mount Summary and Overview

Israel is a hilly country (Deut. 3:25; 11:11; Ezek. 34:13). West of Jordan the mountains stretch from Lebanon far down into Galilee, terminating in Carmel. The isolated peak of Tabor rises from the elevated plain of Esdraelon, which, in the south, is shut in by hills spreading over the greater part of Samaria. The mountains of Western and Middle Israel do not extend to the sea, but gently slope into plains, and toward the Jordan fall down into the Ghor. East of the Jordan the Anti-Lebanon, stretching south, terminates in the hilly district called Jebel Heish, which reaches down to the Sea of Gennesareth. South of the river Hieromax there is again a succession of hills, which are traversed by wadies running toward the Jordan. These gradually descend to a level at the river Arnon, which was the boundary of the ancient trans-Jordanic territory toward the south. The composition of the Palestinian hills is limestone, with occasional strata of chalk, and hence the numerous caves, some of large extent, found there.

#Isa 29:3; Jer 6:6| etc. [SIEGE]

MOUNT or MOUNTAIN the translation of three words, of which the commonest, like our word, applies to both a single mountain and a range. The mountains mentioned in the Bible are Sinai, Ebal, Gerizim, Zion, and Olivet, and the range of Lebanon. Eze 18:6. Worship upon mountains was forbidden. Dean Stanley gives (Sinai and Palestine) the following list, quoted in Ayre's Treasury of Bible Knowledge, of Hebrew words used in reference to mountains or hills. It will be noticed the majority are in common use with us: "Head, rosh, Gen 8:5; Ex 19:20; Deut 34:1; 1 Kgs 18:42 (A.V. 'top'). Of a hill (gibeah), Ex 17:9-10. "Ears, aznoth, Aznoth-tabor, Josh 19:34; possibly in allusion to some projection on the top of the mountain. "Shoulder, chuteph, Deut 33:12; Josh 15:8; Josh 18:16 ('side'), all referring to the hills on which Jerusalem is placed. Josh 15:10, 'the side of Mount Jearim.' "Side, tzad (see the word for the 'side' of a man in 2 Sam 2:16; Eze 4:4, etc.). Used in reference to a mountain in 1 Sam 23:26; 2 Sam 13:34. "Loins or flanks, chisloth, Chisloth-tabor. Josh 19:12, and occurs also in the name of a village, probably situated on this part of the mountain, Ha-chesulloth - i.e. the 'loins,' Josh 19:18. "Rib, tzelah. Only used once, in speaking of the Mount of Olives, 2 Sam 16:13, and there translated "side.' "Back, shechem. Probably the root of the name of the town Shechem, which may be derived from its situation, as it were, on the back of Gerizim. "Elbow, ammah. The same word as that for 'cubit.' It occurs in 2 Sam 2:24 as the name of a hill near Gibeon. "Thigh, yarchah (see the word for the 'thigh' of a man in Jud 3:16,2 Chr 11:21), Applied to Mount Ephraim, Jud 19:1, 1 Sam 30:18, and to Lebanon. 2 Kgs 19:23; Isa 37:24. Used also for the 'sides' of a cave. 1 Sam 24:3. "The word translated 'covert' in 1 Sam 25:20 is aether, from eathar, to hide, ... and probably refers to the shrubbery or thicket through which Abigail's path lay. In this passage 'hill' should be 'mountain.'"

On the northern border of Judah (Joshua 15:10). see CHESALON (Kesla) was its shoulder, seven miles W. of Jerusalem, between wady Ghurab and w. Ismail. Wady Ghurab separates from it Kirjath Jeerira, which is two miles and a half to the N J. means "forests"; it still has lonely dark woods.