[b-hebrew] Baal-Hermon

Isaac Fried if at math.bu.edu
Tue Sep 9 11:24:18 EDT 2008


It is dangerous business to pick out roots out of names, and it may  
be misleading to attach to a root too an abstract a meaning, say  
'consecrate' to XRM. I think XRM is related to GRM of 2 kings 9:13.
XERMON could be possibly a compacted form of the compounds HAR-RAM-) 
ON or KAR-RAM-)ON, or HAR-MA(ON or KAR-MA(ON, or who nows what. BA(AL  
is (= BA) essentially something lofty, as indicated by the letter L  
present in it, as in (PL [see Numbers 14:44.]

Isaac Fried
Boston University

On Sep 8, 2008, at 12:57 AM, Yigal Levin wrote:

> Dear Kelton,
>
> More up-to-date archaeological data make it clear that there was  
> never a "city" on the peak of Mt. Hermon. There are a few villages  
> and some open-air cult sites, although none that I know of go back  
> to the early Iron Age, which would be the relevant period. However,  
> the Bible never actually says that Baal-Hermon was a "city". It  
> makes a lot of sense to assume that there was a site dedicated to  
> the worship of Baal on the peak of Hermon - we know that Baal was  
> often associated with such peaks, such as Carmel and Baal-Zaphon.  
> The name Hermon even seems to be derived from the root XRM -  
> "consecrated". However there is no evidence, from either  
> inscriptions or archaeology that such a place actually existed.  
> PLUS, as I wrote before, Judges 3:3 seems to be a textual  
> conflation of Josh. 13:5, which actually mentions "Baal-Gad under  
> Mount Hermon".
>
> Yigal Levin
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: kgraham0938 at comcast.net
>   To: Yigal Levin ; b-hebrew
>   Sent: Monday, September 08, 2008 2:22 AM
>   Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Baal-Hermon
>
>
>   BDB, seems to think BA'AL HERMON is an actual city.
>
>   BA'AL HERMON a city so named as seat of the worship of Baal. ‘The  
> crest of Hermon is strewn with ruins and the foundations of a  
> circular temple of large hewn stones,’ Tristr:Tpg, cf. on  
> sacredness, Euseb. Lag:Onom 217: possibly = BA'AL GAD
>
>   I'm wondering if it is possible that the various names in 1 Chron  
> may refer to two different peaks?
>
>   BDB says that Sener and Hermon are probably referring to these  
> two peaks in 1 Chronicles
>
>   It has three peaks; and the names Hermon and Sener  
> aredistinguished in 1 Ch 5:23 Ct 4:8, may refer to two of these peaks;
>
>   So maybe Ba'al Hermon is referring to an actual city & Hermon in  
> 1 Ch is referring to one of the peaks of the mountain.
>
>   --
>   Kelton Graham
>   KGRAHAM0938 at comcast.net
>
>     -------------- Original message --------------
>     From: Yigal Levin <leviny1 at mail.biu.ac.il>
>
>> I'll re-state the problem. While (Mount) Hermon is well-known and  
>> appears quite
>> a few times in the Bible, the specific form "Baal-Hermon" appears  
>> in ONLY two
>> sources, and both are problematic:
>> The first is in the boundary description of Judges 3:3: instead of  
>> Joshua's
>> "Baal-Gad under Mount Hermon", Judges has "Baal-Hermon". Were this  
>> the ONLY
>> source, there would be little doubt that this is a "ghost name"  
>> created by
>> Judges' abbreviation of Josh. 13:5
>>
>> However, there's 1 Chr. 5. The geographical context is close  
>> enough to make it
>> unlikely that this is a different place with the same name (unless  
>> there's
>> another Hermon as well...). Where did Chr.'s description come  
>> from? If it is
>> tak en from a source that is ultimately independent of Judges 3:3,  
>> that would be
>> evidence of "Baal-Hermon" being a real place, which would force a  
>> re-asessment
>> of the realationship between Judges 3:3 and Josh. 13:5 (that the  
>> former is NOT
>> just an abbreviation of the latter). If not, then we have to  
>> understand why Chr.
>> took only that term from Judges 3:3, in a description that seems  
>> related to
>> Deut. 3.
>>
>> Yigal Levin
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: kgraham0938 at comcast.net
>> To: Yigal Levin ; b-hebrew ; biblical-studies at yahoogroups.com ;
>> biblicalist at yahoogroups.com
>> Sent: Sunday, September 07, 2008 4:24 AM
>> Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Baal-Hermon
>>
>>
>> I'm wondering if BAAL-HERMON is referring to the high places that  
>> exist on top
>> of Mt Hermon. Or maybe the NIV rendering is correct and take those  
>> vavs as
>> appositional.
>>
>> ; 1 Chr onicles 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).
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Kelton Graham
>> KGRAHAM0938 at comcast.net
>>
>> -------------- Original message --------------
>> From: Yigal Levin
>>
>>> Baal-Hermon appears in the boundary of the land not conquered by  
>>> Joshua,
>>> according to the abbreviated description in Judges 3:3: "From Mount
>> Baal-Hermon
>>> unto Lebo-Hamath". In the more complete text in Josh. 13:5, the same
>> boundary is
>>> described as stretching "from Baal-Gad under Mount Hermon unto
>> Lebo-Hamath."
>>> While some scholars have attempted to explain the name "Baal- 
>>> Hermon" as
>>> designating the peak of Mount Hermon, overlooking Baal-Gad itself
>> (probably in
>>> the sout hern Ba qa', near Hasbayeh), most assume either that the  
>>> names are
>>> synonymous, or even that the version in Judges is erroneous, a  
>>> "ghost
>>> place-name" caused by the abbreviated boundary-list. However Baal- 
>>> Hermon
>> is also
>>> given as part of the bounda ry of the Transjordanian half-tribe of
>> Menasseh in 1
>>> Chr. 5:23: "from Bashan unto Baal-Hermon and Senir and Mount  
>>> Hermon". This
>> could
>>> be seen either as evidence of there actually being such a place,  
>>> which was
>> known
>>> to either the Chronicler or his immediate source, even though
>>> it is not mentioned anywhere else, or of the fact that the  
>>> Chronicler or
>> his
>>> immediate source, when composing his description of the Menassite
>> territory,
>>> chose to combine this particular element from Judges 3:3 with the  
>>> other
>> names
>>> that seem more based on Deut. 3:8-13 (w hich is the only other  
>>> place in
>> which
>>> Hermon, Senir and Bashan are listed together, in a description of  
>>> the
>>> Transjordanian tribes).
>>>
>>> So which is it: is there such a place (and where is it), or did the
>> Chronicler
>>> pick up a "ghost-name" from an unexpected source?
>>>
>>> Yigal Levin
>>> _________________________________ _______ _______
>>> b-hebrew mailing list
>>> b-hebrew at lists.ibiblio.org
>>> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>> Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
>> Version: 8.0.138 / Virus Database: 270.6.17/1655 - Release Date:  
>> 05/09/2008
>> 19:05
>> _______________________________________________
>> b-hebrew mailing list
>> b-hebrew at lists.ibiblio.org
>> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
> Version: 8.0.138 / Virus Database: 270.6.17/1657 - Release Date:  
> 06/09/2008 20:07
> _______________________________________________
> b-hebrew mailing list
> b-hebrew at lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew



More information about the b-hebrew mailing list