Philologos
Bible Prophecy Research
Title: Hamon-gog
Submitted by: research-bpr@philologos.org
Date: November 26, 1998
Update: June 06, 2001
URL: http://philologos.org/bpr/files/h009.htm
Hamon-gog
Ezekiel 39:11
KJV And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.
NIV "On that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, in the valley of those who travel east toward the Sea. It will block the way of travelers, because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called the Valley of Hamon Gog.
RSV "On that day I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers east of the sea; it will block the travelers, for there Gog and all his multitude will be buried; it will be called the Valley of Hamon-gog.
DBY And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] I will give unto Gog a place there for burial in Israel, the valley of the passers-by to the east of the sea; and it shall stop [the way] of the passers-by; and there shall they bury Gog and all the multitude; and they shall call it, Valley of Hamon-Gog.
YLT And it hath come to pass, in that day, I give to Gog a place there -- a grave in Israel, the valley of those passing by, east of the sea, and it is stopping those passing by, and they have buried there Gog, and all his multitude, and have cried, O valley of the multitude of Gog!
NASB On that day I will give Gog a burial ground there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea, and it will block off those who would pass by. So they will bury Gog there with all his horde, and they will call it the valley of Hamon-gog.
NAB On that day I will give Gog for his tomb a well-known place in Israel, the Valley of Abarim east of the sea [it is blocked to travelers]. Gog shall be buried there with all his horde, and it shall be named "Valley of Hamon-gog."
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Strong's Concordance:
valley 1516
gay; probably (by transm.) from the same root as 1466 (abbrev.); a gorge (from its lofty
sides; hence narrow, but not a gully or winter-torrent):--valley.
1466 gevah; the same as 1465; exaltation; (figuratively) arrogance:--lifting up, pride.
passengers 5674
'abar; a primitive root; to cross over; used very widely of any transition
(literally or figuratively; transitively, intransitively, intensively or causatively);
specifically to cover (in copulation):--alienate, alter, x at all, beyond, bring
(over, through), carry over, (over-) come (on, over), conduct (over), convey over,
current, deliver, do away, enter, escape, fail, gender, get over, (make) go (away, beyond,
by, forth, his way, in, on, over, through), have away (more), lay, meddle, overrun, make
partition, (cause to, give, make to, over) pass (-age, along, away, beyond, by, -enger,
on, out, over, through), (cause to, make) + proclaim (-amation), perish, provoke to anger,
put away, rage, + raiser of taxes, remove, send over, set apart, + shave, cause to (make)
sound, x speedily, x sweet smelling, take (away), (make to) transgress (-or), translate,
turn away, [way-] faring man, be wrath.
east 6926
qidmah; feminine of 6924; the forward part (or relatively) East (often
adverbially on the east or in front):--east (-ward).
6924 qedem or qedmah; from 6923; the front, of place (absolutely the fore part, relatively the East) or time (antiquity); often used adverbially (before, anciently, eastward):--aforetime, ancient (time), before, east (end, part, side, -ward), eternal, x ever (-lasting), forward, old, past. Compare 6926.
6923 qadam; a primitive root; to project (one self), i.e. precede; hence to anticipate, hasten, meet (usually for help):--come (go, [flee]) before, + disappoint, meet, prevent.
sea 3220
yam; from an unused root meaning to roar; a sea (as breaking in noisy
surf) or large body of water; specifically (with the article) the Mediterranean;
sometimes a large river, or an artificial basin; locally, the west,
or (rarely) the south:--sea (x -faring man, [-shore]), south, west (-ern, side,
-ward).
Hamon-gog 1996
Hamown Gowg; from 1995 and 1463; the multitude of Gog; the fanciful name of an
emblematic place in Palestine:--Hamon-gog.
1995 hamown or hamon from 1993; a noise, tumult, crowd; also disquietude, wealth:--abundance, company, many, multitude, multiply, noise, riches, rumbling, sounding, store, tumult.
1993 hamah; a primitive root; to make a loud sound (like English "hum"); by implication to be in great commotion or tumult, to rage, war, moan, clamor:--clamorous, concourse, cry aloud, be disquieted, loud, mourn, be moved, make a noise, rage, roar, sound, be troubled, make in tumult, tumultuous, be in an uproar.
1463 Gowg; of uncertain derivation; Gog, the name of an Israelite, also of some northern nation:--Gog.
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Ezekiel 39:16
KJV And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the
land.
Hamonah 1997
Hamownah; feminine of 1995; multitude; Hamonah, the same as 1996:--Hamonah
(see above)
ABARIM, a mountain or range of highlands on the east of the Jordan, in the land of Moab (Deut 32:49), facing Jericho, and forming the eastern wall of the Jordan valley at that part.
[And the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying, Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession: And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people:--Deuteronomy 32:48-50]
Its most elevated spot was "the Mount Nebo, 'head' of 'the' Pisgah," from which Moses viewed the Promised Land before his death. There is nothing to prove that the Abarim were a range or tract of any length, unless the Ije-Abarim ("heaps of Abarim") named in Numbers 33:44, and which were on the south frontier of Moab, are to be taken as belonging to them. But it must be remembered that a word derived from the same root as Abarim is the term commonly applied to the whole of the country on the east of the Jordan.
These mountains are mentioned in Numbers 27:12, 33:47,48 and Deuteronomy 32:49; also probably in Jeremiah 22:20, where the word is rendered in the AV "passages."
[Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed.--Jeremiah 22:20]
In the absence of research on the east of the Jordan and of the Dead Sea, the topography of those regions must remain to a great degree obscure.
(Dr. William Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, 1872)
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ABARIM. A mountain range generally located east of the mouth of the Jordan river and northeast of the Dead Sea forming the northwestern rim of the Moabite tableland, thus separating the latter from the rift valley (Num 33:47-48). The highest peaks of this range rise about 600 feet above the Moabite plateau and overlook the Dead Sea some 4000 feet below their summits.
The mountains of Abarim, a southern extension of the Transjordan range, are located "in front of [the town of] Nebo" (Num 33:47)...The Israelites camped in the mountains of Abarim after leaving Almon-diblathaim and before reaching the Plains of Moab, the final stage of the exodus from Egypt (Num 33:47-48).
In Jeremiah 22:20 the RSV treats 'abarim as a proper name, assuming it to be a region as are Lebanon to the north and Basham to the northeast. However, the KJV translates 'abarim by "passages." Similarly, several ancient versions reflect in their translations of 'abarim in Jeremiah 22:20 the verbal root meaning "to cross over" or "to pass over"...
While most maps confine the Abarim range to the highland north of the river Arnon, several scholars...infer from Jeremiah 22:20 and the name of the encampment Iye-abarim, which by definition appears to be associated with the Abarim range, that the hills of Abarim also describe the mountains east of the southern end of the Dead Sea. Though the precise location of Iye-abarim is uncertain, scholars generally place it south of the Arnon gorge.
(Anchor Bible Dictionary, 1992)
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ARNON, from roots signifying "swift" or "noisy," either suiting the character of the stream: the river which formed the boundary between Moab and the Amorites, on the north of Moab...and afterwards between Moab and Israel...From Judges 11:18, it would seem to have been also the east border of Moab...By Josephus it is described as rising in the mountains of Arabia and flowing through all the wilderness till it falls into the Dead Sea. In the time of Jerome it was still known as Arnon; but in the Samarito-Arabic version of the Pentateuch by Abu Said it is given as el-Mojeb. There can be no doubt that the Wady el-Mojeb of the present day is the Arnon...The Roman road from Rabba to Dhiban crosses it at about two hours' distance from the former. On the south edge of the ravine are some ruins called Mehateth el-Haj, and on the north edge, directly opposite, those still bearing the name of 'Ara'ir [Aroer]. The width across between these two spots seemed to Burckhardt to be about two miles,--the descent on the south side to the water occupied Irby 1 1/2 hours,--"extremely steep" and almost impassable "with rocks and stones." On each face of the ravine traces of the paved Roman road are still found, with mile-stones; and one arch of a bridge, 31 feet 6 inches in span, is standing.
[wadi 1: the bed or valley of a stream in regions of southwestern Asia and northern Africa that is usually dry except during the rainy season and that often forms an oasis: GULLY, WASH 2: a shallow usually sharply defined depression in a desert region.
hajj the pilgrimage to Mecca prescribed as a religious duty for Muslims.]
(Dr. William Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, 1872).
...a road which runs eastward of the Dead Sea and parallel with it, traversing what was in ancient times the land of Moab and leading to the north. The nomads of Jordan know it very well. Among the natives it is called, remarkably enough, the "King's Way." We come across it in the bible, where it is called "the king's high way" or "the high way." It was the road that the children of Israel wished to follow on their journey through Edom to the "Promised Land" (Numb 20:17,19). In the Christian era the Romans used the "King's Way" and improved it. Parts of it now belong to the network of roads in the state of Jordan. Clearly visible from the air the ancient track shows up as a dark streak across the country...
[Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country: we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: we will go by the king's high way, we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy borders...And the children of Israel said unto him, We will go by the high way: and if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it: I will only, without doing and thing else, go through on my feet.--Numbers 20:17,19]
Their hostility compelled Israel to go a long way round. They trek northwards along the western edge of Edom towards the Dead Sea...Then the Israelites follow the little river Sered, which marks the frontier between Edom and Moab, and reach Transjordan. They make a wide circle round Moab on the south-east side of the Dead Sea. By this time they have reached the river Arnon and the southern frontier of the kingdom of the Amorites (Num 21:13). Once more the Israelites ask for permission to use the "King's Highway" (Num 21:22). Once more it is refused, this time by Sihon, king of the Amorites. A battle begins and the process of conquest by force of arms has started.
By defeating the Amorites the Israelites collect their first laurels. Conscious of their strength they push northwards over the river Jabbok and conquer the kingdom of Basham in addition. Thus by their first determined attack they have become masters of Transjordan from the river Arnon to the banks of the Lake of Galilee...
When the scholars were searching the Jordan country for evidence which would tie up with Biblical history, they came upon remarkable structures such as archaeologists had already encountered in other countries as well. These consisted of tall stones, built in oval formation and every now and then roofed over with a heavy transverse block--the famous Great Stone Graves. They are also called megalithic graves or dolmens, and were once used for burying the dead. In Europe--they are found in North Germany, Denmark, England and North-west France--they are called locally "Giants' Beds"...
In 1918 Gustav Dalman, the German scholar, discovered in the neighbourhood of Amman, the modern capital of Jordan, a dolmen which aroused unusual interest because it seemed to shed light on a factual Biblical reference in quite an astonishing way. Amman stands precisely on the old site of Rabbath-Ammon. The Bible says about this giant king Og: "Behold his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of ammon [Rabbath-Ammon]? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man" (Deut 3:11). The size of the dolmen discovered by Dalman corresponded approximately to these measurements...Further investigations have proved that dolmens are common in Palestine, principally in Transjordan above the river Jabbok...Well over a thousand of these ancient monuments are to be found among the coarse grass of the highlands...West of the Jordan the only dolmens to be found are in the neighbourhood of Hebron.
(The Bible as History, Werner Keller)
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And the children of Israel heard say, Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar over against the land of Canaan, in the borders of Jordan, at the passage of the children of Israel.--Joshua 22:11
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The "king's way" is the public high road, which was probably made at the cost of the state, and kept up for the king and his armies to travel upon, and is synonymous with the "sultan-road" (Derb es Sultan) or "emperor road," as the open, broad, old military roads are still called in the East.
(Commentary on the Old Testament, Volume I, The Pentateuch, Keil & Delitzsch)
And it shall come to pass in that day that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel; or, "a place there, a grave in Israel"; he that thought to have subdued the whole land, and taken possession of it, shall have no more of it than just a place for a grave, to be buried in; a place fit for a grave, as the Targum; and where that will be is next observed; "The valley of the passengers on the east of the sea"; a valley through which travellers used to pass from Syria, Babylon, and other places, to Egypt and Arabia Felix, which lay east of the sea; not the Mediterranean sea, which lies west of Judea; but either the Dead sea, the sea of Sodom, a sulphurous lake, to which there may be an allusion, Revelation 19:20, or the sea of Chinnereth, or Genesareth, as the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi; the same with the sea or lake of Tiberias and Galilee, mentioned in the New Testament; which sense is approved of by Gussetius; where was a passage from the land of Canaan to the east of the same sea. Calmet thinks it stands for the great road at the Philistines, into Phoenicia, which road was to the east of the Mediterranean sea.
(The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible)
In this area Balaam and Balak, King of Moab, tried to do mischief to the Israelites. (Numbers 22-24)
Moab--region Jordan E of Dead sea; in biblical times a
kingdom between Edom & the country of the Amorites.
Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary
Some things in general concerning the country beyond Jordan.
...The Transjordanine country, if I mistake not, from greatest antiquity, is divided in that story, Genesis 14:5: "Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, smote the Rephaims in Ashtaroth-karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh-kiriathaim, and the Horites in mount Seir"...As to Ashtaroth-karnaim ["Ashtaroth of the two horns"], there is little doubt but that was in the kingdom of Bashan; the larger region being called Ashtaroth, Karnaim is added in a distinguishing limited sense: Deuteronomy 1:4, "Og, the king of Bashan, which dwelt at Ashtaroth in Edrei." [Some commentaries consider Og the Gog of Ezekiel 38-39.]
[ASHTORETH. Variably ASHTAROTH. The name by which the Canaanite goddess more commonly known as Astarte is referred to in the OT; Ashtaroth is the plural form of this name. Astarte was a consort of Baal...among other things was a a goddess of war...referred to as "the mistress of heaven" a number of times in Egyptian texts...The identity of Astarte with Ishtar as well as later with Aphrodite in classical times makes it virtually certain that she was equated with Venus...[she] is prominent as a goddess of war in Egypt and is depicted a number of times riding a horse, holding in her hands either a spear and a shield, or a bow and arrow...chief goddess of Tyre...We know from a 6th century BC inscription that she was equated with the goddess Tinnit at Sarepta on the Phoenician coast--this is the earliest reference to Tinnit, later famous in Punic inscriptions as the consort of Baal-hammon.
BASHAN. The fertile area of upper Transjordan east of the Sea of Galilee and mainly north of the Yarmuk River...Bashan always appears with the definite article as "the Bashan," meaning "smooth" or "stoneless plain," or "fertile, fruitful." It was a broad, fertile plateau surrounded by basaltic, volcanic mountains and hills.
(Anchor Bible Dictionary)]
Of the place itself, the Jewish doctors thus...Gloss: " Ashtaroth-karnaim were two great mountains, with a valley between; and, by reason of the height and shadow of those mountains, the sun never shone upon the valley"...
When the Israelites went out of Egypt into that land, the whole Transjordanine region was divided into these two seigniories,--the kingdom of Sehon, and the kingdom of Og. That of Sehon was Perea, strictly so called now; that of Og, was all the rest under the name of Bashan. But after the return of Israel from Babylon, Bashan was so subdivided, that Batanea, or Bashan, was only a part of it, the rest going under the name of Trachonitis, Auranitis, and if you will, Gaulonitis too; for we meet with that distinction also in Josephus...
Trachonitis
Argob mentioned Deuteronomy 3:14, is, by the Targumists, called Trachona. And so Jonath. 1 Kings 4:13: the Samaritan hath it, Rigobaah, which seems akin to Regab, amongst the Talmudists.
[Jair the son of Manasseh took all the country of Argob unto the coasts of Geshuri and Maachathi; and called them after his own name, Bashan-havoth-jair, unto this day.--Deuteronomy 3:14
The son of Geber, in Ramoth-gilead; to him pertained the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are Gilead; to him also pertained the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, threescore great cities with walls and brazen bars:--1 Kings 4:13]
"Tekoah hath the preeminence for oil: Abba Saul saith, The next to that is Regab beyond Jordan."
Gul. Tyrius would derive the name from dragons. For so he: "It [Trachonitis] seems to have taken its name from dragons. Those hidden passages and windings under ground, with which this country abounds, are called dragons. Indeed, almost all the people of this country have their dwellings in dens and caves; and in these kind of dragons."
[And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.--Revelation 6:15,16]
The noted passages over Jordan.
Among the various ways of writing Bethabara in Hebrew, these two especially deserve our consideration at present: 'Beth-barah,' which we meet with in Judges 7, and Beth-abara, or a place of passage, where they passed over Jordan. They must both come under our inquiry, whiles we are seeking the place in hand; and, first, of the latter.
Doubtless there was no part of Jordan but might be passed by boat from one side to the other, as men's different occasions might call them; but we are now considering the public and common passages that led over that river from one country into another.
I. There is a bridge over Jordan, betwixt the lake of Samochon and Gennesaret in the way that leadeth to Damascus, which hath the name of "Jacob's bridge"; of which our countryman Biddulph, who hath himself travelled over it, speaks to this purpose:
"At the foot of this rocky mountain runs a pleasant river called Jordan, which divideth Syria from Galilee. Over this river is built a goodly bridge, which bears the name of 'Jacob's bridge,' upon this twofold account: 1. Because in this place Jacob met with his brother Esau; 2. Because here he wrestled with the angel."
II. Jordan also had a bridge over it at Chammath, near Tiberias, at the very efflux of the river out of the sea of Gennesaret...
III. That was a most known and frequent passage from Jericho, which we so often read of in the Holy Scriptures, which yet seems rather to have been by boat than bridge.
The great plain: the Scythopolitan passage there.
Of this great plain, which took in the whole breadth of the country of Manasseh from Jordan towards the west, a very long way, Josephus frequently speaks. Describing the situation and portion of Ephraim and Manasseh, he thus expresseth himself:
"The tribe of Ephraim extended itself in length from the river Jordan to Gadara" [Gazarah, or Gezer, Joshua 16:3 and 21:21]; "in breadth, from Bethel, and ends at the Great Plain."
"The half tribe of Manasseh extends itself in longitude from Jordan to the city Dor. But in latitude [from Ephraim] it reacheth to Beth-shean, which is now called Scythopolis." So that that 'great plain,' to those that were journeying from Galilee, began from Beth-shean, and extended itself in latitude to the confines of Ephraim. Hence that which we meet with in the same Josephus, "They that passed over Jordan came into the great plain, before which the city Bethsan lies"; or as it is in 1 Maccabees 5:52, "They went over Jordan into the great plain before Beth-shean."
In the Book of Judith, chapter 1:8, it is called "The great plain of Esdrelom": that is, in truth, "the great valley of Jezreel"...Insomuch, that when it is said of Judah and his army (for he it is whom this passage concerns [1 Kings 4:12]), that in his return from the land of Gilead he passed over Jordan into this "great plain," and that (as it should seem) not very far from Beth-shean; it is evident that the great and common passage over Jordan was hereabout, by which not only the Scythopolitans went over from their country on this side Jordan to that beyond, but those also of Samaria, and those of the Lower Galilee, passed over here to Perea.
[Baana the son of Ahilud; to him pertained Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth-shean, which is by Zartanah beneath Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, even unto the place that is beyond Jokneam:--1 Kings 4:12]
[There was a] common three-fold division, "Judea, Galilee, and beyond Jordan." "On the east of the river Jordan": as Ptolemy expresseth it: and Beza himself confesseth, that trans Jordanem, beyond Jordan, is the proper signification of the Greek word peran, beyond, Matthew 4:15.
[The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;--Matthew 4:15]
Let us, therefore, place the Beth-abara we are seeking for, where John was baptizing, on the further side of Jordan, in the Scythopolitan country, where the Jews dwelt amongst the Syro-Grecians, as in all the Decapolitan regions, where Christ might something more safely converse, from the vexations of the scribes and Pharisees, John 10:40, being, as it were, out of their reach and jurisdiction there. And so we find John baptizing, first, at the passage of Jericho, because, through the greatness of the road, there was always a considerable concourse of people; and next, at the passage of Scythopolis, for the same reason.
[And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he [Jesus] abode.--John 10:40]
( A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica, Volume I, Place Names in the Gospels, John Lightfoot)
The Death of Moses Foretold.--After these instructions concerning the division of the land, the Lord announced to Moses his approaching end. From the mountains of Abarim he was to see the land which the Israelites would receive, and then like Aaron to be gathered to his people, because like him he also had sinned at the water of strife at Kadesh...The mountains of Abarim are the mountain range forming the Moabitish table-land, which slope off into the steppes of Moab. It is upon this range, the northern portion of which opposite to Jericho bore the name of Pisgah, that we are to look for Mount Nebo, which is sometimes described as one of the mountains of Abarim (Deut 32:49), and at other times as the top of Pisgah (Deut 3:27, 34:1; 21:20). Nebo...was opposite to Jericho, between Livias, which was in the valley of the Jordan nearly opposite to Jericho, and Heshbon;...The prospect from the heights of Nebo must have been a very extensive one. According to Burckhardt, "even the city of Heshbon itself stood upon so commanding an eminence, that the view extended at least thirty English miles in all directions, and towards the south probably as far as sixty miles."
(Commentary on the Old Testament, Volume I, The Pentateuch, Keil & Delitzsch)
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