Abarim
Abarim
Mountain range in Jordan
Abarim (Hebrew: הָעֲבָרִים, romanized: Hā-Avārīm)[1][2] is the Hebrew name used in the Bible for a mountain range "across the Jordan", understood as east of the Jordan Rift Valley, i.e. in Transjordan, to the east and south-east of the Dead Sea, extending from Mount Nebo — its highest point — in the north, perhaps to the Arabian desert in the south.
| Abarim | |
|---|---|
Madaba Hills from Mount Nebo at sunrise | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 710 m (2,330 ft) |
| Listing | |
| Naming | |
| Native name | הָעֲבָרִים (Hebrew) |
| Geography | |
| Country | Jordan |
| Range coordinates | 31°45′14″N 35°42′55″E |
According to Cheyne and Black, its Hebrew meaning is "'Those-on-the-other-side'—i.e., of the Jordan."[3] The Vulgate (Deuteronomy 32:49) gives its etymological meaning as passages.[4] Its northern part was called Pisgah, and the highest peak of Pisgah was Mount Nebo (Numbers 23:14; 27:12; 21:20; 32:47; Deuteronomy 3:27; 34:1; 32:49).
These mountains are mentioned several times in the Bible:
- Balaam blessed Israel the second time from the top of Mount Pisgah (Numbers 23:14)
- From "the top of Pisgah" i.e. Mount Nebo, an area which belonged to Moab, Moses surveyed the Promised Land (Numbers 27:12 and Deuteronomy 3:27; 32:49), and there he died (34:1,5)
- The Israelites had one of their encampments in the mountains of Abarim (Numbers 33:47,48) after crossing the Arnon
- The prophet Jeremiah linked it with Bashan and Lebanon as locations from which the people cried in vain to God for rescue (Jeremiah 22:20)
- Jeremiah hid the Ark of the Covenant there (II Maccabees 2:4-5). (The book of 2 Maccabees is included in Bibles used by Roman Catholics, but generally not in Protestant or Jewish Bibles.)
- Biblical names for geographical features possibly part of "Abarim"
- Mount Seir, the ancient name for the mountainous region between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba; modern Jibāl ash-Sharāh
- Modern names for geographical features possibly synonymous or contained in "Abarim"
- Al-Sharat or Ash-Sharāh, a highland region in modern-day southern Jordan and northwestern Saudi Arabia
- Jibāl ash-Sharāh (see Mount Seir), with Petra, Jebe Harun/Mount Aaron, etc.
- Jebel Proywe, Jordanian mountain north of Little Petra
- Petra (ancient Reqem/Reqmu/Rakmu) in Seir
- Jebel Harun, or southern Mount Hor near Petra, with the alleged tomb of Aaron
- Related geographical features
- Midian Mountains, Saudi Arabian mountains to the south
- According to the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), the Hebrew Avarim appears in both the phrase har Ha-Avarim "mountain Abarim," and harei Ha-Avarim, "mountains of Abarim."
- According to the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), the Septuagint (Greek) equivalent is to oros to Abarim, and en to peran tou Iordanou. Cheyne and Black's Encyclopaedia Biblica (1899) gives alternate spellings Abarin and Abareim, and discusses its Septuagint equivalents involving the word peran in somewhat greater detail.
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) entry for "Abarim."
- Sources
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Abarim". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Easton, Matthew George (1897). "Abarim". Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.
- Reynolds, Francis J., ed. (1921). "Abarim" . Collier's New Encyclopedia. New York: P. F. Collier & Son Company.
