Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
A part, a mountain summit in the land of Moab, in the territory of Reuben, where Balak offered up sacrifices (Num. 21:20; 23:14), and from which Moses viewed the promised land (Deut. 3:27). It is probably the modern Jebel Siaghah.
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1863)
e. peak), (Numbers 21:20; 23:14; 3:27; 34:1) a mountain range or district, the same as or a part of, that called the mountains of Abarim. Comp. (32:49) with Deuteronomy 34:1 It lay on the east of Jordan contiguous to the field of Moab, and immediately opposite Jericho. Its highest point or summit—its “head”—was Mount Nebo.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
PIS'GAH"(hill, or the height), the summit from which Moses, before his death, gained his view of the Promised Land. It was in Moab, one of the mountains of Abarim, and the top of Nebo. It was in the territory afterward assigned to Reuben, and thus was north of the Arnon. Num 21:20; Deut 3:27; Deut 4:49; Deut 34:1; Josh 13:20. Pisgah had cultivated land. " Num 23:14. Situation. - While the general position of Pisgah is clearly given in the Scriptures, the precise location has been sharply disputed, and is yet unsettled.
So able a writer as Dean Stanley says: "In the long line of those Eastern mountains which so constantly meet the view of the traveller in all the western parts of Palestine, the eye vainly strives to discern any point emerging from this horizontal platform which may be fixed as the top of Nebo. '" - Sinai and Palestine, p. 294. Some scholars have questioned whether "pisgah" is a proper name. It occurs eight times in Scripture: four times with Ashdoth. " The English version regards it as a proper name, and it has a prominent place in Christian literature.
The great interest which Nebo and Pisgah possess, as the scene of the last days of Israel's lawgiver, has led recent travellers carefully to explore the region in order to discover the location of these historic peaks. Robinson long ago suggested that the name Nehd might represent the ancient Nebo. In 1868, De Saulcy, when about an hour's ride from Hesban on his way to Ma'in, found a peak which the Arabs called Jehel Nebu. This he regarded as the long-lost Nebo, and says he was proud to recover the famous mount so long searched for without success.
Among other explorers who have visited the region are Tristram in 1864, and again in 1872; Due de Luynes, 1864; Captain Warren, 1867; and the expeditions of the American Exploration Society in 1873 and 1877. In 1875 the American Society issued an extended statement on the identification of Pisgah by the Rev. J. A. Paine. " Deut 34:1-4. His theory of the site of Pisgah is sharply questioned by Wolcott, Tristram, Warren, and others, chiefly on the ground that it fails to meet the requirements of the biblical narrative, and that Siaghah is not the modern equivalent of Pisgah.
Merrill, as the results of a later exploration, says: "Mr. Paine makes the lowest and most western of his five flat summits to be the Pisgah of Moses. " Mr. Paine's theory places Pisgah a quarter of a mile south-west of this ruin summit, while Due de Luynes regards a higher peak in the opposite direction as Pisgah. Merrill favors this "highest point and most commanding outlook" as the probable point to which Moses ascended. (See East of the Jordan, pp.
) The biblical statement seems to designate the summit of Nebo, Deut 34:1; and if Nebo is Jebel Neba, as many explorers now hold, then Pisgah should be its most prominent peak. The Due de Luynes gives the following graphic description of the view from this mount: "Observing that a second height of this mountain seemed more elevated and to give a perspective of greater extent over the Dead Sea and the Holy Land, we proceed thither.
In spite of the hazy state of the horizon, we ascertained that from this elevation one discerned the north and the north-west shore of the Dead Sea from the mouth of the Jordan as far as nearly to Jebel Esdoum and to Jebel Safan, the whole mountain-chain from Hebron to the Quarantania Mount, all the land from the mountain of Hesban, of Jebel Osha, and of es-Salt, even into the Ghor, to the mountains of Nablus, of Jenin, and of Nazareth, Mount Tabor, a part of its plain, and even Banias, as our guides assured us; only they said that one could not see the snow of Hermon, even in the purest atmosphere.
The perspective of that elevated spot was without limits, and its effect of the utmost majesty. It is understood that tradition [Scripture] causes Moses to be conducted to this place by Jehovah, in order to show him all the Promised Land. The view from this second height does not reach as far as the place where Segor is admitted to be, the refuge of Lot, whether situated at Wady es-Safieh, or supposed to lie in Wady Eddraa. . . . " - Voyage d'Exploration a la Mer Morte (1866-67), pp. 150-152.
Hitchcock's Bible Names (1869)
hill; eminence; fortress