Mount Hermon is the highest peak of the Anti-Lebanon range, at nearly 2,814 meters, covered in snow for much of the year. Its waters feed springs that flow down into the Jordan River.
In the conquest recounted by Moses and later by Joshua, Hermon marked the northern boundary of the land taken from the Amorite kings. The Amorites called it Senir; the Sidonians, Sirion.
Before that, Canaanites worshiped Baal on its summit, which is why the Bible also calls it Baal-Hermon. The Hebrew name is linked to the idea of something consecrated or forbidden.
Israel’s poets used Hermon as an image of greatness and blessing. Its abundant dew illustrated the unity between brothers, and its peaks sang praise to the Creator alongside Tabor. Song of Songs describes it as a remote place, guarded by lions and leopards.
At the foot of Hermon lay Caesarea Philippi, where Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ. Some scholars suggest that the Transfiguration, six days later, may have taken place on one of its slopes, though the oldest tradition points to Mount Tabor.
