RIMMON rĭm’ ən רִמֹּ֥ון (for other forms see below); LXX see below; meaning pomegranate in Heb., or when borrowed from Akkad, the thunderer (cf. Akkad. ramanu “to roar.”
1. A Benjaminite of Beeroth whose two sons, Baanah and Rechab, guerilla captains, assassinated Saul’s son Ishbosheth (2 Sam 4:2-9; LXX ̔Ρεμμών).
2. A Syrian deity, a local representation of Hadad the god of storm, rain and thunder. In Syria this god is called “Baal,” i.e. the lord par excellence, and to the Assyrians he was known as Ramanu, “The Thunderer.” J. Gray noted: “The identity of Rimmon with Hadad...is confirmed by the fact that ‘Hadad’ occurs as an element in the theophoric name Ben-hadad borne by several kings of Syria, and Tabrimmon, the father of Benhadad, the contemporary of Asa of Judah” (IDB, IV, 99). The Jews prob. disparaged the name by altering the vowels to read in Heb. “The Pomegranate.”
Naaman, the commander of the Aramaean army worshiped in the temple of this deity at Damascus (2 Kings 5:17-19; LXX ̔Ρεμμὰ̀ν). D. J. Wiseman concluded: “the temple (of Rimmon) was probably sited beneath the present Ummayid mosque in that city, which itself was built over an older temple dedicated to Zeus, whose symbol like that of Rimmon, Hadad and Baal, was a thunderbolt” (NBD, 1097).
3. A town in the Negeb by the border of Edom at first assigned to Judah (Josh 15:32; LXX Ερωμωθ) and later assigned to Simeon (Josh 19:7; LXX ̔Ρεμμών; 1 Chron 4:32, LXX ̔Ρεμμών). Some returnees from the Exile settled at En-rimmon (Neh 11:29; LXX omitted Alexandrinus, ἕν ̔Ρεμμιόν). In the texts (Josh and 1 Chron) Rimmon is always preceded by Ain (but note confusion in LXX), whereas in Nehemiah the two are named as one. According to Zechariah 14:10 (LXX ̔Ρεμμὼ̀ν) it marks the S extremity of the land to be turned into a plain with Jerusalem towering over it when Yahweh comes. It usually is identified with Khirbet er-Ramamin, nine m. NNE of Beer-sheba.
4. A border town of Zebulun (Josh 19:13; LXX ̔Ρεμμώνα, LXX Alexandrinus ̔Ρεμμὼ̀ν), assigned to the Merarite Levites (1 Chron 6:77 רִמּﯴנֹ֖ו; LXX ̔Ρεμμὼ̀ν), the synoptic passage, Joshua 21:35, reads דִּמְנָה׃֙, but prob. this Rimmon is meant because (1) Dimnah is otherwise unknown, (2) the Old Latin texts read Remmon here, and (3) the “D” and “R” are frequently confused by the scribes. It usually is located on the S edge of the Sahlel-Battof at modern Rummaneh, a village six m. NNE of Nazareth.
5. Six hundred survivors of the Benjaminites took refuge for four months at the Rock of Rimmon when pursued after the slaughter at Gibeah (Judg 20:45, 47; 21:13; LXX ̔Ρεμμων). Robinson (RB, I [1892], 440) identified this with Rammun, located on a lofty rock or conical chalk hill c. six m. NNE of Jeba’ (Gibeah) and three m. E of Bethel. This hill is visible in all directions, protected by ravines from the N, S, and W and contains many caves.
The RSV has no textual support for reading Rimmon in Isaiah 10:27. See Hadad.
Bibliography A. Saarisalo, “Topographical Researches in Galilee,” JPOS, IX (1929), 27-40; F.-M. Abel, Géographie de la Palestine, II (1938), 437 and passim; W. F. Albright, “The List of Levitic Cities,” Louis Ginzberg Jubilee Volume (1945), English section, 49-73; Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible (1967).