The New International Encyclopædia/Nebo, Mount

NEBO, Mount. The mountain from which, according to the Book of Deuteronomy (xxxii. 49; xxxiv. 1), Moses viewed the land of Canaan before his death. It has been identified with the mountain Neba—a ridge 2643 feet above the Mediterranean, situated five miles southwest of Heshbon. The name Nebo also occurs as that of a town in Moab (Num. xxxii. 3, and on the Moabite Stone), and a town in Judah (Ezra ii. 29). It is identical in form with the name of a well-known Babylonian god Nabu (see Nebo), whose worship appears to have spread far to the west. The tradition associating the death of Moses with Mount Nebo may have had as a starting-point the existence of a sanctuary on the top of the mount, or, at all events, the sacred character of the mountain.