Deuteronomy 3:9

9 (Mount Hermon is called Sirion by the Sidonians, and the Amorites call it Senir.)

Deuteronomy 3:9 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 3:9

Which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion
Which name it has in ( Psalms 29:6 ) a name the inhabitants of Sidon gave it, but for what reason it is not easy to say; however, that it was well known to Tyre and Sidon, appears from snow in summer time being brought to the former, as will be hereafter observed:

and the Amorites call it Shenir;
in whose possession it was last. Bochart ^F11 thinks it had its name from the multitude of wild cats in it, Shunar in the Chaldee tongue being the name of that creature; but Jarchi says Shenir in the Canaanitish language signifies "snow"; so, in the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, it is called the mountain of snow; and the Hebrew who read to Jerom, and taught him, affirmed to him that this mountain hung over Paneas, from whence snow in summer time was brought to Tyre for pleasure ^F12, and the same is confirmed by Abulfeda ^F13. There is said to be upon the top of it a famous temple, which is used for worship by the Heathens, over against Paneas and Lebanon ^F14; and it is highly probable there was one even at this time, when it was possessed by the Amorites, since it is called Mount Baalhermon, ( Judges 3:3 ) , from the worship of Baal, or some other idol upon it, as it should seem. Besides these, it had another name, Mount Sion, ( Deuteronomy 4:48 ) but to be distinguished from Mount Zion near Jerusalem. The names of it in this place are very differently interpreted by Hillerus ^F15; though he thinks it had them all on account of the snow on it, which was as a net all over it; for Hermon, he observes, signifies a net, a dragnet, and Shenir an apron, and Sirion a coat of mail, all from the covering of this mount with snow.

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FOOTNOTES:

F11 Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 3. c. 14. col. 865.
F12 De loc. Heb. fol. 88. B, C.
F13 Apud Reland. Palestin. Illustrat. par. 2. p. 920.
F14 De loc. Heb. fol. 88. B, C.
F15 Onomastic. Sacr. p. 561, 562, 786, 929.

Deuteronomy 3:9 In-Context

7 But we kept all the livestock for ourselves and took plunder from all the towns.

8 “So we took the land of the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River—all the way from the Arnon Gorge to Mount Hermon.

9 (Mount Hermon is called Sirion by the Sidonians, and the Amorites call it Senir.)

10 We had now conquered all the cities on the plateau and all Gilead and Bashan, as far as the towns of Salecah and Edrei, which were part of Og’s kingdom in Bashan.

11 (King Og of Bashan was the last survivor of the giant Rephaites. His bed was made of iron and was more than thirteen feet long and six feet wide. It can still be seen in the Ammonite city of Rabbah.)