PISGAH (mow, 'a section,' from n!it =prm, to divide,' and hence it may mean ' an isolated hill or peak.' The rendering of the LXX. is not uniform. In Deut. iii. 17 ; xxxiv. I ; Josh. xii. 3; xiii. 20, it is but in Num. xxi. 20 ; xxiii. 14, and Dent. iii. 27, the phrase Miii/hrl Vtri is rendered Kopvctril roil XartEcw.tevou, which is a trans lation of the Hebrew, vertex excisi mantis. The Vulgate has everywhere Phasga)—the name of a mountain in Moab. Its situation is minutely de scribed by the sacred writers. It is first mentioned in connection with the approach of the Israelites to Palestine. They marched from Ramoth in the valley that is in the country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah which looketh toward Yeshimon' (Num. xxi. 20). Pisgah was thus on the plateau of Moab, and commanded a view of the eastern desert UESHIMON]. Another passage (xxiii. 13, 14) proves that it commanded a view of the Israelitish camp in the valley on the east bank of the Jordan ; and from other incidental notices we learn that it was opposite to and in sight of ND .17) Jericho (Dent. xxxiv. I), and overhanging the north-eastern angle of the Dead Sea (iv. 49 ; Josh. xii. 3).
The names Abarim, Nebo, and Pisgah are con nected in such a way by the sacred writers as to create some difficulty to the geographer. In Dent. xxxii. 49 the Lord commands Moses, Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, Mount Nebo,' etc. ; and in chap. xxxiv. I we read that Moses, obey ing, went up from the plains of Moab, unto the mountain of Nebo, the to of Pisgah' (1m mow Mil). From these passages we may infer : (i.) That Abarim was the name of a range or group
of mountains; (2.) That Nebo was one of its peaks; and (3.) That the name Pisgah was either equiva lent to Abarim, or that it is (as represented in some passages in the LXX., and in the margin of the A. V.) a common noun, signifying an isolated hill or peak.' If the latter view be taken, then Deut. xxxiv. I may be rendered, Moses went up to Mount Nebo, to the top of the hill.' The con struction rather favours the view that Pisgah, like Abarim, was the name of the range, and that Nebo was one of its peaks. Upon Pisgah Balaam built altars and offered sacrifices, so that it was probably one of the ancient high-places' of Moab (Num.
xxiii. t4)• From its summit Moses obtained his panoramic view of the Holy Land, and there he died (Deut. xxxiv. 1-5). Beneath the mountains were celebrated springs' or torrents' which are several times mentioned in defining the boundaries of Reuben, as Ashdolh-Pisgah (Dent. iii. 17 ; iv. 49 in the Hebrew ; Josh. xii. 3 ; xiii. 20 ; see ASHDOTH-PISGAH). Eusebius and Jerome state that the name Pisgah was still, in their day, applied to a region around Mount Nebo (Onomast., s. v. Abarim ; Reland, Pal., pp. 497). The name has now disappeared, and the name of the headland, Ras el-Feslikkah, on the western side of the Dead Sea, appears to be only an accidental resemblance. (See, however, De Saulcy, Voyage, ii. 60.) For the site of Pisgah, see NEBO and ABARISI.-J. L. P.