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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Baal-Hermon
  • Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 10:42:41 EDT


Yigal Levin:

1. Everyone knows that the southern tip of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range
is dominated by three towering, majestic summits of approximately equal
height,
on the northern border of the Hebrews. The only natural reading of I
Chronicles 5: 23 and Song of Solomon 4: 8, which two Bible verses are set
forth
below, is that (i) each passage is referring to those three summits by three
individual names, and that (ii) “Baal-Hermon” and “Amana” are alternative
names
for the same summit (probably the easternmost summit).

“And the children of the half-tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land, from
Bashan unto [1] Baal-hermon and [2] Senir and [3] mount Hermon, where they
increased.” I Chronicles 5: 23

“Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, with me from Lebanon; look from the
top of [1] Amana, from the top of [2] Senir and [3] Hermon, from the lions'
dens, from the mountains of the leopards.” Song of Solomon 4: 8

2. If Baal-Hermon means the easternmost summit at the southern tip of the
Anti-Lebanon mountain range, then the other Biblical reference to
Baal-Hermon,
which is “Mt. Baal-Hermon”, makes perfect sense as well:

“namely, the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the
Zidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount
Baal-hermon
unto the entrance of Hamath.” Judges 3: 3

Hamath, or Lebo-Hamath, is northeast of the easternmost summit at the
southern tip of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range, so there is nothing
surprising about
that phrasing.

3. The five suggestions that you have floated as to the meaning of “
Baal-Hermon”, in opposition to the above natural reading of the foregoing
Bible
verses, cannot stand.

(i) How could Baal-Hermon be a “city”, when (a) it is expressly called a
“mountain” at Judges 3: 3, and (b) it is juxtaposed at I Chronicles 5: 23
with the two other summits at the southern tip of the Anti-Lebanon mountain
range?

(ii) Likewise, how could Baal-Hermon be “the top of Mt. Hermon”, when (a)
Baal-Hermon itself is expressly called a “mountain” at Judges 3: 3, and (b)
it is juxtaposed at I Chronicles 5: 23 with the two other summits at the
southern tip of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range?

(iii) How could Baal-Hermon be a “ghost-name”, when (a) at I Chronicles 5:
23 it is one of three names for the three summits at the southern tip of the
Anti-Lebanon mountain range, and (b) we have Phoenician and Punic
inscriptions
attesting to the similar-sounding “Baal Hamon” as a towering mountain? (Yes,
the Phoenicians were referring to a different mountain when they used that
phrase, but both uses of that phrase refer to a towering, majestic mountain
to
the north.)

(iv) Likewise, how could Baal-Hermon be “erroneous”, when (a) it works
perfectly as being one of three names for the three summits at the southern
tip of
the Anti-Lebanon mountain range, and (b) we have Phoenician and Punic
inscriptions attesting to the similar-sounding “Baal Hamon” as a towering,
majestic
mountain?

(v) “Baal-Hermon” cannot be “Baal-Gad”. Joshua 13: 5 describes Baal-Gad
as being at the foot of Mt. Hermon. Baal-Gad must be a town at the foot of
Mt.
Hermon. By sharp contrast, (a) Baal-Hermon is expressly called a “mountain”
at Judges 3: 3, and (b) Baal-Hermon is juxtaposed at I Chronicles 5: 23 with
the two other summits at the southern tip of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range.

4. As to “Hermon” and “Mt. Hermon”, in the Bible those names usually, but
not always, referred to all three summits at the southern tip of the
Anti-Lebanon mountain range, collectively. (Uniquely at Psalms 42: 6, the
phrase “
Hermons” is used in the plural.) But on the fairly rare occasions when an
individual name was used for each one of those three peaks, then the
westernmost
summit, closest to the Hebrews, was called “Hermon” or “Mt. Hermon”. If
individual names were being used for the three summits, then the summit in
the center
was called “Shenir” (although as with “Hermon”, the Amorite name “Shenir”
usually referred to all three summits, collectively). Most obvious is that “
Baal-Hermon” and “Amana” each have only one meaning in the Bible, that never
varies: the easternmost summit of the three summits at the southern tip of
the
Anti-Lebanon mountain range.

5. To the best of my knowledge, the foregoing explanation works for every
single verse in the Bible that refers to one or more of “Baal-Hermon”, “Mt.
Baal-Hermon”, “Amana”, “Hermon”, “Mt. Hermon”, “Hermons”, or “Shenir”.

If you reject my proposed explanation of the Biblical meaning of “Baal-Hermon”
, then I would expect you to set forth one or more Bible verses that do not
mesh with the foregoing explanation.

Anyone who looks at the first two Bible verses I quoted above, and who knows
that the southern tip of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range is dominated by
three
towering, majestic summits of approximately equal height, at the northern
border of the Hebrews, can see that “Baal-Hermon” and “Amana” are alternative
names in Biblical Hebrew for the same mountain, namely the easternmost summit
of the three mountain peaks at the southern tip of the Anti-Lebanon mountain
range.

What Bible verse(s) do you see as being inconsistent with that
straightforward explanation? What Bible verse(s) would cause you to question
that
straightforward analysis of I Chronicles 5: 23, where “Baal-Hermon” is used
as the
name of one of the three famous, majestic peaks at the southern tip of the
Anti-Lebanon mountain range, which three peaks were divinely impressive, as
they
seemed to tower over the Hebrews in grandeur from the north?

P.S. I apologize for my misleading reference to “JEPD” in my earlier post.
I meant that as shorthand for “all the many Biblical authors who lived in the
1st millennium BCE”. I do not ridicule the Documentary Hypothesis, or even
oppose it, generally. Rather, my position is limited to the following very
limited assertion: the Documentary Hypothesis has no relevance to the
Patriarchal narratives. All I was trying to do with my ill-advised reference
to “JEPD”
was to make the point that since “Baal Hamon” is in Phoenician and Punic
inscriptions from the 1st millennium BCE (as opposed to the Ugaritic words I
referenced from the Late Bronze Age), then the various Biblical authors in
the 1st
millennium BCE (not narrowly limited to J and E and P and D as four separate
individuals, who are four of such authors, but who are by no means all or
even
most of such Biblical authors) would likely have been aware of the phrase “
Baal Hamon”.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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