed to be the native place of Elisha. At the distance of two miles south-east of Heshbon, Burckhardt (2. 624) found the ruins of a place called Myoun, or (as Dr. Robinson [Researches, 3, Append. p. 170] corrects it) Main, which is doubtless the same; so Schwarz, Main (Palest. p. 227). In Num_32:3, apparently the same place is called BEON, perhaps by an error of the copyists or by contraction.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.