🔼The name Beor: Summary
- Meaning
- A Burning, A Consuming
- Etymology
- From the verb בער (ba'ar), to consume or clean out.
🔼The name Beor in the Bible
The name Beor is applied twice in the Bible:
- First as the name of the father of Bela, the first king of Edom (Genesis 36:32), which lies due south of the Salt Sea.
- Secondly as the father of Balaam of Pethor (Numbers 22:5; spelled בער in Numbers 24:3 and 24:15). The apostle Peter calls this man Βοσορ (Bosor; 2 Peter 2:15).
Balaam's father Beor was from Pethor, which is situated in Aram-naharaim (Deuteronomy 23:4), meaning Aram of the Two Rivers. This Aram of the Two Rivers is traditionally interpreted to be Mesopotamia, but recent research suggests that this Aram-naharaim is the Jordan/Jabbok region. See the discussion under Pethor.
Because some consider Pethor to be located in Canaan, it becomes rather tempting to suggest that the Beor/Bela couple of Edom is in fact the same as the Beor/Balaam couple of Pethor:
Genesis 36:32
Numbers 22:5
In the Edom king-list of Genesis 36 we see kings being imported from all over the place (even from, what do you know, the Euphrates — 36:37). However, in Numbers 20:14 Edom is already a kingdom. The king of Edom refuses Israel passage, and even comes out with an armed force against Israel. It seems unlikely that the nerdy, donkey-riding Balaam of two chapters later is the same as Edom's valiant first king Bela, who stayed king onto his death (36:33).
🔼Etymology of the name Beor
The name Beor is clearly similar to the verb בער (ba'ar):
בער
The verb בער (ba'ar) seems to essentially mean to consume or clean out. Noun בערה (be'era) is a rare word for fire; it literally means consumer or that which consumes. Noun בעיר (be'ir) denotes cattle, and particularly cattle that would graze whole fields clean.
The verb essentially means to consume but covers a broad pallet, ranging from being beastly stupid to raging madly to be purifying as fire. It often denotes the removal of evil.
🔼Beor meaning
The name Beor may mean any of the above. BDB Theological Dictionary and NOBSE Study Bible Name List both read A Burning. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names renders Torch, or Lamp.