Rimmon

We meet with this word frequently in the Scripture. A City of Zebulun was called by this name, (1 Chron. vi. 77.) Also a rock to which the Benjamites retreated, (Judg. xx. 45.) And there was an idol of the Syrians so called. (See 2 Kings v. 18.) The name signifies somewhat great or greatness, from Ramam.

See NAAMAN.

Rimmon, 1

Rim´mon, the name of several places in Palestine, probably distinguished by the presence of pomegranate-trees.

A city of the tribe of Simeon, in the south of Palestine (Jos 15:32; Jos 19:7; 1Ch 4:32; Zec 14:10).

A town on a high conical chalky rock or peak, north-east of Gibeah and Michmash, near the desert (Jdg 20:45; Jdg 20:47; Jdg 21:13). The Onomasticon places it fifteen miles north of Jerusalem, which corresponds to the situation of this rock, which is still crowned by a village bearing the name of Rummon.

A city of Zebulon (Jos 19:13; 1Ch 6:77).

A station of the Israelites after leaving Sinai (Num 33:19).

Rimmon, 2

Rim´mon, an idol worshipped by the Syrians (2Ki 5:18). As this name is found nowhere but in the Bible, and there only in the present text, nothing positive can be affirmed concerning the power it symbolized.

Pomegranate,\par 1. A town of Palestine, near the frontier of Edom, Jos 15:21,32 Zec 14:10, in the region assigned to the tribe of Simeon, Jos 19:7 1Ch 4:32 Neh 11:29 .\par 2. A town on a high chalky hill, a few miles east of Bethel, Jdg 20:45-47 21:13. A village called Rummon still exists there.\par 3. A city of Zebulun, assigned to the Levites, Jos 19:13 ; perhaps the same as Rimmono, 1Ch 6:77, which may be traced in the modern village Rimmaneh, northwest of mount Tabor.\par 4. An unknown encampment of the Israelites in the desert, Num 33:19 .\par 5. An idol of the Syrians, 2Ki 5:18 . See NAMAAN.\par

Rim’mon.

1. A deity, worshipped by the Syrians of Damascus, where there was a temple or house of Rimmon. 2Ki 5:18. Rimmon is, perhaps, the abbreviated form of Hadad-rimmon, Hadad being the sun-god of the Syrians. Combining this with the pomegranate, which was his symbol, Hadad-rimmon would then be the sun-god of the late summer, who ripens the pomegranate and other fruits.

(pomegranate). The name of several towns.

2. A city of Zebulun, 1Ch 6:77; Neh 11:29, a Levitical city, the present Rummaneh, six miles north of Nazareth.

3. A town in the southern portion of Judah, Jos 15:3, allotted to Simeon, Jos 19:7; 1Ch 4:32, probably 13 miles southwest of Hebron.

4. Rimmon-parez, (pomegranate of the breach), the name of a march-station in the wilderness. Num 33:19-20. No place now known has been identified with it.

5. Rimmon, the Rock, a cliff or inaccessible natural fastness, in which the six hundred Benjamites, who escaped the slaughter of Gibeah took refuge. Jdg 20:45; Jdg 20:47; Jdg 21:13. In the wild country which lies on the east of the central highlands of Benjamin, the name is still found attached to a village perched on the summit of a conical chalky hill, visible in all directions, and commanding the whole country.

6. A Benjamite of Beeroth, the father of Rechab and Baanah, the murderers of Ish-bosheth. 2Sa 4:2; 2Sa 4:5; 2Sa 4:9.

1. Father of Rechab and Bannah: 2Sa 4:2-9.(See RECHAB; BAANAH.)

2. An idol worshipped by the Syrians of Damascus (2Ki 5:18). The name appears in Hadad Rimmon. From rum, "the most high"; as El-ion (Selden, Gesenius, etc.). Others from Hebrew rimmon, a "pomegranate," sacred to Venus; the fertilizing principle in nature; tree worship anciently having prevailed, a perverted relic of the tradition of Eden’s tree of life. Hadadrimmon may be the full name, from Hadad "the sun god" and Rimmon the pomegranate" ripened in the autumn.

3. A town of Zebulun (See REMMON.)

4. Of Judah in Simeon’s portion (Jos 15:32, where Jos 15:29 for Jos 15:36 is a copyist’s error); near the southern bound of Judah (Zec 14:10). Omit "and" between Ain and Rimmon, and make one name Ain-Rimmon or En-Rimmen, as Engedi (Neh 11:29). Um-er-rumamin, "mother of pomegranates," four hours N. of Beersheba, corresponds (Robinson, Researches, iii. 8). From the neighboring hill region the spies brought pomegranates and figs (Num 13:23).

5. Rimmon "the rock"; where the 600 surviving Benjamites retreated after the slaughter of the tribe, and kept themselves four months (Jdg 20:45; Jdg 20:47; Jdg 21:13). Fifteen Roman miles N. of Jerusalem. Now the village Rummon stands on and round the top of a conical limestone mountain, and is visible in all directions (Robinson, 2:113). The houses cling to the sides as huge steps. On the southern side the mountain rises hundreds of feet from the ravine wady Mutyah, and on the western side it is isolated by a deep cross valley. It lies three miles E. of Bethel, and seven N.E. of Gibeah.

Rimmon (rĭm’mon), pomegranate. 1. The name of an idol worshipped in Damascus. 2Ki 5:18. See Naaman. 2. A Benjamite, father of the two men who slew Ish-bosheth. 2Sa 4:2; 2Sa 4:5; 2Sa 9:3. A town in Judah, afterward given to Simeon. Jos 15:21; Jos 15:32; Jos 19:7; 1Ch 4:32; Neh 11:29; Zec 14:10. 4. A Levitical city in Zebulun. 1Ch 6:77, R. V., Rimmono.

It is also called Remmon-methoar. Jos 19:13 A. V. It is identified with the present village Rummaneh, about six miles north of Nazareth. 5. A rock whither the 600 surviving Benjamites retreated after the slaughter of their tribe. Jdg 20:45; Jdg 20:47; Jdg 21:13.

[Rim’mon]

1. City in Judah, but allotted to Simeon. Jos 15:32; 1Ch 4:32; Zec 14:10. It is called REMMON in Jos 19:7. Probably the same as EN-RIMMON.

2. Rock or cleft in Benjamin, where six hundred Benjamites took refuge. Jdg 20:45-47; Jdg 21:13. Identified with Rummon, 31° 56’ N, 35° 17’ E.

3. Merarite city in Zebulun. 1Ch 6:77. Identified with Remmaneh, 32° 47’ N, 35° 18’ E. See DIMNAH.

4. Father of Rechab and Baanah who slew Ish-bosheth. 2Sa 4:2-9.

5. Syrian idol at Damascus. 2Ki 5:18.

( = "pomegranate"):

By: Emil G. Hirsch, Immanuel Benzinger

1.

Town of the tribe of Zebulun, on the northeast frontier (Josh. xix. 13, R. V.); the Septuagint renders it, more correctly, "Rimonah." Probably it is identical with the Levite city of Rimmon (R. V. "Rimmono"; I Chron. vi. 77), which was given to the children of Merari, and which, misspelled "Dimnah," is probably referred to in Josh. xxi. 35. It would, in the latter case, correspond to the present Al-Rummanah, on the southern edge of the plain of Al-Baṭṭof, about 10 kilometers north of Nazareth, where traces of old buildings are found.

2. Sela' ha-Rimmon:

Place, in the desert east of the territory of Benjamin, where 600 defeated Benjamites found refuge ("the rock Rimmon"; Judges xx. 47, xxi. 13). It corresponds, perhaps, to the present village of Rimman, mentioned by Eusebius, and lying 18 kilometers northeast of Jerusalem.

3. En-rimmon:

City of Judah, referred to in Neh. xi. 29. It is mentioned also in Josh. xv. 32, xix. 7 (R. V.), and I Chron. iv. 32, as is shown by the Septuagint readings "Eromoth" and "Eremmon" and by the "Erembon" of the "Onomasticon" of Eusebius, although in these passages the Hebrew text mentions Ain and Rimmon separately. According to Josh. xv. 32, the city was included in the territory of Judah, although Josh. xix. 7 places it in that of Simeon. In Zech. xiv. 10 it is designated, under the name of "Rimmon," as the southern limit of the mountain district. According to Eusebius, the city lay sixteen Roman miles south of Eleutheropolis (Baet Jibrin); it is represented, therefore, by the modern Al-Ramamin, 27 kilometers southeast of Baet Jibrin.

4. Rimmon-parez:

One of the encampments of the Israelites during the journey in the desert (Num. xxxiii. 19 et seq.).

RIMMON.—1. A Beerothite (2Sa 4:2; 2Sa 4:5; 2Sa 4:9). 2. The rock whither the remnants of the Benjamites fled (Jdg 20:45; Jdg 21:13). It has been identified with a lofty rock or conical chalky hill, visible in all directions, on the summit of which stands the village of Rummôn, about 3 miles E. of Bethel. 3. A city in the south of Judah, towards the border of Edom, Jos 15:32; in Jos 19:7 counted to Simeon; In Zec 14:10 named as lying to the far south of Jerusalem. See, further, En-rimmon. 4. In Jos 19:13 one of the boundaries of Zebulun is given as ‘Rimmon which stretcheth to the Nç‘âh’ (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] wrongly ‘Remmonmethoar to Neah’). In 1Ch 6:77 [Heb. 62] the name appears as Rimmono, and in Jos 21:35 as Rimmonah (for which, by a textual error, MT [Note: Massoretic Text.] has Dimnah). This Rimmon is the modern Rummâneh, north of Nazareth.

rim´on:

(1) The rock Rimmon (רמון סלע, ṣela‛ rimmōn; ἡ πέτρα Ῥεμμών, hē pétra Rhemmṓn): The place of refuge of the 600 surviving Benjamites of Gibeah (Jeba‛) who “turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon, and abode in the rock of Rimmon four months” (Jdg 20:45, Jdg 20:47; Jdg 21:13). Robinson’s identification (RB, I, 440) has been very generally accepted. He found a conical and very prominent hill some 6 miles North-Northeast of Jeba‛ upon which stands a village called Rummōn. This site was known to Eusebius and Jerome (OS 146 6; 287 98), who describe it as 15 Roman miles from Jerusalem. Another view, which would locate the place of refuge of the Benjamites in the Mughāret el jai, a large cavern on the south of the Wâdy Suweinı̂t, near Jeba‛, is strongly advocated by Rawnsley and Birch (see PEF, III, 137-48). The latter connects this again with 1Sa 14:2, where Saul, accompanied by his 600, “abode in the uttermost part of Gibeah” under the pomegranate tree (Rimmon).

(2) (רמּון, rimmōn; Ἐρεμμών, Eremmṓn, or Ῥεμμώθ, Rhemmṓth): A city in the Negeb, near the border of Edom, ascribed to Judah (Jos 15:32) and to Simeon (Jos 19:7; 1Ch 4:32, the King James Version “Remmon”). In Zec 14:10 it is mentioned as the extreme South of Judah - “from Geba to Rimmon, South of Jerusalem.” In the earlier references Rimmon occurs in close association with ‛Ain (a spring), and in Neh 11:29, what is apparently the same place, ‛Ain rimmon, is called En-rimmon (which see).

(3) (רמּון, rimmōn (Jos 19:13), רמונה, rimmōnāh, in some Hebrew manuscripts דּמנה, dimāh (see DIMNAH) (Jos 21:35), and רמּונו, rimmōnō (1Ch 6:77)): In the King James Version we have “Remmon-methoar” in Jos 19:13, but the Revised Version (British and American) translates the latter as “which stretcheth.” This was a city on the border of Zebulun (Jos 19:13) allotted to the Levites (Jos 21:35, “Dimnah”; 1Ch 6:77). The site is now the little village of Rummāneh on a low ridge South of the western end of the marshy plain el Baṭṭauf in Galilee; there are many rock-cut tombs and cisterns. It is about 4 miles North of el Mesh-hed, usually considered to be the site of Gath-hepher. See PEF, I, 363, Sh VI.