LEBANON lĕ’ bə nun (Gr. Λίβανος; Heb. לְּבָנֹ֔ון; white [mountain]). (1) Mt. Lebanon just inland from the Phoen. coast and (2) the modern state which includes Phoenicia, Mt. Lebanon, The Baqaa, and the western slopes of the Anti-Lebanon range.

I. Lebanon in history and in the Bible. The history of Mt. Lebanon is inseparable from the history of Phoenicia (q.v.). Here only the role of the cedars of Lebanon as an object both of military plunder and of peaceful trade will be noted. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt imported cedar wood from Lebanon. The Egyp. tale of Wenamon tells of an envoy sent to barter for cedar wood for Egypt.

In the Bible Lebanon had meaning both for nationalistic ideology and in lit. Nationalistic ideology in Deuteronomy and Joshua from the beginning made Lebanon part of the Promised Land (Deut 1:7; Josh 1:4; cf. also Judg 3:3). Moses prayed to see the “goodly hill country, and Lebanon” (Deut 3:25), and the Phoen. coast as far as Byblos (i.e. “the land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon,” Josh 13:5) were included among the promised, but unconquered, territories. In their historical context, Solomon’s building activities in the Lebanon (1 Kings 9:19; 2 Chron 8:6) prob. refer to the eastern slopes of the Lebanon adjacent to the Beqaa into which the empire of David and Solomon extended. It is unlikely that the Heb. empire ever extended into Phoenicia proper or far into the Lebanon range.

Lebanon’s place in literary allusion is far more significant. There are literary motifs based upon the greatness of Lebanon and its cedars, motifs utilizing Lebanon as a romantic symbol, and motifs of prosperity and stability.

A single trip into one of the high, rugged valleys of the Lebanon should be sufficient to demonstrate that the Lebanon range is a fitting symbol of rugged grandeur and greatness. Thus God’s greatness is expressed poetically when the Lebanon “skips” at God’s voice (Ps 29:6) or by the fact that it is God who planted Lebanon’s mighty cedars (Ps 104:16). God’s destructive powers can destroy these same cedars (Isa 10:34). The cedars fittingly symbolize arrogant men (Ezek 31:3).

The inaccessibility of the mountains may have been aided by the luxurious wealth of Phoenicia in making the Lebanon a symbol of the romantic, the exotic, and the mysterious. Solomon’s litter was of “wood of Lebanon” (Song of Solomon 3:9). The bride’s romantic beauty was extolled by summoning her as if from the Lebanon (and from the Anti-Lebanon and Mt. Hermon also; 4:8). Her garments were the scent of Lebanon (4:11; the pun on “Lebanon” and “lebonä” i.e. frankincense, should be noted). The palace named “House of the Forest of Lebanon” exploited the romantic connotation of the term (1 Kings 7:2).

Prosperity and stability are symbolized by the statement that the righteous will “grow like a cedar in Lebanon” (Ps 92:12; cf. 72:16). Hosea describes the restored Israel as rooted and fragrant like the Lebanon (Hos 14:5-7); following Heb. text “Lebanon” instead of “poplar” in v. 5.

II. Description. Mt. Lebanon extends from the Litani Gorge northward to the valley of the Nahr el-Kebir (i.e. The Kebir River, classical Eleutheros River) although the modern state extends some fifteen m. further to the S. In general, the mountains are separated from the sea by a coastal plain seldom more than a m. wide. Ridges jutting to the sea and rugged stream beds interrupt the coastal plain which is well-watered and quite productive. The plain of Sidon in the S and the valley of the Nahr el-Kebir provide more spacious agricultural areas.

Turning to Mt. Lebanon proper, its western face consists of a complicated system of ridges, highland plateaus, deep valleys, and foothills leading from the peaks to the coastal plain. Seasonal rains are adequate to make the highland plateaus and terraced hillsides quite productive. There are many villages on these western slopes. By contrast the eastern face tilts rather directly to the Beqaa and sparse rainfall limits their usage for grazing of sheep and goats. Some of the major peaks of the Lebanon are Jebel Akkar in the N, Jebel Makhmal (with the summit, Qurnet es-Sauda; c. 11,000 ft.), Jebel Mneitreh from which the Dog River flows, Jebel Sunnin which is visible from Beirut, Jebel Kneisseh, Jebel Baruk, Jebel Niha, and Jebel Rihan.

The Beqaa, classical Coele-syria, is the valley between the Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon. Its rainfall is limited so that it depends largely on streams and springs flowing from the mountains for agriculture. It is very fertile particularly in the vicinity of Zahleh, Shtoura, and Baalbek. Its rivers are the Nahr el-Asi (classical Orontes) flowing N and the Litani (classical Leontes) flowing S. The latter has been harnessed for Lebanon’s major electrical power and irrigation work. The slopes of the Anti-Lebanon are similar in appearance and usage to the eastern slopes of the Lebanon.

Lebanon produces a wide variety of crops. The plains and some of the plateaus and valleys are good for growing grain. The coastal plain and mountain terraces produce a wide variety of garden vegetables, nuts and fruits. Among these the olive and the vine still retain their age-old importance. In regions too high or too steep for agriculture, the forests flourish. Original growth included pines, myrtles, and the famous cedars of which only a few hundred remain until the present. In recent years much reseeding of barren slopes with pine trees has been carried out.

Lebanon is rich in archeological sites, chief of which are Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, and Baalbek as well as dozens of sites of lesser importance. Most of the actual remains date from Rom. times or later, but some sites, esp. Byblos, preserve a rich variety of remains from earlier ages.

Bibliography' “Lebanon,” HDB (1900); P. K. Hitti, Lebanon in History (1962); R. Fedden, The Phoenix Land (1965); K. S. Salibi, The Modern History of Lebanon (1965); M. K. Khayat and M. C. Keatinge, Lebanon, Land of the Cedars (1967).