We now come to Mount Hermon. Damascus also had a "high place" as its own "holy place" and it was'a legitimate "holy mount." The people of Damascus had their own "holy mountain." It was the highest of the mountains from the Euphrates in the north to all the way south to Egypt and down to the center part of the Sinai peninsula. That mountain was "Mount Hermon." It was the greatest of the sacred mountains of the Middle East. It was considered the most holy mountain of the early Hitfites, of all the Gentiles of (Palestine and even by the Greeks and Romans (see Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol.5, p.876). Even in the Greek and Roman periods Mount Hermon's sanctity was recognized as the central worship of all the Gods of the world (no matter who they were). Look at this fact. At the bottom of Mount Hermon on t he southwest side was a place called Panias by the Greeks after the time of Alexander the Great (it is t he modem day, Banias) which was Caesarea Philippi in New Testament times. This place was a very ecumenical "holy place" that was devoted "to ALL the Gods of the whole world" (NOT simply to the single "God" of any particular nation). Indeed, the word "Panias" at the foot of Mount Hermon in Greek meant that the place was devoted as a divine sanctuary to "All the Gods." On the northeast section of j this "divine mountain" was the principal city of the area. That city was Damascus whose people in ancient times looked directly toward their Mount Hermon as the center place of their religious beliefs (and, not only that, this very mountain was believed to be in the eyes of most early people4 on earth as bein.g the most important of all mountains in the world).

The Book of Enoch (a non‑canonical work composed about a hundred years before Christ but referred to favorably by Jude in the New Testament ‑ see verse 14) in its sixth chapter mentions that when the "Sons of God" mentioned in Genesis 6 came to earth and had sex with the daughters of men (and Titans or Giants were born from the women), the place they entered into the earth's environment was at the top of Mount Hermon. This incident was reckoned by early people as meaning that the "Gate to Heaven" where divine beings could come to earth or return to heaven was at the top of Mount Hermon. This is why it became a "holy place" for all people on earth. This means that Mount Hermon was considered a "Bethel" or a "Zion" even before the Tower of Babel was built in the Land of Shinar (Genesis 11: 1‑9). And, when God destroyed the influence of the "Tower of Babel" in Shinar, some people simply focused aLyain their attention back to Mount Hermon as the holiest place on earth, and they made a connection with it to the "Tower of Babel" by calling it "Senir" (a clear and simple variant of "Shinar"). Note what Deuteronomy 3:8,9 states: "Mount Hermon (which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion ' and the Amorites call it Senir)" ‑ that is, the main group of Amorites simply used a close variant of "Shinar" ‑ Sem*r ‑ to religiously connect Hermon to Babylon and its Tower.

Why was Mount Hermon important to the early peoples fight after the Flood of Noah" There were historical records (and confirmed by the teaching of the Bible itself), that the "Sons of God" who came from heaven to earth and they had sexual relations with the "daughters of men" entered earth at Mount Hermon. These unions produced a progeny that God disliked. He punished the world with a worldwide destructive flood, but there is nothing in the biblical text to show what punishment God inflicted on those "Sons of God." In some way, they must have been forgiven because later in Job 1:6 and 2:1 we find these "Sons of God" able to judge with God the trial of Job. In no way do we find these "Sons of God" any longer being chastised because of what they did in the time of Noah that caused God to be angry with their actions. God the Father can get angry with His children, but in the end He will forgive their misdeeds, and even exalt them beyond their expectations. But what has this to do with Mount Hermon? This is because "Mount Hermon" was the world's first "Mount Zion." Let us notice the Holy Scriptures that show this fact.

In a word, "Mount Hermon" (the mountain that the people of Damascus held holy and sanctified) was looked on at one time in the past as being the central "holy place" for all people on earth. It was reckoned the Gateway Upward to Heaven and it was Heaven's Gateway Downward to Earth. When the Tower of Babel was destroyed, people of the ~ea ~then tu~medto " Uo~nt er~monas tbecentral place where God communicated with mankind. It was, in essence, the world's original "Mount Zion." This is why the Greeks after the time of Alexander the Great called the springs that gave rise to the Jordan River the "springs of salvation" that issued forth from the bottom of Mount Hermon. This was reckonec to be the place where "All the Gods of the Earth" (that is, Panias, which means "ALL") look toward as! the holiest place on earth. And you may be shocked to find this out, but even God Himself states dogmatically that Mount Hermon was the world's first "Mount Zion," long before Jerusalem was thought of by King David and Solomon to be the "Mount Zion" of God for Israel and Judah. In plain language, God reckoned Mount Hermon to be the original Mount Zion. Note it: "Even unto Mount Zion; which is Hermon" (Deuteronomy 4:48, Christian spelling is "Sion").

This reference shows that Moses himself under divine inspiration called Mount Hermon God's holy "Mount Zion." That's right. Even Moses was well aware of the history of the world before his time that caused people of the whole earth to reckon Mount Hermon as the original "Mount Zion." The text is certain on this matter, but modem scholars who know little of the early history of the world have tried numerous ways to change the text into something that makes sense to them because (as they look at it) there was only ONE "Mount Zion" and that was in Jerusalem. But the scholars are wron,‑. There was more than ONE mountain called "Mount Zion." Indeed, every one of the seven different mountains that became the Jerusalem of Christ's time was called a "Zion." There were officially (in God's eyes) seven different mountains surrounding Jerusalem and each of them could be legitimately called a "Mount Zion" (and this included the highest of the mountains around Jerusalem called the "Mount of Olives. " In fact, 't~ql mountain was the highest in Jerusalem of the "mountains of Zion." Jerusalem had "the mountains [plural] of Zion" (Psalm 133:3).

But wait a moment! I have already pointed out from Deuteronomy 4:48 that Mount Hermon was also called "Mount Zion" (and Mount Hermon had the chronological priority of being the first in the history of the world to be called God's "Mount Zion"). Indeed, this gave "Mount Hermon" (the original "Mount Zion") a distinct superiority over Jerusalem because the Canaanite City of Jebus (the early Gentile name for Jerusalem) was NOT called "Mount Zion" until the time of David (which was at least a thousand years after the mountain of Damascus called "Mount Hermon" had been given the fide of "Mount Zion" by no less than God Himself). See Deuteronomy 4:481 And to further show the superiority of Mount Hermon, God inspired the Psalmist in Psalm 133:3 to state that the sanctity of "the mountains of Zion" in the area of Jerusalem were holy and righteous (now hold on to your seats because most people are uoinu to be shocked at what some have missed reading in the Bible in showing the superiority of Mount ~Ierrnon to the seven mountains of Jerusalem), because God stated that it was "THE DEW OF HERMON" that descended upon "the mountains of Zion" at Jerusalem that gave the mountains of Jerusalem their sanctification in the eyes of God! Read it for yourself in Psalm 133:3. True, Mount Hermon being the highest of the mountains in the Middle East had "dew" of a high quality, but it was NOT the quality of the "dew" that God had in mind in Psalm 133:3. God meant the cleansing power of God's divine "dew" and the vital nourishment of spiritual grace from that "dew" that came from the first "Mount Zion" in the history of the world could also sanctify and make righteous the "mountains of Zion" at Jerusalem!

The fact is, when God decides to deal with the whole world (either in blessing or judgment), He does NOT think of "Mount Zion" in Jerusalem. The seven "Mount Zions" in Jerusalem are reserved for the people of Israel and Judah. And though God has stated to the world that He has chosen Jerusalem above all other areas on earth for His chief joy and pleasure, but when it comes to dealing with the whole of the world, God returns to Flisfirst "Mount Zion" to issue His decrees and judgments. He returns to that chief mountain and to Damascus because Damascus is "the City of God's Praise" and "the City of God's Joy." That City of Joy is Damascus and its holy mountain, "Mount Hermon" which was the first "Mount Zion." Look at Jeremiah 49:24,25. These verses speak of judgment on Damascus (like those judgments on Jerusalem and the cities of Israel), but God also admitted that He held Damascus to be "the City of Praise [Renown]" and "the City of My Joy." Though at the time of Jeremiah, God had to bring judgment on Damascus, He also stated in the clearest of terms (with much lament) that Damascus and its vicinity was the place that He praised and honored and He accounted it as being "the City of My Joy." God simply "loved" Damascus and He "praised" it as much as any area on earth because in its backyard was also "Mount Hermon," the original "Mount Zion."

For further information available on this subject (The Two Mounts- Zion & Sion) is only available after a minumum of a 100 dollar donation. For other archaeological sites we have investigated visited our reseach section. 

ELM