Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Baal-Hermon, Part I
 
Yigal Levin:
 
Two ancient words from Ugarit in the Late Bronze Age, that were used in a 
modified form by the Phoenicians in JEPD times, may hold the clue to 
understanding “Baal-Hermon” in the Bible.
 
Ugarit has ’amn and hmn, both of which terms likely refer to a towering 
mountain (though probably not to Mt. Hermon).  One or both of these Ugaritic 
words 
is probably the basis of the 1st millennium BCE Phoenician phrase “Baal Hamon”
, which JEPD would likely have known.  At least to the Hebrews (though 
probably not to the Phoenicians or to the people of Ugarit), “Baal Hamon” may 
have 
been Baal-Hermon, hmn may have been Hermon or Mt. Hermon, and ’amn may have 
been Amana, with these four Hebrew words referring either (i) to the three 
summits, collectively, at the southern tip of the Anti-Lebanon mountain 
range, that 
constituted the Hebrews’ northern border, or (ii) to individual names for two 
of the three summits, where Baal-Hermon/Amana is the easternmost summit, and 
Hermon/Mt. Hermon is the westernmost summit (with Shenir being the summit in 
the center).
 
In Part II, I will type up a long scholarly quotation that documents ’amn and 
hmn in Ugarit, and “Baal Hamon” as being a 1st millennium BCE Phoenician 
inscription, with all three such words being mountain imagery words.
 
1.  As is well known, the southern tip of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range, 
which is the highest mountain area in greater Canaan, has three distinct 
summits, of approximately equal height.
 
2.  Usually the Hebrews referred to all three of these summits, collectively, 
as “Hermon” or “Mt. Hermon” or, once, as “Hermons” (Psalms 42: 6).  On 
rare occasions, when the Hebrews were talking about what the Amorites, or the 
local successors to the Amorites, were doing at that locale, the Hebrews 
referred 
to the three summits, collectively, by their Amorite name:  Shenir.  Ezekiel 
27: 5;  Deuteronomy 3: 9
 
3.  But sometimes the Hebrews referred to each one of the three summits by an 
individual name.  In that case, the easternmost summit was Amana or 
Baal-Hermon.  Shenir was the summit in the center, and Hermon or Mt. Hermon 
was the 
westernmost summit.  
 
“Amana” may or may not derive from Ugaritic ’amn, as discussed in Part II.  
Hermon, Mt. Hermon and Baal-Hermon may or may not derive from Ugaritic hmn, 
as 
discussed in Part II.  It seems likely that either Baal-Hermon in Hebrew 
derives from Baal Hamon in Phoenician, or at least is a similar phrase.  As 
discussed in Part II, all of these phrases are a very fitting description for 
a 
towering mountain.  Also as discussed in Part II, I myself see M-N as being 
the 
ancient verbal root of all seven of these phrases, with ’amn and hmn 
effectively 
meaning “towering mountain” in Ugaritic, and “Baal Hamon” meaning “lord 
mountain” in Phoenician.
 
As I see it, all seven of these words or phrases -- ’amn, hmn, Baal Hamon, 
Baal-Hermon, Hermon, Mt. Hermon, Amana -- are ideal words to refer to a 
towering 
mountain.  That is based on my view that the verbal root in all seven cases 
is M-N, one of whose key meanings was “to be appointed to oversee” (per I 
Chronicles 9: 29).
 
4.  Sites on an east-west axis were usually set forth in the ancient world in 
accordance with the sun’s path, that is, from east to west.  Now I Chronicles 
5: 23 (that you referenced) and Song of Solomon 4: 8 (that you did not 
reference) make perfect sense, as each refers to each one of the three 
summits, in 
identical order, from east to west:
 
“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
 
Note that if “Baal-Hermon” and “Amana” are one and the same mountain, 
namely the easternmost summit at the southern tip of the Anti-Lebanon 
mountain 
range, then all three summits are referred to in the identical order in these 
two 
passages, from east to west, just as one would expect.
 
5.  Your other Biblical cites now make perfect sense as well, with nothing 
being “erroneous”, with there being no “ghost-names”, with Baal-Hermon  n-o-t 
 
meaning “the peak of Mt. Hermon”, and with Baal-Hermon  n-o-t  being a “city”
.
 
(a)   Judges 3: 3 is referring to the easternmost of the three individual 
summits:  Mt. Baal-Hermon (alternatively called Amana).  Lebo-Hamath (or 
Hamath) 
is to the northeast, so the reference makes perfect sense.
 
“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
 
(b)   Joshua 13: 5 uses “Mt. Hermon” to refer to all three summits, 
collectively, which is the most common usage (but not the only usage) of the 
references to “Hermon” or “Mt. Hermon” in the Bible.  
 
“and the land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrising, from 
Baal-gad under mount Hermon unto the entrance of Hamath”.  Joshua 13: 5
 
“Baal-Gad” is not Baal-Hermon, but rather is a town at the foot of the 
southern end of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range.  The reference to “toward 
the 
sunrising” is referring to the area east of the Lebanon mountain range.  Both 
Judges 3: 3 and Joshua 13: 5 may be including the Lebanon mountain range in 
their 
description.  Each description definitely excludes the coastal cities of 
modern Lebanon, and definitely excludes all land south of Mt. Hermon (namely 
Israel).
 
*       *       *
 
I see the two Biblical references to Baal-Hermon as meaning the easternmost 
of the three summits in the Mt. Hermon area, being identical to the one 
Biblical use of Amana.  In those cases, Hermon/Mt. Hermon meant only the 
westernmost 
of those three summits (closest to the Hebrews).  Usually, however, 
Hermon/Mt. 
Hermon meant all three summits, collectively.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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