Baal-Hamon
1:
BAAL-HAMON (PLACE) [Heb ba˓al hāmôn (בַּעַל הָמֹון)]. A city or district mentioned in the Song of Songs (8:11). It was the location of a plantation of Solomon’s that he granted to planters who made it highly profitable. The name is not attested elsewhere in the MT; it may correspond to the place Balamōn mentioned (in Greek) in Jdt 8:3 (see BALAMON). Tell Bel˓ame (M.R. 177205) has been suggested as the site (Gordis 1974; Pope Song of Songs 686), but this is more likely Ibleam (so LBHG 148).
Paul Haupt (1902:223; 1903:6) suggested that the spelling of the second element with initial he was an intentional alteration of an original name *ba˓al ḥammôn (with initial ḥet), avoided because it was the name of a Phoenician god (on the name of this deity, see Schmitz 1990:255–57). The suggestion was furthered by Pope (Song of Songs AB, 686-87) with citations of a Phoenician inscription (KAI 19.3–4) mentioning the city Ḥammôn and allegedly showing the biblical passage to allude to an ancient ritual or myth associated with the goddess Astarte. This, and the interpretation of a Palmyrene text mentioning the divinity b˓l ḥmn, are highly speculative and of doubtful relevance. There is no cause to link the name Baal-hamon with the Phoenician divine name.
Interpreted literally, Heb ba˓al hāmôn means “possessor of a crowd, ” reflected in the Vulgate’s quea habet populos (Cant 8:11), or “possessor of wealth” (“Ownalot:” Goulder 1986:69), implicit in Syr we˒inbê saggī˒ “and its fruit (was) plentiful” (on the word hāmôn, TDOT 3:414–18). The transparency of the name has led to speculation that it is an imaginary site in the imagistic world of the supreme song (suggested by Gordis 1974; assumed by Goulder 1986:69). Others (e.g., Robert 1948) understood the term as a particular application of the image of the vineyard used broadly in biblical language as a metonymy for all of Israel. It seems best, however, to interpret Baal-hamon as an actual site, even if its location cannot be established.
Bibliography
Gordis, R. 1974. Song of Songs and Lamentations. Rev. ed. New York.
Goulder, M. D. 1986. The Song of Fourteen Songs. JSOTSup 36. Sheffield.
Haupt, P. 1902. The Book of Canticles. AJSL 18:193–241.
———. 1903. The Book of Canticles. AJSL 19:1–32.
Robert, A. 1948. Les appendices du Cantique des Cantiques (viii, 8–14). RB 55:161–83.
Schmitz, P. 1990. Epigraphic Contributions to a History of Carthage in the Fifth Century b.c.e. Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan.
Philip C. Schmitz
Freedman, D. N. (1996, c1992). The Anchor Bible Dictionary (1:551). New York: Doubleday.
2:
Baal-Hamon — place of a multitude, a place where Solomon had an extensive vineyard (Cant. 8:11). It has been supposed to be identical with Baal-gad, and also with Hammon in the tribe of Asher (Josh. 19:28). Others identify it with Belamon, in Central Palestine, near Dothaim.
Easton, M. (1996, c1897). Easton's Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
3:
BAAL-HAMON Site of a vineyard owned by Solomon and rented by local farmers (Sg 8:11). The poetic context indicates that the vineyard produced superb grapes.
Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (135). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
4:
BA´AL-HA´MON (bāʹal haʹmon; “lord of the multitude”). The place where Solomon had a vineyard (Song of Sol. 8:11), which he let out to “caretakers.” Location is unknown.
Unger, M. F., Harrison, R. K., Vos, H. F., Barber, C. J., & Unger, M. F. (1988). The new Unger's Bible dictionary. Revision of: Unger's Bible dictionary. 3rd ed. c1966. (Rev. and updated ed.). Chicago: Moody Press.
5:
Baal-hamon (bayʹuhl-hayʹmuhn; Heb., ‘Lord of abundance, wealth’), a town, location unknown (Song of Sol. 8:11).
Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper's Bible dictionary. Includes index. (1st ed.) (85). San Francisco: Harper & Row.
6:
Baal-Hamon (Heb. ba˓al hāmôn)
An unknown place where Solomon had a vineyard (Cant. 8:11). According to some commentators, “vineyard” refers to the royal harem; thus the name could be a covert allusion to Jerusalem.
Freedman, D. N., Myers, A. C., & Beck, A. B. (2000). Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (136). Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans.
