Baal-Gad was a

Canaan CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...

ite town at the foot of

Mount Hermon Mount Hermon ( / ALA-LC: ('Mountain of the Sheikh', ), , ) is a mountain, mountain cluster constituting the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range. Its summit straddles the Lebanon–Syria border, border between Syria and Lebanon a ...

. It is mentioned in the Bible three times, all of them in the

Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Israel from the conquest of Canaan to the Babylonian captivity, Babylonian exile. It tells of the ...

(Josh. 11:17; 12:7; 13:5). In all cases, it is described as the northernmost point of

Joshua Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...

's conquests. The name may relate to Gad, a Semitic deity of fortune, but more likely simply refers to

Baal Baal (), or Baʻal, was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The ...

with the epithet “of fortune”.

Identification

The exact location of Baal-gad is uncertain, but it is generally accepted as being in the vicinity of

Wadi al-Taym Wadi al-Taym (), also transliterated as Wadi el-Taym, is a wadi (dry river) that forms a large fertile valley in Lebanon, in the districts of Rachaya and Hasbaya on the western slopes of Mount Hermon. It adjoins the Beqaa Valley running north t ...

in southeastern

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. The earliest suggestions identified it with

Banias Banias (; ; Judeo-Aramaic, Medieval Hebrew: , etc.; ), also spelled Banyas, is a site in the Golan Heights near a natural spring, once associated with the Greek god Pan. It had been inhabited for 2,000 years, until its Syrian population fle ...

Baalbek Baalbek (; ; ) is a city located east of the Litani River in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, about northeast of Beirut. It is the capital of Baalbek-Hermel Governorate. In 1998, the city had a population of 82,608. Most of the population consists of S ...

, while

Félix-Marie Abel Félix-Marie Abel (29 December 1878 – 24 March 1953) was a French archaeologist, a geographer, and a professor at the École Biblique in Jerusalem. A Dominican priest, he was one of the most prominent bible scholars in the end of Ottoman era ...

suggested identifying it with

Hasbaya Hasbaya or Hasbeiya () is a municipality in Lebanon, situated at the foot of Mount Hermon, overlooking a deep amphitheatre from which a brook flows to the Hasbani River. In 1911, the population was about 5,000. The town was a traditional seat of ...

. However, archeological evidence suggests that neither Banias nor Hasbaya were inhabited before the

Hellenistic period In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

, while Baalbek is too far north to fit with the geographical details in Joshua. Simons proposes identifying Baal-Gad with the site of Tell Haush/Tell ez-Zeitun, a small tell in Beqaa Governorate just north of Haouch El-Qenaabeh (, about 8.5 kilometers southwest of

Rashaya Rashaya, Rachaya, Rashaiya, Rashayya or Rachaiya (), also known as Rashaya al-Wadi or Rachaya el-Wadi (and variations), is a town of the Rashaya District in the west of the Beqaa Government of Lebanon. It is situated at around above sea level ...

and 12 kilometers north of Hasbaya). Jericke accepts this identification, as Tell Haush/Tell ez-Zeitun is the only site with

Late Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

and

Iron Age Levant The Levant is the area in Southwest Asia, south of the Taurus Mountains, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea in the west, the Arabian Desert in the south, and Mesopotamia in the east. It stretches roughly north to south, from the Taurus Mountains to ...

ine remains between near

Marjayoun Marjayoun or Jdeidet Marjayoun (: Lebanese pronunciation ), also Marj 'Ayoun, Marjuyun or Marjeyoun (lit. "meadow of springs") which reflects the area's lush landscape and abundant water resources and Jdeideh / Jdeida / Jdeidet Marjeyoun, is a m ...

to the south and

Kamid el-Loz Kamid el-Loz, also spelled Kamid al-Lawz, is located in West Bekaa, Lebanon. The settlement has a population numbering several thousand, mostly Sunni, people and is also a site of archaeological excavations. History In 1838, Eli Smith noted ...

to the north.

References

;Sources * Hebrew Bible cities {{Hebrew-Bible-stub