Mountains
American Tract Society Bible Dictionary [1]
Are among the most sublime and impressive of the Creator's works on earth, and from the noblest and most enduring monuments of great events. Most of the mountains of Scripture thus stand as witnesses for Godevery view of their lofty summits, and every recurrence to them in thought reminding us of the sacred facts and truths connected with them. Thus Mount Ararat is a standing memorial of the deluge of man's sin, God's justice, and God's mercy. Mount Sinai asserts the terrors of the divine law. Mount Carmel summons us, like the prophet Elijah of old, not to "halt between two opinions;" but if Jehovah is God, to love and serve him. The mount of the Transfiguration still shines with the glory of the truths there taught, and Mounts Ebal and Gerizim still echo the curses and the blessings once so solemnly pronounced from them. So Mount Hor, Nebo, Lebanon, and Gilboa have been signalized by striking events; mount Zion, Moriah, and Olivet are covered with precious memories; and the mountains about Jerusalem and all other "everlasting hills" are sacred witnesses of the eternal power and faithfulness of God.
Judea was eminently a hilly country; and the sacred poets and prophets drew from the mountains around them many beautiful and sublime illustrations of divine truth. Thus a kingdom is termed a mountain, Psalm 30:7 , especially the kingdom of Christ, Isaiah 2:2 11:9 Daniel 2:35 . Thus also difficulty is a "great mountain," Zechariah 4:7 . A revolution is the "carrying of mountains into the midst of the sea," Psalm 46:3 . God easily and speedily removes every obstacle"hills melt like wax at the presence of the Lord," Psalm 97:5 . The integrity of the divine nature is sure and lasting"Thy righteousness is like the great mountains," Psalm 36:6 . The eternity of God's love is pictured out by this comparison: "For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee," Isaiah 54:10 .
When David wishes to express the stability of his kingdom, he says, "Lord, by thy favor thou hast made my mountain to stand strong," Psalm 30:7 . The security and protection afforded by God to his people are thus beautifully delineated: "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth, even for ever," Psalm 125:2 . When the prophet would express his faith in God, how pure it was, and what confidence it inspired, far above any assurance which could arise from earthly blessing or defense, he sings, "Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the Lord our God is salvation of Israel," Jeremiah 3:23 .
The hills of Judea were anciently cultivate to the top, with scores of terraces, and covered with vines, olives, figs, etc. Hence the expression, alluding to the vine of God's planting, "the hills were covered with the shadow of it," Psalm 80:10; and others of the same kind. Travelers say it is a rare thing to pass a mountain, even in the wild parts of Judea, which does not show that it was formerly terraced and made to flow with oil and wine, though it may now be desolate and bare. Says Paxton, "There are many districts that are sadly encumbered with rock, yet the soil among these rocks is of a very superior kind: and were the rock somewhat broken up, the large pieces piled, and the small mixed with the soil, it might be made very productive. There is very striking proof of this in some districts, as that about Hebron, which abounds with rock, and yet is covered with the most productive vineyards. As to such a rocky country being so spoken of in the days of the patriarchs, I suppose that it was in truth, at that time the finest of lands; that the rock which now lies bare in so many places, was then all covered with earth of the richest kind."
"Even in those parts where all is now desolate," remarks Dr. Robinson, "there are everywhere traces of the hand of the men of other days... Most of the hills indeed exhibit the remains of terraces built up around them, the undoubted signs of former cultivation." Again, when traveling towards Hebron, he observes, "Many of the former terraces along the hill sides are still in use; and the land looks somewhat as it may have done in ancient times."
"We often counted forty, fifty, sixty, and even seventy terraces from the bottom of the valley up to the summit of the mountain... What a garden of delights this must have been, when instead of grass making green the surface, verdant and luxuriant vines were their clothing... We could understand how the words of Joel shall yet be literally true, The mountains shall drop down new wine,' when every vine on these hills shall be hanging its ripe clusters over the terraces. In observing too the singular manner in which the most rocky mountains have at one time been made, through vast labor and industry, to yield an abundant return to the husbandman, we saw clearly the meaning of the promise in Ezekiel, But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit.'" Narrative of a Mission.
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature [2]
The mountains mentioned in Scripture are noticed under their different names, and a general statement with reference to the mountains of Palestine is given under that head. We have therefore in this place only to notice more fully some remarkable symbolical or figurative uses of the word in the Bible.
In Scripture the governing part of the body politic appears under symbols of different kinds. If the allegory or figurative representation is taken from the heavens, the luminaries denote the governing body; if from an animal, the head or horns; if from the earth, a mountain or fortress; and in this case the capital city or residence of the governor is taken for the supreme power. These mutually illustrate each other. For a capital city is the head of the political body; the head of an ox is the fortress of the animal; mountains are the natural fortresses of the earth; and therefore a fortress or capital city, though seated in a plain, may be called a mountain. Thus the words head, mountain, hill, city, horn, and king, are used in a manner as synonymous terms to signify a kingdom, monarchy, or republic, united under one government, only with this difference, that it is to be understood in different respects; for the term head represents it in respect of the capital city; mountain or hill in respect of the strength of the metropolis, which gives law to, or is above, and commands the adjacent territory. When David says, 'Lord, by thy favor thou hast made my mountain to stand strong' , he means to express the stability of his kingdom.
It is according to these ideas that the kingdom of the Messiah is described under the figure of a mountain (;; ), and its universality by its being the resort of all nations, and by its filling the whole earth. The mystic mountains in the Apocalypse denote kingdoms and states subverted to make room for the Messiah's kingdom .
The Chaldean monarchy is described as a mountain in; . In this view, then, a mountain is the symbol of a kingdom, or of a capital city with its domains, or of a king, which is the same.
Mountains are frequently used to signify places of strength, of what kind soever, and to whatsoever use applied .
Eminences were very commonly chosen for the sites of pagan temples: these became places of asylum, and were looked upon as the fortresses and defenders of the worshippers, by reason of the presence of the false deities in them. On this account mountains were the strongholds of paganism, and therefore in several parts of Scripture they signify idolatrous temples and places of worship (;;; comp.;;; ).
