Biblical History
Mount Lebanon appears in Joshua 13:5-6 among the territories that remained unconquered after Joshua's campaigns, described as the land of the Gebalites and all Lebanon to the east, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath. While the specific term "Mount Lebanon" appears infrequently, the Lebanon mountains pervade biblical literature as a symbol of majesty, beauty, and abundant resources. The famous cedars of Lebanon were prized throughout the ancient world, and Solomon obtained them from King Hiram of Tyre for the construction of the Temple (1 Kings 5:6-10). The Song of Solomon celebrates the fragrance of Lebanon (Song of Solomon 4:11, 15), and the prophets used Lebanon's towering cedars as metaphors for human pride that God would humble (Isaiah 2:13; Ezekiel 31:3). Hosea prophesied that restored Israel would blossom like the vine and be fragrant like Lebanon (Hosea 14:6-7). Throughout Scripture, Lebanon represents the abundant natural provision and overwhelming beauty of God's creation.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Mount Lebanon is the western range of the two parallel mountain chains running through modern Lebanon, reaching a maximum elevation of 3,088 meters (10,131 feet) at Qurnat as-Sawda. The range is definitively identified and stretches approximately 170 kilometers along the Mediterranean coast. Ancient cedar forests, once covering vast areas of the mountain, have been reduced to a few small groves, most notably at Bsharri (the Cedars of God grove, a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and at Shouf. Archaeological evidence of extensive ancient logging includes remains of timber transport infrastructure in Phoenician ports like Byblos and Sidon. Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and biblical texts all attest to the fame of Lebanon's cedar timber trade from the third millennium BC onward.
Verse Appearances (1)
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References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]