Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
feet; and below this the features of the western slopes are entirely different. The rugged limestone
banks are scantily clothed with the evergreen oak, and the sandstone with pines; while every
available spot is carefully cultivated. The cultivation is wonderful, and shows what all Syria might
be if under a good government. Fig trees cling to the naked rock; vines are trained along narrow
ledges; long ranges of mulberries, on terraces like steps of stairs, cover the more gentle declivities;
and dense groves of olives fill up the bottoms of the glens. Hundreds of villages are seen— here
built among labyrinths of rocks, there clinging like among labyrinths of rocks, there clinging like
swallows’ nests to the sides of cliffs; while convents, no less numerous, are perched on the top of
every peak. The vine is still largely cultivated in every part of the mountain. Lebanon also abounds
in olives, figs and mulberries; while some remnants exist of the forests of pine, oak and cedar
which formerly covered it. (1 Kings 5:6; Ezra 3:7; Psalms 29:5; Isaiah 14:8) Considerable numbers
of wild beasts still inhabit its retired glens and higher peaks; the writer has seen jackals, hyaenas,
wolves, bears and panthers. (2 Kings 14:9; Song of Solomon 4:8); Habb 2:17 Along the base of
Lebanon runs the irregular plain of Phoenicia—nowhere more than two miles wide, and often
interrupted by bold rocky spurs that dip into the sea. The main ridge of Lebanon is composed of
Jura limestone, and abounds in fossils. Long belts of more recent sandstone run along the western
slopes, which are in places largely impregnated with iron. Lebanon was originally inhabited by
the Hivites and Giblites. (Joshua 13:5,6; Judges 3:3) The whole mountain range was assigned to
the Israelites, but was never conquered by them. (Joshua 13:2-6; Judges 3:1-3) During the Jewish
monarchy it appears to have been subject of the Phoenicians. (1 Kings 5:2-6; Ezra 3:7) From the
Greek conquest until modern times Lebanon had no separate history.
•Anti-Libanus.—The main chain of Anti-Libanus commences in the plateau of Bashan, near the
parallel of Caesarea Philippi, runs north to Hermon, and then northeast in a straight line till it
stinks down into the great plain of Emesa, not far from the site of Riblah. Hermon is the loftiest
peak; the next highest is a few miles north of the site of Abila, beside the village of Bludan, and
has an elevation of about 7000 feet. The rest of the ridge averages about 5000 feet; it is in general
bleak and barren, with shelving gray declivities, gray cliffs and gray rounded summits. Here and
there we meet with thin forests of dwarf oak and juniper. The western slopes descend abruptly
into the Buka’a ; but the features of the eastern are entirely different. Three side ridges here radiate
from Hermon, like the ribs of an open fan, and form the supporting walls of three great terraces.
Anti-Libanus is only once distinctly mentioned in Scripture, where it is accurately described as
“Lebanon toward the sunrising.” (Joshua 13:5)
Lebaoth
(lionesses), a town which forms one of the last group of the cities of “the south” in the
enumeration of the possessions of Judah, (Joshua 15:32) probably identical with Beth-lebaoth.
Lebbaeus
(a man of heart), one name of Jude, who was one of the twelve apostles.
Lebonah
(frankincense), a place named in (Judges 21:19) only. Lebonah has survived to our times under
the almost identical form of el-Lubban . It lies to the west of and close to the Nablus road, about
eight miles north of Beitan (Bethel) and two from Seilun (Shiloh).
Lecah
(progress), a name mentioned in the genealogies of Judah, (1 Chronicles 4:21) only, as one of
the descendants of Shelah, the third son of Judah by the Canaanites Bath-shua.
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William Smith