Historian Notes:
Mount
Hermon is located in the Anti-Lebanon mountain range on the border
between Syria and Lebanon. The summit is 9,230 and under
Syrian control with the southern and western slopes of Mount
Hermon under the control of Israel as a result of the Israeli victory
in the 1967 Six-Day War. The mountain is actually a cluster
of mountains with three distinct summits, each about the same height.
The mountain forms one of the greatest geographic resources
of the area. Because of its height it captures a great deal
of precipitation in a very dry area of the world. Mount
Hermon has seasonal snow which covers all three of its peaks for most
of the year. The melting water feeds springs at the base of
the mountain, forming streams and rivers which merge to become the
Jordan River. Mount Hermon is called the "gray-haired
mountain," or the "mountain of snow." It is also called "the
eyes of the nation" in Israel because its altitude makes it Israel's
primary strategic early warning system.
The mountain served as the northern boundary of the Promised Land
(Deuteronomy 3:8) and also was the northern limit of the Joshua's
Conquest (Joshua 11:17; 12:1; 13:5). The high places of Mount
Hermon were apparently used by the Canaanites in mythological rituals.
They referred to the mountain as Mount Ba'al-Hermon (Judges
3:3). It is also called "Mount Sion". The Gospels
tell of Jesus and his disciples journeying north from Bethsaida on the
Sea of Galilee to the city of Caesarea Philippi at the southern base of
Mount Hermon (Matthew 16:13; Mark 8:27). There, Jesus
revealed to them his purpose to build his Church and to go to Jerusalem
to die and be resurrected (Matt 16:18-21).
Mount Hermon was a possible site of the Transfiguration, where Jesus
took three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John, up on a high
mountain for prayer. Before their eyes, Jesus was
transfigured. In the Book of Enoch (1 Enoch 6) in the
Deuterocanon, Mount Hermon is the place where the Grigori ("Watcher")
class of fallen angels descended to Earth. They swore upon
the mountain that they would take wives among the daughters of men and
return.
Mount Hermon houses Israel's only ski resort, including a wide range of
ski trails at novice, intermediate, and expert levels. The
Syrian government has recently unveiled plans to develop a
multi-billion dollar ski resort on its slopes
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