Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

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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