The strategic significance of Mount Hermon on Israel's northern border
Besides being a military asset, Mount Hermon has held sacred significance for millennia, appearing in the Bible 15 times
Towering to a height of 2,814 meters (9,232 feet) Mount Hermon is situated in the very northeastern part of Israel. The mountain ridge runs along the border between Lebanon and Syria with the southern part of the mountain descending into Israel's Golan Heights.
Today, Israelis think of Mount Hermon primarily as a ski resort, since much of the year there is snow on the slope, which reaches 2040 meters (almost 6,700 feet) above sea level within Israeli territory.
However, recent images of IDF troops at the summit in Syria have made headlines, following the fall of the Assad regime.
The Israeli Air Force’s elite Shaldag unit has reached the Syrian side of the mountain and deployed troops to create a defensive buffer zone, which included the Jabal al-Sheikh outpost at the peak of Mount Hermon. The Israeli commandos found the posts empty and faced no resistance due to the collapse and withdrawal of the Syrian army.
While visiting the Golan Heights on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, “This is a historic day in the annals of the Middle East,” adding, “We are first and foremost acting to secure our borders. This area was defined for nearly 50 years as a buffer zone under the 1974 Disengagement Agreement, which has now collapsed. Syrian forces have abandoned their posts.”
The prime minister explained, “Together with the defense minister, and with full backing from the cabinet, I instructed the IDF yesterday to take control of the buffer zone and the nearby dominant positions. We will not allow any hostile force to establish a presence on our border. At the same time, we are pursuing a policy of good neighborliness, the same approach we maintained when we set up a field hospital here that treated thousands of Syrians injured during the civil war. Hundreds of Syrian children were born here in Israel.”
Due to the height of the mountain which overlooks Israel, Lebanon and Syria, the summit is a strategic asset for observation and defense.
On Saturday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt,-Gen. Herzi Halevi said Israel was "monitoring to ensure that local elements aren't moving in our direction," and preparing for a "very strong offensive and defensive response" if required.
As well as being a military asset, Mount Hermon has held sacred significance for millennia, appearing in the Bible 15 times. We are told Mount Hermon is also known as Sirion and Senir in the Bible (Deuteronomy 3:9) most likely referring to different peaks of the same mountain range. The Book of Joshua describes how the Israelites conquered the territory up to and including Mount Hermon, which represents the northern border of Israel, as it is today.
Mount Hermon is also referred to in poetic literature, three times in the Psalms as a source of joy and hope, and also appears in the Song of Solomon. The most famous reference is found in Psalm 133 in the context of brotherly love and unity that brings God’s blessing.
The ancient Jewish apocryphal Book of Enoch, quoted in Titus 1:12 and Jude 1:14–15, describes Mount Hermon as being the place where rebellious angels came to earth to take women for themselves, whose descendants were known as Nephilim as described in Genesis 6.
Enoch 6:6 states: “And they were in all two hundred; who descended ⌈in the days⌉ of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it.”
Caesarea Philippi, in the foothills of Mount Hermon, is the place where Jesus referred to the “Gates of Hell” in Matthew 16. It was dominated by pagan worship, particularly of the Greek god Pan, and was a hotbed of pagan activity like a gateway to the underworld. It was here that Jesus told Peter that even the “gates of hell” could not prevail over the church he was building, giving hope that good may prevail even in the darkest of places.
The word Hermon has connotations of sanctity. It comes from the Hebrew root חרם which can mean devoted, or given over for sacred purposes. It can equally mean prohibited, accursed, or even destroyed for instance when God instructed Israel to “devote to destruction” for God’s purposes in Deuteronomy 20:17. Its ancient history then seems to have both good and bad connotations.
Just as hopes have been expressed that there will be “good neighborliness” between Israel and Syria, the rapidly changing situation could go either way. Let’s hope and pray for a season of brotherly love as described in Psalm 133:
Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!
It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.
Jo Elizabeth has a great interest in politics and cultural developments, studying Social Policy for her first degree and gaining a Masters in Jewish Philosophy from Haifa University, but she loves to write about the Bible and its primary subject, the God of Israel. As a writer, Jo spends her time between the UK and Jerusalem, Israel.
