HALAK, THE MOUNT (rbnn inn • Sept. 6pos 'AX&K, and TOR XcXxCE). This name is applied to a mountain on the southern border of Palestine, ap parently on account of its bare or bald aspect. It is used by Joshua, as Beersheba was used by later writers, to mark the southern limit of the country— ' So Joshua took all that land . . . From the Mount Halak, that goeth up to Seir, even unto Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon, under Mount Hermon' (xi. 17 ; xii. 7). The situation of the mountain is here pretty definitely indicated. It adjoins Edom, and lay on the southern border of Palestine ; it must, consequently, have been in, or very near, the great valley of the Arabah. The expression, that goeth up to Seir' (i+yv nc.,3)n), is worthy of note. Seir is the mountainous province of Edom [SEIB.] ; and Mount Halak would seem to have been connected with it, as if running up towards it, or joining it to a lower district. About ten miles south of the Dead Sea a line of naked white cliffs, varying in height from 5o to rso feet, runs completely across the Arabah. As seen from
the north the cliffs resemble a ridge of hills (and in this aspect the word in may be legitimately ap plied to them) shutting in the deep valley, and con necting the mountain chain on the west with the mountains of Seir on the east. It is doubtless this rage which is referred to in Num. xxxiv. 3, 4, and Josh. xv. 2, 3, under the name ` Ascent of Akrab 'oim,' and as marking the south-eastern border of Judah ; and it might well be called the bald moun tain, which ascends to Sir. It was also a natural landmark for the southern boundary of Palestine, as it is near Kedesh-barnea on the one side, and the northern ridge of Edom on the other. To this ridge bounding the land in the great valley on the south, is lery appropriately opposed, on the north, ` Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon' (Ka' on yoshim, . 17). The cliffs, and the scenery of the sur. rounding region, are minutely described by Robin son (Eib. Res., ii. pp. 113, 116, 12o).—J. L. P.