lebanon Summary and Overview

white, "the white mountain of Syria," is the loftiest and most celebrated mountain range in Syria. It is a branch running southward from the Caucasus, and at its lower end forking into two parallel ranges, the eastern or Anti-Lebanon, and the western or Lebanon proper. They enclose a long valley (Josh. 11:17) of from 5 to 8 miles in width, called by Roman writers Coele-Syria, now called el-Buka'a, "the valley," a prolongation of the valley of the Jordan. Lebanon proper, Jebel es-Sharki, commences at its southern extremity in the gorge of the Leontes, the ancient Litany, and extends NE, parallel to the Mediterranean coast, as far as the river Eleutherus, at the plain of Emesa, "the entering of Hamath" (Num. 34:8; 1 Kings 8:65), in all about 90 geographical miles in extent. The average height of this range is from 6,000 to 8,000 feet; the peak of Jebel Mukhmel is about 10,200 feet, and the Sannin about 9,000. The highest peaks are covered with perpetual snow and ice. In the recesses of the range wild beasts as of old still abound (2 Kings 14:9; Cant. 4:8). The scenes of the Lebanon are remarkable for their grandeur and beauty, and supplied the sacred writers with many expressive similes (Ps. 29:5, 6; 72:16; 104:16-18; Cant. 4:15; Isa. 2:13; 35:2; 60:13; Hos. 14:5). It is famous for its cedars (Cant. 5:15), its wines (Hos. 14:7), and its cool waters (Jer. 18:14). The ancient inhabitants were Giblites and Hivites (Josh. 13:5; Judg. 3:3). It was part of the Phoenician kingdom (1 Kings 5:2-6). The eastern range, or Anti-Lebanon, or "Lebanon towards the sunrising," runs nearly parallel with the western from the plain of Emesa till it connects with the hills of Galilee in the south. The height of this range is about 5,000 feet. Its highest peak is Hermon (q.v.), from which a number of lesser ranges radiate. Lebanon is first mentioned in the description of the boundary of Israel (Deut. 1:7; 11:24). It was assigned to Israel, but was never conquered (Josh. 13:2-6; Judg. 3:1-3). The Lebanon range is now inhabited by a population of about 300,000 Christians, Maronites, and Druses, and is ruled by a Christian governor. The Anti-Lebanon is inhabited by Mohammedans, and is under a Turkish ruler.

a mountain range in the north of Israel. The name Lebanon signifies white, and was applied either on account of snow which, during a great part of the year, cover its whole summit, or on account of the white color of its limestone cliffs and peaks. It is the "white mountain" --the Mont Blane of Israel. Lebanon is represented in Scripture as lying upon the northern border of the land of Israel. #De 1:7; 11:24; Jos 1:4| Two distinct ranges bear this name. They run in parallel lines from southwest to northeast for about 90 geographical miles, enclosing between them a long, fertile valley from five to eight miles wide, anciently called Coele-Syria. The western range is the "Libanus" of the old geographers and the Lebanon of Scripture. The eastern range was called "Anti-Libanus" by geographers, and "Lebanon toward the sunrising" by the sacred writers. #Jos 13:5| 1. Lebanon --the western range-- commences on the south of the deep ravine of the Litany, the ancient river Leontes, which drains the valley of Cole-Syria, and falls into the Mediterranean five miles north of Tyre. It runs northeast in a straight line parallel to the coast, to the opening from the Mediterranean into the plain of Emesa, called in Scripture the "entrance of Hamath." #Nu 34:8| Here Nehr el-Kebir --the ancient river Eleutherus-- sweeps round its northern end, as the Leontes does round its southern. The average elevation of the range is from 6000 to 8000 feet; but two peaks rise considerably higher. On the summits of both these peaks the snow remains in patches during the whole summer. The line of cultivation runs along at the height of about 6000 feet; and below this the features of the western slopes are entirely different. The rugged limestone banks are scantily clothed with the evergreen oak, and the sandstone with pines; while every available spot is carefully cultivated. The cultivation is wonderful, and shows what all Syria might be if under a good government. Fig trees cling to the naked rock; vines are trained along narrow ledges; long ranges of mulberries, on terraces like steps of stairs, cover the more gentle declivities; and dense groves of olives fill up the bottoms of the glens. Hundreds of villages are seen-- here built among labyrinths of rocks, there clinging like among labyrinths of rocks, there clinging like swallows' nests to the sides of cliffs; while convents, no less numerous, are perched on the top of every peak. The vine is still largely cultivated in every part of the mountain. Lebanon also abounds in olives, figs and mulberries; while some remnants exist of the forests of pine, oak and cedar which formerly covered it. #1Ki 5:6; Ezr 3:7; Ps 29:5; Isa 14:8| Considerable numbers of wild beasts still inhabit its retired glens and higher peaks; the writer has seen jackals, hyaenas, wolves, bears and panthers. #2Ki 14:9; So 4:8|; Habb 2:17 Along the base of Lebanon runs the irregular plain of Phoenicia --nowhere more than two miles wide, and often interrupted by bold rocky spurs that dip into the sea. The main ridge of Lebanon is composed of Jura limestone, and abounds in fossils. Long belts of more recent sandstone run along the western slopes, which are in places largely impregnated with iron. Lebanon was originally inhabited by the Hivites and Giblites. #Jos 13:5,6; Jud 3:3| The whole mountain range was assigned to the Israelites, but was never conquered by them. #Jos 13:2-6; Jud 3:1-3| During the Jewish monarchy it appears to have been subject of the Phoenicians. #1Ki 5:2-6; Ezr 3:7| From the Greek conquest until modern times Lebanon had no separate history. 2. Anti-Libanus. --The main chain of Anti-Libanus commences in the plateau of Bashan, near the parallel of Caesarea Philippi, runs north to Hermon, and then northeast in a straight line till it stinks down into the great plain of Emesa, not far from the site of Riblah. Hermon is the loftiest peak; the next highest is a few miles north of the site of Abila, beside the village of Bludan, and has an elevation of about 7000 feet. The rest of the ridge averages about 5000 feet; it is in general bleak and barren, with shelving gray declivities, gray cliffs and gray rounded summits. Here and there we meet with thin forests of dwarf oak and juniper. The western slopes descend abruptly into the Buka'a; but the features of the eastern are entirely different. Three side ridges here radiate from Hermon, like the ribs of an open fan, and form the supporting walls of three great terraces. Anti-Libanus is only once distinctly mentioned in Scripture, where it is accurately described as "Lebanon toward the sunrising." #Jos 13:5|

LEB'ANON (exceeding white, viz., with snow, as Mont Blanc), a double mountain-range to the north of Palestine, consisting of a western chain, Lebanon proper, and an eastern, "Lebanon toward the sun-rising," Josh 13:5; or by classic writers, Anti-Libanus, and enclosing a valley from 5 to 8 miles broad -- "the valley of Lebanon," Josh 11:17; or by classic writers, Coelo-Syria, the present El-Bukua, which connects to the north with the valley of the Orontes, and to the south with the valley of the Jordan. The western range, the Lebanon proper, begins on the north near the banks of the Eleutherus, which passes through the plain of Emesa, the "entrance of Hamath," Num 34:8, to the Mediterranean, and runs for a distance of 90 geographical miles, in the direction from north-east to south-west, parallel with the Mediterranean, to the banks of the Litany, the ancient Leontes, which, draining Coelo-Syria and breaking through the Lebanon by a wild gorge, enters the Mediterranean a few miles north of Tyre. The average height of this range is from 6000 to 8000 feet. Its highest peaks are Jebel Mukhmel, 10,200 feet, and Sannin, 9000 feet. The line of cultivation runs at an elevation of about 6000 feet. The peaks which pass beyond this line are generally barren and covered with small fragments of limestone, through which the naked rocks jut up in jagged points. The highest of them, however, are covered with perpetual snow and ice, towering aloft in their glittering magnificence, visible far off by sea and by land, and sending forth streams of cooled air over the scorched plains of Syria and Palestine. The eastern descent toward Coelo-Syria is steep, wild, often forbidding; but to View of Lebanon from the Sea. the west the Lebanon descends gradually through broad terraces to the Mediterranean, generally facing the sea with ranges of bold limestone cliffs. Everywhere broken by the sudden rise of high peaks of rock or rent by deep precipices and ravines, these terraces present a most romantic prospect, and the beauty of the country is still more enhanced by the salubrity of the air and the fertility of the soil; by the luxuriant vegetation which covers all forms; pine, oak, and Cedar (which see) on the peaks; mulberry and orange trees, figs, vines, corn, and melons on the slopes; olive and cotton trees in the valleys, besides a multitude of fragrant herbs and gorgeous flowers. "The smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon," Cant. Song 4:11. The eastern chain, the Anti-Lebanon, runs nearly parallel with the western from the plain of Emesa until, in the south, it connects with the hills of Galilee. Its highest point is Mount Hermon (which see). Its western descent toward Coelo-Syria is abrupt and steep; to the east it gradually sinks into the plains of the desert. Its general aspect is bleak and barren, the abode of wild beasts and birds of prey. From both ranges numerous rivers descend -- the Eleutherus, Leontes, Jordan, Abana, and Pharpar (which see); and the cold-flowing waters of the springs and streams of Lebanon were and are still proverbial. Lebanon, the land of which Moses said, "I pray thee let me go over and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon," Deut 3:25, was in the oldest times inhabited by the Hivites and Giblites, Jud 3:3; Josh 13:5-6, of whom the latter built the city of Gebal, the Greek Byblus, the present Jebail. The land was assigned to the Israelites, but never conquered by them. Josh 13:2-6; Jud 3:1-3. It "stood under Phoenician rule. 1 Kgs 5:2-6; Ezr 3:7. In the times of David and Solomon, however, the Jews became quite intimately acquainted with the country, and the deep impression it made on them is apparent throughout the books of the O.T. Its cedars. Cant. Am 5:15, its wines, Hos 14:7, its cold waters, Jer 18:14, etc., are repeatedly mentioned, and from it the sacred writers very frequently take the materials for their most striking similes. Ps 72:16; Ps 29:5-6; Ps 104:16-18; Isa 35:2; Isa 60:13; Zech 11:1-2, etc. Anti-Lebanon stood under the rule of Damascus, though in the southern part several fierce tribes remained independent up to a very late date. 1 Chr 5:19-23. When the whole region came under the sway of the Seleucidae, b.c. 312-65, several large and important cities were built here, such as Laodicaea, Chalcis, Abila, etc. (which see), and as a Roman province the prosperity of the country still increased, as the ruins of Chalcis and Baalbek show. Also, during the wars with the Saracens and Turks, it remained comparatively undisturbed, and it is now inhabited by some 200,000 or 300,000 Christians, Maronites, and Druses. In Anti-Lebanon, however, most of the inhabitants are Mohammedans, and the governor is a Turkish offcial of the common stamp; while the governor of Lebanon is a Christian, and his position is guaranteed by the powers of Europe.

"exceeding white", namely, with snow, as Mont Blanc. In Hebrew Lebanon, related to "alp". The double mountain range N. of Israel, running in parallel lines from S.W. to N.E., having between the fertile valley anciently called Coelosyria, now El Beka'a (where are the grand ruins of the temple of the sun), about six or seven miles wide, "the valley of Lebanon" (Joshua 11:17). The range is about 80 miles long, 15 broad. It forms the northern head of the Jordan valley and the southern head of the Orontes valley. (See HAMATH.) The western range is the region of the Hivites and Giblites (Joshua 13:5; Judges 3:3). (See GIBLITES.) The eastern range was Antilibanus, or "Lebanon toward the sunrising." The wady et Teim separates the southern part of Antilibanus from Lebanon and also from the Galilee hills. The river Leontes (Litany) sweeps round its southern end, and drains Coelo-Syria, falling into the Mediterranean five miles N. of Tyre. Lebanon runs parallel to the coast in the plain of Emesa opening from the Mediterranean, in Scripture "the entering in (i.e. entrance) of Hamath" (1 Kings 8:75). The river Eleutherus (nahr el Kebir) here sweeps round its northern end. The average height is 7,000 ft. But one peak, Dhor el Khodib, N. of the cedars, is 10,051 ft.; and Hermon in Antilebanon is 10,125 ft.. Lebanon is of grey limestone, with belts of recent sandstone along the western slopes. Eastward in the glens of Antilibanus flow toward Damascus Abana (Barada) and Pharpar (nahr el Awaj). All that now represents Hiram's cedar forests is the cluster called "the cedars," 6,172 ft. above the sea, in the center of the vast recess or semicircle formed by the highest summits of Lebanon above the deep valley of the sacred river Kadisha. frontCEDARS.) Odorous flowers and aromatic shrubs and vines still yield" the smell of Lebanon" wafted by the mountain breeze (Song of Solomon 4:11). The line of cultivation runs at the height of 6,000 ft. Every available space is utilized for figtrees, vines, mulberry trees, and olives. Numerous villages nestle amidst the rocks. The trees striking their roots into the fissures of rocks illustrate Hosea 14:5, "Israel shall strike forth his roots as Lebanon." Lebanon is a delightful retreat from the sultry heat of the plains and of Israel, cooled as it is by the snows which crown its peaks. Jeremiah (Jeremiah 18:14) asks, "will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field (a poetical name for Lebanon towering above the surrounding plain)? Or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place (from the distant rocks) be forsaken?" None. Yet Israel forsakes Jehovah the living fountain, ever near, for broken cisterns. Hyaenas, panthers, jackals, wolves, and bears still haunt its glens and peaks (compare Song of Solomon 4:8; 2 Kings 14:9). The river Adonis (nahr Ibrahim) springs from a cave beneath the high peak Sunnin. The plain of Phoenicia, two miles wide, runs at the base of Lebanon between it and the sea. The eastern slopes are less abrupt and fertile than the western. Maronite Christians people the northern part of the range; Druses abound more in the southern. Lebanon was assigned to Israel, but never conquered (Joshua 13:2-6; Judges 3:1-3). It was under the Phoenicians in Solomon's time and subsequently (1 Kings 5:2-6; Ezra 3:7). Antilibanus is less peopled than Lebanon, and has more wild beasts: Song of Solomon 4:8, "look from the top of Amana, from ... Shenir and Hermon ... the lions' den ... the mountains of the leopards," referring to the two higher peaks, Hermon, and that near the fountain of Abana, where panthers still are found. "The tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus" is Hermon (Song of Solomon 7:4).