Hermon חרמן: Mountain of Names, Oaths, and Reversal
Mount Hermon (חרמן ḥermōn) dominates the northern horizon of ancient Israel as a snow-capped sentinel (2,814 m). Scripture places Hermon at the western end of Lebanon/Anti-Lebanon (Deuteronomy 3:8; Joshua 11:3, 17), and preserves its alternative names: Sirion (Sidonian) and Senir (Amorite) (Deuteronomy 3:9; Ezekiel 27:5; Song of Songs 4:8; 1 Chronicles 5:23). The mountain served as a frontier landmark, a cultic magnet, and—in later Jewish tradition—the stage for the oath of the watchers (1 Enoch 6), a tradition Heiser highlights in Reversing Hermon as crucial for reading certain New Testament scenes.
Names and Etymology: Hermon, Sirion, and Senir
Scholars debate the root of Hermon. Two options frequently discussed:
ḥrm I (Niph.) “to be split”—possibly evoking the massif’s dramatic separation from Lebanon.
ḥrm II (Hiph./Hoph.) “to devote/ban”—overlapping with the notion of ḥerem (devoted, consecrated, even to destruction), suggesting a consecrated height.
The –ōn ending may mirror lĕbānôn in form. Scripture preserves regional equivalents—Sirion (Sidonian) and Senir (Amorite)—anchoring Hermon in a web of West Semitic and imperial references (Assyrian annals name related forms), and marking the mountain as a cross-cultural sacred high place.
Key biblical anchors: Deuteronomy 3:8–9; Joshua 11:3, 17; Ezekiel 27:5; Song 4:8; 1 Chronicles 5:23.
Geography, Peoples, and Cult: From Baal Hermon to Zeus Megistos
Biblically, Hermon borders territories of Hivites and the realm of Og of Bashan (Joshua 12:5; Judges 3:3). It functions as the northern frontier for Israel’s Transjordan inheritance (Deuteronomy 3:8; Joshua 11:17). Place-names preserve a cultic profile: Baal Hermon (Judges 3:3; 1 Chronicles 5:23). Psalms poetically pair Tabor and Hermon as rejoicing in the divine Name (Psalm 89:12 [Eng. v. 12]); Psalm 133 pictures dew “from Hermon,” linking the mountain’s abundance to Zion’s blessing.
Hellenistic–Roman remains reinforce Hermon’s sacral aura:
Qasr ʿAntar (summit) with an oval temenos and an inscription “to the greatest and holy god,” invoking oath-swearing.
Inscriptions to Zeus Megistos (the Greek face of Baal Hermon).
Nearby shrines to Leukothea (likely a local Astarte expression) and Helios.
Even in late antiquity, Eusebius notes ongoing veneration. The archaeology and epigraphy fit the Bible’s picture of Hermon as a holy high place with persistent cross-cultural cult.
Second-Temple Traditions: Oath, Watchers, and the Nephilim
1 Enoch 6 locates the pivotal oath of the watchers—the rebellious “sons of God”—on Mount Hermon. They swear together to descend, take human wives, and beget Nephilim, unleashing violence and illicit knowledge (cf. Genesis 6:1–4). The name Hermon is linked in the Enochic story with ḥerem-like devotion by oath (they “bound themselves by curses”), reinforcing the consecrated/forbidden character of the site.
Heiser’s Reversing Hermon underscores how this watchers/Nephilim backstory shaped Jewish and early Christian theology of evil, chaos, and judgment. He traces the threads from 1 Enoch into canonical texts that assume the watcher-tradition:
2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 6 speak of angels who sinned kept “in chains,” reflecting the Enochic transgression.
The cosmic geography around Bashan (realm of Og; Deuteronomy 3; Psalm 68:15–22) is read as hostile territory—a stage for God’s victory over spiritual powers.
In this reading, Hermon becomes emblematic of an oath-anchored rebellion that Christ must publicly reverse.
“Reversing Hermon” in the Gospels: Gates, Confession, and Glory
Heiser argues that Jesus strategically confronts the powers in the Hermon/Bashan theater:
1) Caesarea Philippi (Banias) and the “gates of Hades” (Matthew 16:13–20).
At the base of Mount Hermon, Caesarea Philippi (near the Pan grotto) housed shrines to Pan and other gods; the cave’s abyss was locally associated with underworld imagery. Here, Jesus elicits Peter’s confession: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” He promises that “the gates of Hades will not prevail” against his ekklēsia. In Heiser’s framing, this is a direct challenge to the domain of death and the principalities traditionally tied to Hermon’s spiritual history—a reversal at the foot of the mountain of oaths.
2) The “high mountain” of the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1–8; Mark 9:2–8; Luke 9:28–36).
Immediately after the Caesarea Philippi confession, Jesus ascends a very high mountain—plausibly Hermon—and is transfigured before Peter, James, and John. Moses and Elijah appear; the glory-voice affirms the Son. Whether one takes the site to be Hermon or another peak, the narrative logic places Christ’s glory and sonship in geographical dialogue with Hermon’s oath: the true Son stands over against the sons of God who sinned. In Heiser’s reading, the Transfiguration publicly proclaims the end of the watchers’ claim and the reclamation of cosmic ground.
Together, the confession and Transfiguration frame a kingdom declaration: the Messiah binds the strong man, will conquer death and Hades (Revelation 1:18), and will disinherit the powers that once tyrannized the nations (cf. Psalm 82; Deuteronomy 32:8–9 as read in Second-Temple tradition).
Hermon, Bashan, and the Psalms: From Threat to Triumph
Psalm 68:15–22 contrasts Bashan’s many-peaked mountains with Zion, announcing Yahweh’s victory as he “ascends on high” (v. 18; echoed in Ephesians 4:8). Psalm 22:12–21 (with bulls/bashi n imagery in some readings) and Deuteronomy 3 (the defeat of Og of Bashan) situate the northern heights as a symbolic foe-land that God subdues. Psalm 89 and Psalm 133 invert the mountain’s associations: Hermon and Tabor herald God’s Name; the dew of Hermon becomes a sign of unity and blessing on Zion—an image of reversal in itself.
Theological Synthesis: From Oath-Mountain to Gospel-Mountain
Read canonically with Second-Temple lenses, Hermon functions as:
A frontier: geographic (north), political (borders of Og/Bashan), and spiritual (cosmic boundary).
A cultic memory-palace: Baal Hermon, Zeus Megistos, Helios, Leukothea—then the watchers’ oath (1 Enoch 6).
A reversal theater: Jesus identifies himself as the Christ near Hermon, proclaims the collapse of Hades’ gates, and is transfigured in unborrowed glory, signaling the unseating of rebellious powers.
In light of the Gospel, Hermon חרמן becomes a witness to Christ’s present kingship. The unnatural union of heaven and earth that produced Nephilim (Genesis 6:1–4; cf. Jude 6) is condemned and undone by the holy union of God and humanity in the incarnation (John 1:14). What was sworn in oath on Hermon finds its counter-oath at the cross and empty tomb: Jesus is Lord. The ekklesia advances not by sacred geography but by the Word and Spirit, yet the geography bears witness—Hermon once staged oath-bound rebellion; now creation itself proclaims the Son (Matthew 28:18; Colossians 1:13–20).
Conclusion: The Mountain That Points Beyond Itself
Mount Hermon gathers names (Hermon, Sirion, Senir), nations, and narratives—from Baal Hermon to watchers, from Zeus Megistos to Pan, from oaths of revolt to a Messiah’s confession and glory. In Scripture’s storyline, Hermon’s height magnifies not its own holiness, but the holiness of the One who ascended higher than all the heavens (Ephesians 4:10). The dew of Hermon becomes a picture of life descending, and the “gates of Hades” fall before the keys held by Christ (Revelation 1:18). The mountain points beyond itself—to the King who reverses the rebellion and renews creation.
Bible Verses Related to Hermon, Bashan, and Reversal
Deuteronomy 3:8–9 — “We took the land… Mount Hermon (the Sidonians call it Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir).”
Joshua 11:17 — “From Mount Halak… to Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon.”
Judges 3:3 — “The five lords of the Philistines… the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-Hermon.”
Psalm 89:12 — “The north and the south, you have created them; Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.”
Psalm 133:3 — “It is like the dew of Hermon… there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.”
Psalm 68:15–18 — “O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan!… You ascended on high…”
Song of Songs 4:8 — “Come with me from Lebanon… from the peak of Senir and Hermon.”
Jude 6 — “Angels who did not stay within their own position… he has kept in eternal chains.”
Matthew 16:18 — “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
Revelation 1:18 — “I have the keys of Death and Hades.”
