Zalmon

Zal´mon, a mountain in Samaria near to Shechem (Jdg 9:48). Many suppose this to be the same with the Zalmon of Psa 68:14: ’where the Almighty scattered kings in it (the land), there was snow as in Zalmon;’ i.e. the fields were whitened with the bones of the slain.

Zal’mon. (shady). An Ahohite, one of David’s guard. 2Sa 23:28.

An Ahohite, of David’s guard (2Sa 23:28); in 1Ch 11:29, Ilai.

Zalmon (zăl’mon), shady, Mount, a hill near Shechem, Jdg 9:48. the same as Salmon. Psa 68:14 R. V., "Zalmon."

[Zal’mon]

An Ahobite, one of David’s mighty men. 2Sa 23:28. Apparently called ILAI in 1Ch 11:29.

ZALMON.—1. The hill near Shechem where Abimelech and his followers cut wood for the burning down of the stronghold of Baal-berith (Jdg 9:48). Possibly the same mountain is meant in Psa 68:14, where a snowstorm is apparently referred to as contributing to the scattering of ‘kings’ opposed to the people of Jehovah. As the Psalm refers to incidents of wars not related in the canonical books, we have to look to the times of the Maccabees; and the most obvious allusion is to the retreat of the army of Tryphon in b.c. 143, when he attempted to relieve the Syrian garrison in Jerusalem and was prevented by a heavy fall of snow (1Ma 13:22). 2. See Ilai.

J. F. McCurdy.

zal´mon (צלמון, calmōn; Σελμών, Selmṓn, ὄρος Ἐρμών, óros Ermṓn; the King James Version Salmon (Psa 68:14)):

(1) From the slopes of Mt. Zalmon, Abimelech and his followers gathered the wood with which they burned down “the stronghold of the house of El-berith,” which may have been the citadel of Shechem (Jdg 9:46). The mountain therefore was not far from the city; but no name resembling this has yet been recovered in Mt. Ephraim. It is just possible that in the modern Arabic name of Mt. Ebal, es-Sūlēmı̄yeh, there may be an echo of Zalmon. It is precisely to this mountain, especially to the western slopes, that one would expect Abimelech and his people to go for the purpose in view. The name occurs again in Psa 68:14, a passage of admitted difficulty. Snow in Palestine is mainly associated with Mt. Hermon, where it may be seen nearly all the year round; hence, doubtless the Greek reading “Mt. Hermon” in Judges. But snow is well known among the uplands in winter; and the Psalmist may simply have meant that the kings were scattered like snowflakes in the wind on Mt. Zalmon. We need not therefore look to Bashan or elsewhere for the mountain. The locality is fixed by the narrative in Jgs.

(2) One of David’s heroes (2Sa 23:28). See ILAI.