("owner of an habitation".) Reuben in occupying it along with Nebo (Num_32:38) changed the names, probably for the idol name Baal substituting Beth Meon. Ezekiel (Eze_25:9) calls it a city on Moab's frontiers, and with Beth-jeshimoth and Kiriathaim, "the glory of the country." The reputed birthplace of Elisha. Jerome describes it as a very large village, nine miles from Heshbon. The famous Moabite stone of Dibon mentions that as Omri made Medeba a military center for opposing Moab, so Mesha occupied Baal Meon as his center for assailing Israel; "I Mesha, son of Kamos (Chemosh), fortified Baal Meon, and I besieged and took Kiriathaim and Nebo," etc.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.