Mount Lebanon

G1 on the Map

Mountains and region. A mountain range along the north border of Israel, 270 miles long and 45 miles wide, with gigantic peaks reaching a height of 10,200 feet. The name Lebanon in Hebrew means "white" because of the tops of the mountains which are covered with snow all year around (Jer 18:14), and also because of the hue of its limestone cliffs and peaks. Lebanon was famous for its fabulous trees, the Cedars and Cypresses (Judg 9:15). The Palace of Solomon on the inside was encased in Cedar and was called, "the House of the Forest of Lebanon." The Cedars were also used in the building of the second temple in Jerusalem (1 Ki 5:6; 7:2, etc.). Even the Assyrian kings cut down trees in Lebanon for their buildings and palaces. They also used the tall Cedars to make masts for their ships (Ezek 27:5). The area of Lebanon was also famous for its grapes and wine.

The western mountain range of Syria is the Lebanon of Scripture, and this is were Solomon got Fir and Cedar wood. The eastern range is "Lebanon toward the rising of the sun" or Anti-Lebanus (Anti-Lebanon), meaning over against Lebanon. These two mountain ranges run parallel with the coast of Phoenicia. They also run parallel to each other from SW to NE for about 90 miles. Enclosed between them is a long fertile valley about seven miles wide, which the ancients called "Coele-Syria" (hollow Syria), this was the valley of Lebanon. At the southern end of anti-Lebanon is Mount Hermon, its highest peak.

By the end of the first century B.C. the Romans built a colony for their soldiers to live at Berytus (modern Beirut) in order to capture Lebanon. See Mount Hermon

Mountain as landmark, Deut 1:7, Josh 1:4, Jer 18:14, 22:6, source of timber for Solomon's temple, 1 Kgs 5:6 ff, 1 Kgs 9:19; its forests, Is 10:34; Ps 37:35; Hos 14:6, 7.