Valley of Lebanon
Valley of Lebanon is a location mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Phoenicia in modern-day Lebanon. Known today as Beqaa Valley. It appears across 2 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
The Valley of Lebanon is referenced in Joshua 11:17 and 12:7 within the summary accounts of Joshua's northern campaigns and the territories he conquered. The region appears as the northern boundary of Joshua's military successes: from Mount Halak in the south to Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon under Mount Hermon in the north. This broad sweep demonstrates the theological point the text is making, that Joshua's conquest was complete and comprehensive, fulfilling the mandate God had given. The Valley of Lebanon corresponds to the great Beqaa Valley between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountain ranges, a region of immense strategic and agricultural importance throughout antiquity. It was home to the Baal Gad sanctuary, suggesting it was a major Canaanite religious center as well as a political and military frontier. The valley represented the outer reach of Israelite expansion, the edge of the covenant land. Though Israel never fully controlled this northern territory in practice, its inclusion in the Joshua narrative established a theological claim over the full extent of the promised land as described in various divine promises to the patriarchs and to Moses.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
The Valley of Lebanon is universally equated with the Beqaa Valley of modern Lebanon, a fertile highland plateau approximately 120 kilometers long and 10 to 25 kilometers wide, lying between the Lebanon Mountains to the west and the Anti-Lebanon range to the east. The valley was a major agricultural and commercial corridor connecting Syria to Canaan throughout antiquity. Archaeological surveys and excavations in the Beqaa have identified Bronze and Iron Age sites, including significant Canaanite settlements. The ancient city of Baalbek (Heliopolis) sits at the northern end of the valley and has yielded extensive evidence of occupation predating its famous Roman-era temples. The valley's position as a transit corridor is confirmed by Egyptian, Hittite, and Assyrian military records.
Verse Appearances (2)
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]