Today we are going to discuss the role of Mount Hermon in the Bible. Mount Hermon is the highest mountain in Israel and Syria. The mountain is located on the northeastern border of Israel and is the southern end of the mountain range of Anti-Lebanon Mountains.
The mountain peak is 2,814 meters above sea level and is located on the border between Syria and Lebanon, about 14 km northeast of Israeli mountain outposts. The highest peak in Israel is 2,236 meters above sea level, located west of Mitzpe Shelegim, 2,224 meters above sea level, and northeast of the upper cable car at the ski resort.
Mount Hermon in the Bible
The Bible mostly refers to Mount Hermon in terms of location and territory. It is first mentioned in Deuteronomy 3:8 in which Moses describes the land the Israelites took after the defeat of King Og of Bashan. “So at that time we took from these two kings of the Amorites the territory east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Gorge as far as Mount Hermon.”
When the Jordan was crossed by the children of Israel, the settlement of Baal Gad, located at the foot of Mount Hermon, is mentioned as the northernmost point to which Joshua arrived during his conquests of the land. After defeating the northern kings, Joshua took the land “from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, to Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and put them to death.” (Joshua 11:17)
The rest of Mount Hermon and the ridge in front of Lebanon remain at this stage within the fence of the “remaining land”, which remains to be conquered – as recorder in Joshua 13. These include “the area of Byblos; and all Lebanon to the east, from Baal Gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo Hamath” (Joshua 13:5) and “It also included Gilead, the territory of the people of Geshur and Maakah, all of Mount Hermon and all Bashan as far as Salekah.” (Joshua 13:11)
The final time Mount Hermon is mentioned is in 1 Chronicle 5, which states that the rest of the Golan and Bashan area is occupied by the people of the half-tribe of Menashe. Interestingly, Mount Hermon is used in brackets to indicate that “Senir” is another name for the mountain. This name alludes to its special snowy climate since the word ‘Snir’ in the Canaanite language means snow, similar to ‘Schnee’ in German and Yiddish.
1 Chronicle 5:23 – The people of the half-tribe of Manasseh were numerous; they settled in the land from Bashan to Baal Hermon, that is, to Senir (Mount Hermon).
From this, we learned that the mountain had several names: Hermon, Armor, and Snir. Later another name for the mountain is added: “Mount Sion is Mount Hermon”. Why does one mountain need four names? Rashi explains that this is because the nations of the world were so eager to have a share in the Land of Israel that everyone gave the mountain its own name.
Mount Hermon Surrounding in the Bible
The Hermon range covers approximately 270 square miles, 27 of which are still under Israeli control. During the winter and spring, heavy snowfalls in the mountains. When it melts it feeds into springs at the base of the mountain, merging into rivers that eventually flow out into the Jordan river, near the borders with Syria and Lebanon, before gushing south into the Sea of Galilee.
Although the 5,000 acres of the mountain are mostly uninhabited, except for small Druze villages at its base, extensive excavations found that a busy worshiping action went on it in ancient times. There were over 20 temples on the slopes of Mount Hermon, which corroborated biblical accounts that the mountain was considered sacred to the worshippers of the Canaanite god Baal (“Hermon” comes from the Semitic root “hrm”, which means “taboo” or “forbidden place”).
Whilst there are only a handful of mentions to Mount Hermon in the Bible, references to its surrounding area and its inhabitants feature more frequently. Take, for example, Psalm 42:6, “O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar,” and Psalm 133:3, “As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life forevermore.”
In the apocryphal book of Enoch, Mount Hermon is the place where the fallen angels known as “Watcher” descended to Earth. “Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. And they were in all two hundred; who descended on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it.”
Mount Hermon in the New Testament
In New Testament times, it was at Mount Hermon’s base that Jesus came with His disciples to Caesarea Philippi for a special Messianic revelation (Matthew 16:16). Amid the Baal shrines at Caesarea Philippi, etched into the side of Mount Hermon to worship Pan, Peter proclaimed Jesus to be the Christ.
Mount Hermon’s real significance, however, is as the traditional site of Jesus’ Transfiguration. Mount Hermon is one of three possible spots, including the Mount of Olives and Mount Tabor (Matthew 17:1-8). Interesting to note that again He chose “Satan’s turf” to proclaim His glory to His disciples, a declaration that He was the Supreme One who should be worshipped as God. No one knows the exact spot on Mount Hermon where this event occurred, but most believe it was indeed there.
Today you can see the caves of Baal shrines that were carved into the cliffs where Jesus acknowledged Peter’s revelation (today called Banias, most likely an Arab corruption of Pan, Panias) at Caesarea Philippi. The ancients believed that water symbolized the abyss and death, so the spring that flowed out of the largest cave, known as the Gate of Hades, made Jesus’ promise about His Church’s supremacy all the more poignant (Matthew 16:18, Deuteronomy 1:28, 4:47-48; Joshua 12:1-6; Psalm 89:12, 133:3, Song of Solomon 4:8).
The Israel-Syria border in the Hermon area is considered a quiet border, even more so than the relatively quiet border of the Golan Heights. It is possible to visit Mount Hermon if you wish, particularly if you enjoy skiing, as Mount Hermon is the ski resort available in Israel.