Mount Hermon: A Gate of Mystery Mt. Hermon, known as Har Hermon in Hebrew and Jabal el-Shaiyk in Arabic is a mountain in the anti-Lebanon mountain range, this summit is on the border between Syria and Lebanon and is under Syrian control. The highest of its three peaks (all of which are snow-covered in winter and spring) rises to 9,232 ft (2,814 m). Its seasonal snow melt is important to the headwater flow of the Jordan River. Mt. Hermon, a sacred landmark in ancient Palestine, is mentioned often in the Bible as Hermon, Sion, Senir, and Shenir. The name Baal-Hermon records the reverence in which it was held by the worshipers of Baal. The Romans also revered it, as did the Druze (there is a Druze shrine near Hasbayya).
Following the Bloodtrail:
Israel has possessed Mt. Hermon’s southern and western slopes since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. They are used for winter skiing and as observation points for the for the Israeli military.At present, it also serves as the highest permanent manned position of the United Nations.
Sadly, there are hardly any intensive studies made or written documents and research materials that focuses on the ancient and biblical history of the mountain due mainly to the Arab and Palestinian conflicts throughout the years.The mountain itself is a living witness, if only its grounds could tell us about the lives lost, the explosions and the cries of the women of this former land of Canaan*.
Biblical Accounts:
Hermon means “Forbidden Place”, or sometimes interpreted as the “anathema”(from a 4th century translator of the Latin Vulgate Bible) , the mountain itself is believed to be a port of entry for group of wicked angels who corrupted the human race during the days of Noah. The Grigori (Watchers),as told of in Biblical apocrypha (Book of Enoch and Jubilees) mated with mortal women, giving rise to a race of hybrids known as the Nephilim who are described as giants in Genesis (Gen. 6:4).
Moses wrote: ”The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose…There were giants in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of reknown” (Gen. 6:1-4).
The Apocryphal Book of Enoch and other texts
*The Grigori or the Watchers. “The Watchers then called the mountain Hermon because they have sworn on it and bound themselves mutually with a curse”(Enoch 6:1-6).
The story of the Nephilim is chronicled more fully in the Book of Enoch (part of an Ethiopian biblical canon). Enoch, as well as Jubilees, connects the origin of the Nephilim with the fallen angels, and in particular with the Grigori (watchers). The “watchers” were sent to Earth simply to watch over the people but as soon as they descended upon Ardîs, the summit of Hermon they began to lust over the mortal women they see and at the prodding of their leader Samyaza*, they defect en masse to marry and live among men.A passage in Genesis that speaks of the Great Flood implies that the Nephilim actually came to the earth, at least twice. The first of which were destroyed in the flood, and the second succeeding the flood. Thus it is possible the “giants of Canaan” were the direct result of the Nephilim. In the Hebrew Bible, there are a number of other words that, like “Nephilim”, are sometimes translated as “giants” and maybe well linked with the Greek Titans.
*Canaan settled in the area of Mt. Hermon and southwards to what was to become Abraham`s Promised Land.This is also the reason why the Promised Land was called “Canaan” during the times of Moses and Joshua.
Anakim. Anakim or Anakites, the descendants of Anak that dwelt in the south of Canaan. In the days of Abraham, they inhabited the region afterwards known as Edom and Moab, east of the Jordan river. They are mentioned during the report of the spies about the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. The book of Joshua states that Caleb* finally expelled them from the land, excepting a remnant that found a refuge in the cities of Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. The Philistine giant Goliath, whom David later encountered, was supposedly a descendant of the Anakim.
Rephaim.The Book of Joshua gives this title to a group of Aborigines that were afterwards conquered and dispossessed by the Canaanite tribes, the text states that a few of them survived, and one of them being Og the king of Bashan. “Only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaites. His bed was made of iron and was more than thirteen feet long and six feet wide. It is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites”.
As stated in the Bible, we can as well follow what happened afterwards in the Book of Enoch as well as the Book of Jubilees; The children produced by this relationship are savage giants who pillage the earth and endanger humanity, Samyaza, Azazel* become corrupt and began teaching the men to make metal weapons,cosmetics, and other neccessities of civilization that has been kept secret. But the people started dying and cried to the heavens for help.God sent the Great Flood to rid the Earth of the Nephilim but sent Uriel* to warn Noah so as not to eradicate the human race.The “Grigori” are then bound in the Valleys of the Earth until the day of Judgement.
Baalhermon
The tribe of Dan moved to this area on the day of the Judges and adopted the Canaanite worship of these angels. Baal and Ashtaroth were Canaanite deities whose origin was Mount Hermon (at the ruins of the Baalshamin Temple today, stands the United Nations highest observation post and a few meters away from it is the cave of the Prophet Elijah). The Book of Judges also refers to Mount Hermon as Baalhermon saying, “Namely five Lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baalhermon unto the entering of Hamath:”(Judges 3:3)
In the excavations of Baalbek in a town of the Beeka Valley of Lebanon (renamed Heliopolis by the Greeks) , the Phoenecians built their first temples honoring the God Baal, the Sun God, from which the city got its name.Same is with Sidon or Palmyra but the Baal Temple on Mount Hermon was by far the most venerated since the time of Abraham, the mountain being the “chief” of all mountains in Palestine.
Baal worship is the leading religion of Canaan, on the high peaks of the country are shrines known as the “high places”, as Mount Olympus is to the Greeks - the higher the holier. Here grooves were planted and shrines were erected for worship. Since Hermon towered in all the mountains in the region, it became the shrine of shrines. Canaanites look to Mount Hermon as Moslems pray towards the direction of Mecca.
In 1934, Dr. Stewart Crawford and Reginald Haupt led a small expedition to all ancient shrines surrounding Mount Hermon and found that each altars were oriented so as the priest and devotees face the chief Baal sanctuary or Quibla, the highest of the three peaks of Hermon. They also found out that the Temple of Baal in Mount Hermon is consructed of Herodian Maasonry which dates to the previous and early Christian Era. In a low place near the northwest corner of the temple were loads of ash and burnt bone, which have been dumped as a refuse from sacrifices.
During the ministry of Jesus , He and his disciples visited Caesarea Philippi at the slope of Mt. Hermon where Jordan River springs forth, “Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?”. The ancient city of Caesarea Philippi was at its foot. Mt. Hermon is traditionally designated as the scene of the Transfiguration (Matt 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-8,Luke 9:28-36), an event reported by the Synoptic Gospels in which Jesus is transfigured upon a mountain, becomes radiant, speaks with Moses and Elijah, and is called “Son” by God. The transfiguration put Jesus above Moses and Elijah, the two pre-eminent figures of Judaism. Mount Tabor in Israel is traditionally identified as the Transfiguration Scene as decribed in the 5th century Transitus Beatae Mariae Virginis but Richard France, a New Testament scholar noted that Mount Hermon is closest to Caesarea Philippi,as mentioned in the previous chapter of Matthew.
*Samyaza. Samyaza is most likely another name for Satan (Heb: ‘the adversary‘), who was originally an entity created in the service of God; he was the caretaker of God’s throne, but later fell from the heavens because of his pride according to Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:12-18. Jesus states that he saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning in Luke 10:18. His name could be read as, ‘infamous rebellion’, rather fitting since he was originally the most powerful angel in heaven but then he sinned by rebelling against God.He said to have taught Men Herbal Enchanments and Medicine.
*Azazel.One of the chief Angels that descended in Mount Hermon. “And Azazel taught men to make swords and knives and shields and breastplates; and made known to them the metals [of the earth] and the art of working them; and bracelets and ornaments; and the use of antimony and the beautifying of the eyelids; and all kinds of costly stones and all colouring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray and became corrupt in all their ways.”Enoch 8 1-3
*Caleb.son of Jephunneh, an important figure in the Hebrew Bible noted for his faith in God.
*Uriel.One of the Archangels whose Hebrew name translates to “the Fire of God”.
The Tribe of Dan
“Dan is a loin`s whelp; he shall leap from Bashan”(Deut.33:22), “ A serpent in the way, an adder in the path.”(Gen. 49:17)
According to the Book of the Judges the Danites relocated to the northern reaches of the Promised Land and settled at the foot of Mount Hermon in the territory of Bashan and adopted the Canaanite religion of Baal and Ashtaroth, eventually they left the area and become the “Lost Tribe”.
The Acheans, one of the collective names used for the Greeks in Homer’s Iliad or sometimes referred to as the Danaans established the same religious practices that the Danites adopted in Mount Hermon.The Greek Mythology is an elaborate reinvention of the Danite religion , the Acheans called their messenger of the gods “Hermes”, a variation of Hermon whom the Romans thereafter called Mercury. Hermes has a son named Pan which today is assumed by some as the corruption of the name Dan. Today, Caesarea Philippi is called Banias as there is no “P” sound in the Arabic Language. The older form was “Paneas”, meaning the city of Pan, a pagan god that was worshiped there. Eventually, it was renamed Caesarea Philippi in 4B.C. The area became the tetrarchy of Herod`s son Philippus and remained until the reign of Nero.
Pan means “all things, all god or all life”. Therefore, when the Romans built a temple to honour all their gods, they called it the “Pantheon” (from Pan, the son of Hermes and `theo´ meaning gods. This concludes that Mount Hermon, with its infamous “fallen angels” has been absorbed into the mythologies of other ancient cultures.
Early theologians like Hippolytus and Irenaeus said that the AntiChrist would come from the tribe of Dan, the Greek King Alexander the Great claimed to be born of the “seed of a serpent”, and the Roman Emperor Nero seemed to have descended from the Danites.When he came to rule the Roman Empire, he renamed Ceasaria Philippi “Neronias” or the city of Nero in honor of himself.
The Prophet Elijah and Baalhermon
Elijah or Elias is a 9th century B.C. prophet that appears in the Christian Bible, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, Misnah andd Qu`ran. According to the Books of Kings, Elijah raised the dead, brought fire down from the sky, and ascended into heaven by a whirlwind. In the New Testament, both Jesus and John the Baptist are on some occasions thought to be Elijah. He is also one of two Old Testament figures,along with Moses who appeared and conversed with Jesus during the Transfiguration.
Perhaps, the best known story about the prophet is his challenge against Baal on behalf of the God of Israel. Elijah’s challenge, uncharacteristic of his behaviour in other episodes of his story in the Bible, is bold and direct–Baal was the local nature deity responsible for rain, thunder, lightning, and dew. Elijah not only challenges Baal, but also Ahab, the king of Israel ands Ahab`s wife, Queen Jezebel who is also the high priestess of Baal and the people of Israel.
“Hear, O daughter, consider, and incline your ear; forget your people and your father’s house; and the king will desire your beauty. Since he is your lord, bow to him; the people of Tyre will sue your favor with gifts. (Psalms 45:10-12)”
As the legend goes, Ahab had a temple of Baal erected following his marriage to Jezebel, and she brought in a large entourage of priests and prophets of Baal into the country.Elijah then confronted Ahab and his queen, and prophecized the coming drought, “a drought so sever, not even a dew will fall…”(1 King 17:1).Following this confrontation, Elijah flees to a brook near Cherith, east of Jordan where he was fed by the ravens and afterwards sought refuge in a house of a widow in the town of Zarephath in Phoenicia.
On the contrary, other versions of this story points us back to the cave on top of Mount Hermon, a few meters away from the temple of Baal.In summer times, the cave is filled with litters of food among others, left by the pilgrims coming from Lebanon who have climbed the mountain to honor the prophet.Some of them claim that there is another cave underneath the Temple of Baal.And if they are right, it might explain the stairs that led down to the earth.Legend tells that Elijah stayed here to discourage , disuade and to ward off the pagan followers (another versions speaks of Mount Carmel in Israel, however, the place is not high enough to be considered a holy place and there are no traces of a Baalshamin Sanctuary) .
The Ravens
The ravens that have fed Elijah have been queried, the Hebrew text (1 King17:1-6) uses the word that would mean `raven´, but in a different vocalization would equally mean `arabs´.Alternatives followed after the years of objections to the traditional translation that ravens are ritually unclean (Leviticus 11:13-17), as well as physically dirty; it is difficult to imagine any method of delivery of the food which is not disgusting.
Prof. John Gray on the other hand chose the word arab and his translation of the verse goes: And the word of Yahweh came to Elijah saying, Go hence and turn eastward and hide thyself in the Wadi Kerith east of the Jordan, and it shall be that thou shalt drink of the wadi, and I have commanded the Arabs to feed thee there. And he went and did according to the word of Yahweh and went and dwelt in the Wadi Kerith east of the Jordan. And the Arabs brought him bread in the morning and flesh in the evening and he would drink of the wadi.
The Challenge
Elijah proposes a test of the powers of Baal and the God of Israel. The people of Israel, 450 prophets of Baal, and 400 prophets of Asherah are summoned to Mount Hermon(Mount Carmel?), two altars are built, one for Baal and one for the God of Israel. Wood is laid on the altars. Two oxen are slaughtered and cut into pieces; the pieces are laid on the wood. Elijah then invites the priests of Baal to pray for fire to light the sacrifice. They pray from morning to noon without success. Elijah ridicules their efforts. They respond by cutting themselves and adding their own blood to the sacrifice. They continue praying until evening without success.
Elijah orders that the altar of the God of Israel be drenched with water. He asks God to accept the sacrifice. Fire falls from the sky, igniting the sacrifice. Elijah seizes the moment and orders the death of the prophets of Baal. The rains begin, signaling the end of the famine.
Scholars think that the account represents a more legendary description of a storm, during which the altar on Mount Hermon was struck by lightning; rather than a prayer for fire, scholars think that the account of Elijah’s actions at the altar actually describes a rain-making ritual.Also, there is no biblical reason to assume that the account of Elijah’s victory refers to any particular part of Mount Carmel, scholars found an altar in the area that is assumed to be the prophet`s altar, but in the end, all points to the highest venerate mountain of Baal, Mount Hermon.
* Jezebel.daughter of the king of Sidon in Phoenicia.
Mount Hermon Today 
The Israeli region is governed by the Golan Heights Law.It also contains the country`s only skiing area.The Syrian government also revealed plans of a multi billion ski resort in the slopes of the mountain. Since 1996, a small group of Lebanese pilgrims led by Michel Malik of Rashaya, have climbed to the top of Mount Hermon annually for the feast of Jesus’ transfiguration on August 6. The group includes Christians of various denominations as well as Druze. Inspite its religious diversity, the group is Christ-centered, and most of its members participate in the Maronite mass celebrated on the mountaintop. At the moment, no further archeological, historical or religious expeditions has been made but as it seems, peace is somehow slowly achieved despite the darkness of the mountains past.
Ma. Zoe Razel C. Pittracher
United Nations Golan Journal
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