merom Summary and Overview

height, a lake in Northern Israel through which the Jordan flows. It was the scene of the third and last great victory gained by Joshua over the Canaanites (Josh. 11:5-7). It is not again mentioned in Scripture. Its modern name is Bakrat el-Huleh. "The Ard el-Huleh, the centre of which the lake occupies, is a nearly level plain of 16 miles in length from north to south, and its breadth from east to west is from 7 to 8 miles. On the west it is walled in by the steep and lofty range of the hills of Kedesh-Naphtali; on the east it is bounded by the lower and more gradually ascending slopes of Bashan; on the north it is shut in by a line of hills hummocky and irregular in shape and of no great height, and stretching across from the mountains of Naphtali to the roots of Mount Hermon, which towers up at the NEern angle of the plain to a height of 10,000 feet. At its southern extremity the plain is similarly traversed by elevated and broken ground, through which, by deep and narrow clefts, the Jordan, after passing through Lake Huleh, makes its rapid descent to the Sea of Galilee." The lake is triangular in form, about 4 1/2 miles in length by 3 1/2 at its greatest breadth. Its surface is 7 feet above that of the Mediterranean. It is surrounded by a morass, which is thickly covered with canes and papyrus reeds, which are impenetrable. Macgregor with his canoe, the Rob Roy, was the first that ever, in modern times, sailed on its waters. (See JORDAN T0002112.)

(high place), The waters of, a lake formed by the river Jordan, about ten miles north of the Sea of Galilee. It is a place memorable in the history of the conquest of Israel. Here Joshua completely routed the confederacy of the northern chiefs under Jabin. #Jos 11:5,7| It is a remarkable fact that though by common consent "the waters of Merom" are identified with the lake thorough which the Jordan runs between Banias and the Sea of Galilee --the Bahr el-Huleh of the modern Arabs-- Yet that identity cannot be proved by any ancient record. In form the lake is not far from a triangle, base being at the north and the apex at the south. It measures about three miles in each direction, and eleven feet deep. The water is clear and sweet; it is covered in parts by a broad-leaved plant, and abounds in water-fowl. (The northern part is a dense swamp of papyrus reeds, as large as the lake itself. See "Rob Roy on the Jordan." --ED.)

ME'ROM , WATERS OF (waters of the high place), the name of a lake in the northern part of Palestine, where Joshua crushed the confederacy of the northern tribes under Jabin. Josh 11:5, 1 Kgs 15:7. It is usually identified with "Lake Samachonitis" of Josephus and the modern el-Huleh of the Arabs, though Grove, Keil, and some others question this identification. Lake Huleh is 11 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. It is triangular in shape, about 6 miles long, 3 1/2 miles wide, 11 feet deep, and 270 feet below the Mediterranean, and is covered in parts by several acres of papyrus. The marsh around it is about 10 miles long, and is covered with reeds and rushes, but on the west there is a beautiful and fertile plain. The lake abounds in wild duck, pelican, and other fowl. On the north is an impenetrable jungle, the wallowing-place of buffaloes. The miasma from the marshes renders the district very unhealthy. (See cut, p. 564.) Lake Huleh, or Waters of Merom, from the South-west.