HERMON (flintl, and in the pl. inivin; .
' AxpucCa•,'Epucornelu; Hermon), a celebrated moun tain on the northern border of Palestine, on the east side of the great valley of the Jordan, and just above the sources of that river. Hence it was mentioned by Moses as marking the limit of the country conquered east of the Jordan He took at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land that was on this side Jordan, from the river of Arnon unto Mount Hernion' (Deut. 8). Hermon was a natural landmark. It could be seen frotn the plains of Moab' beside the Dead Sea, from the heights of Nebo, from every prominent spot, in fact, in Moab, Gilead, and Bashan—a pale blue, snow-capped peak, ter minating the view on the northern horizon. When the people came to know the country better— when not merely its great physical features but its towns and villages became familiar to them, then Baal-Gad and Dan took the place of Hermon ; both of them being situated just at the southern base of that mountain. Hermon itself was not embraced in the country conquered by Moses and Joshua ; their conquests extended only to it (see Josh. xi. 17 ; Dent. xxxiv. ; Sam. iii. 2o). Hermon was also the north-western boundary of the old kingdom of Bashan, as Salcah was the south-eastern. We read in Josh. xii. 5 that Og ` reigned in Mount Hermon, and in Salcah, and in all Bashan •' i.e., in all Bashan, from Hermon to Salcah. Another notice of Hermon shews the minute accuracy of the topography of Joshua. He makes 'Lebanon toward the sun-rising,' that is, the range of Antilebanon, extend from Hermon to the entering into Hamath (xiii. 5). Every Orien tal geographer now knows that Hermon is the southern and culminating point of this range. The beauty and grandeur of Hermon did not escape the attention of the Hebrew poets. From nearly every prominent point in Palestine the mountain is visible ; but it is when we leave the hill country oi Samaria and enter the plain of Esdraelon, that Hermon appears ia all its majesty, shooting up on the distant horizon behind the graceful rounded top of Tabor. It was probably this view that suggested to the Psalmist the words, The north and the south thou bast created them : Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name' (lxxxix. 12). The explanation of this passage given by Venema, Bochart, and others, that Tabor and Hermon represent the east and the west, are totally wrong (Venema, Comment. in loc. ; Bochart, 025A i. 447 ; Reland, p. 324).
The names of Hermon, ancient and modern, are numerous, and they are all descriptive. They appear to have been suggested by the impressions made on the minds of the several writers by the appearance of the mountain from their different points of view. Herman is equivalent to the
Arabic Khurmon • praminens mantis ver , , tex (Freitag, Lex. Arab.) Hilary aives a different etymology : Ilermon mons est in'Phcenice cujus interpretatio Anathema est (Comm. in Ps. cxxxiii.) The Amorites, we are told, called it Shenir ; Sept. laylp ; Deut. 9), and the Sidonians Sirian (1714:, ; Sept. Zap/4 ; Dent. iii. 9 ; Ezek. xxvii. 5), words radically identical, and signifying 'a breastplate' or coat of mail ;' to which, as seen from the west when the sun's rays are reflected from its icy crown, it bears some resemblance. It was also called Sion (.0.41.!,), the lofty,' as topping all its fellows (Dent. iv. 48)—a name which seems to throw light on the difficult passage in Ps. cxxxiii. 3 : As the dew of Hermon that descended upon the mountains of Zion.' Here Zion, in, appears to be used for, or as equivalent to, ;NV (see Grotius and Venema, ari/oc.) Hermon is composed of a cluster of mountains, which in the distance appear to form one great cone ; but, on closer inspection, we find a number of lofty ranges, radiating from a central peak, and this peak itself resolves itself into three summits (Porter's Damascus, i. 292, sq.) Thus we see the accuracy of the Psalmist's allusion : Therefore will I remember thee from the land of the Hermans' (not Hermonites,' as in our A. V., but ninn). It appears, tbo, that occasionally the different names of the mountain were attached distinctively to different parts of the group, a practice not un common in Syria at the present day. Thus, in Chron. v. 23, And the children of Manasseh dwelt in the land : tbey increased from Bastian unto Baal-hermon, and Senir, and unto .Mount Her mon.' Now each of these names is used in other passages to denote the whole mountain (Judg. 3 ; Dem. iii. 9, etc.) ; but here they seem to be distinctive. Probably that southern section of the group, where the Sidonians had their great strong hold near Paneas, was called by local writers Senir. The name Baal-hermon may have been applied to some noted sanctuary on a spur in another direction, and Mount Hermon meant the central peak itself. Its usual modern names are yebel esh-Sheikh, • • the chief moun • ' tain ;' and Yebel eth-Thelj, , 'the snow mountain.' The latter we find in the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, which, in Deut. 9, read tthi -VC (see also Abulfeda, Tab. Syr., p. ; Reland, p. 323). Hermon is the only snow crowned peak visible from Palestine during the summer months.