mountain of Bashan
mountain of Bashan is a mountain mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Phoenicia in modern-day Israel. Known today as Jebel Druze. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
The "mountain of Bashan" appears in Psalm 68:15-16, where the psalmist addresses it directly: "O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan; O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan! Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain, at the mount that God desired for His abode, where the LORD will dwell forever?" The passage contrasts the imposing physical grandeur of Bashan's mountain with God's chosen dwelling on the comparatively humble Mount Zion. Bashan was a fertile and powerful region east of the Jordan, famous for its oak forests, rich pastures, and strong bulls (Psalm 22:12; Ezekiel 27:6; Amos 4:1). Its mountain is depicted almost as a rival, jealously gazing at Zion, which God preferred despite its lesser stature. This rhetorical personification underscores the biblical theme that God's choices confound human expectations of power and grandeur. The message is that divine election, not physical impressiveness, determines spiritual significance.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
The mountain of Bashan is most commonly identified with Jebel Druze (also known as Jabal al-Arab), a volcanic mountain massif in southern Syria rising to 1,803 meters at its highest peak. Some scholars alternatively identify it with Mount Hermon, the highest peak in the region at 2,814 meters, which also borders the Bashan plateau. The Jebel Druze region contains extensive basalt formations and numerous ancient settlements dating from the Bronze Age through the Roman and Byzantine periods. Archaeological surveys have documented hundreds of sites across the Hauran plateau, including temples, churches, and fortifications. The region's volcanic soil has supported agriculture for millennia, consistent with the biblical portrait of Bashan as exceptionally fertile land.
Verse Appearances (1)
Ps
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]