ba'al hamon

בַּעַל הָמוֹן

HebrewH1174Proper Noun“Baal-hamon”

Appears 2 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Sng 8:11 (2×)

Compound of

ba'alבַּעַלmaster84H1167

hamonהָמוֹןcrowd83H1995

Word studyResearch-gradeBAH-al hah-MOHNproper noun

What ba'al hamon means

Baal-hamon: the place where Solomon kept a vineyard, a name that reads in Hebrew as "owner of abundance" or "master of a multitude"

TranslatabilityUntranslatableCertaintyContested

This name turns up once in the whole Bible, as the spot where Solomon had a vineyard that he leased out to keepers for a thousand pieces of silver. Unlike most place names, it is built out of two everyday Hebrew words that any listener would have recognized: one meaning an owner, master, or husband (בַּעַל), and one meaning a crowd, an uproar, or a great heap of wealth (הָמוֹן). Put together they say something close to "owner of a whole lot."

That second word pulls in three directions at once, and all three were live for an ancient reader:

the sheer noise of a crowd, the roar of oncoming rain or the din of an army massing
a great number of people, as in the promise that Abraham would father a multitude of nations
a great quantity of goods, the piled-up riches of the wicked or the wealth of the nations

Because the same verse goes straight on to name a price in silver, most scholars hear "abundance" first here, with "a multitude" close behind.

Hebrew regularly describes a person by what they own or embody: a master of dreams for a dreamer, an owner of wings for a bird, a master of anger for a hot-tempered man. Israel's map is also dotted with places called Baal-something, but those almost always pair the name with a mountain or a landmark that is itself a proper name. This one is odd in pairing it with an ordinary noun, a trait it shares with only a couple of others such as Baal-tamar (בַּעַל תָּמָר) and Baal-perazim (בַּעַל פְּרָצִים). That oddity is one of the main reasons many scholars think the poet chose the name for what it says rather than copying it off a map.

In the poem the name is doing real work. Solomon's vineyard is large, far off, worked by hired keepers, and worth a fixed rent, and the very next line answers it: the speaker's own vineyard is right here, and it is not for hire. Since 1 Kings 11:3 credits Solomon with a thousand wives, the thousand pieces of silver and an estate called "owner of a multitude" let the king's land, his income, and his household of women stand together in a single image. Against all of that the Song sets one love that no amount of money could buy.

Sng 8:11 (2×)

What ba'al hamon does not mean

Do not look for this place on a map with any confidence. It is named nowhere else in the Bible, and no ruin or village has been securely identified with it. The best known guess ties it to a Balamon mentioned in the later book of Judith, usually located near modern Jenin, but that rests on a similar sounding name and little else.

The first half of the name is not straightforwardly a reference to the Canaanite storm god. It is the ordinary Hebrew word for an owner or master, used the same way in dozens of plain phrases, though a Hebrew ear would also have caught the echo of the god's name (בַּעַל), which is spelled exactly alike.

The Carthaginian god Baal Hammon is a lookalike, not a relative. His name is spelled with a different Hebrew consonant, so the resemblance is an accident of sound rather than a real family tie, and no standard commentary on the Song equates the two.

Finally, an English Bible turns a pointed phrase into a blank foreign word. A reader who sees only the spelled-out name misses that the verse is quietly measuring Solomon's wealth, and his household, against a single vineyard that money cannot reach.

What scholars say about ba'al hamon

The philology is stable and the geography is not. BDB (128) glosses the compound as "possessor of abundance"; HALOT (1:142-44, 250-51) and DCH (2:234-40, 574-77) document בַּעַל in more than fifty construct compounds of the type "one who has X" (בַּעַל חֲלֹמוֹת Gen 37:19, בַּעַל כְּנָפַיִם Prov 1:17, בַּעַל אַף Prov 22:24), and spread הָמוֹן, from the onomatopoeic root המה, across sound (1 Sam 4:14; 1 Kgs 18:41; Isa 13:4), human crowd (Gen 17:4-5; Judg 4:7; the Ezekiel oracles, including גֵּיא הֲמוֹן גּוֹג at Ezek 39:11, 15, a close formal parallel), and material affluence (Ps 37:16; Qoh 5:9; Isa 60:5). DCH notes the drift toward "wealth" in wisdom and economic contexts, which, with אֶלֶף כָּסֶף in the same verse and the repudiation of purchased love at Song 8:7, is why Exum, Longman, Garrett, Hess, and the UBS handbook of Ogden and Zogbo take "abundance" as primary; Delitzsch alone keeps "tumult" in play as an etymological option. Typologically the name is anomalous: nearly every biblical Baal- toponym (Baal-gad, Baal-hermon, Baal-peor, Baal-zephon, Baal-meon, Baal-shalisha) pairs the divine element with a proper noun, and only Baal-tamar and Baal-perazim, like this one, pair it with a common noun, which Exum (260) and Longman (218 n. 21) treat as evidence of literary coinage. The ancient versions divide: the Septuagint transliterates ἐν Βεελαμων, the later Greek revisers move toward paraphrase (Field, Hexapla 2:432), Jerome renders in ea quae habet populos, the Peshitta paraphrases as abundance, and the Targum of Canticles allegorizes the vineyard as Israel entrusted to the Davidic kings (Alexander, Aramaic Bible 17A). No Qumran fragment of Song of Songs covers 8:11. Of the geographic proposals, the Balamon of Judith 8:3, generally located at Khirbet Bel'ameh near Jenin and identified with Ibleam, is the strongest and is favored by Delitzsch and the older reference literature; Graetz's emendation to בַּעַל חֶרְמוֹן has no manuscript support, and Ewald's Hammon of Josh 19:28 fails on the ḥeth of חַמּוֹן against the he of הָמוֹן. The same consonantal mismatch rules out any etymological equation with the Punic Baʿal Ḥammōn of Carthage, whose name Cross and Lipiński derive from Mt. Amanus and others from ḥammān, "brazier" (Xella, Baʿal Ḥammon); Pope alone treats the surface homonymy, together with the Ugaritic Baal cycle's vine-and-grain fertility background (Smith, Ugaritic Baal Cycle) and Ugaritic hmlt "multitudes," as evocative context. Interpretively the field runs from Keel's reading of the name as "husband of a multitude," a barely veiled allusion to the 700 wives and 300 concubines of 1 Kgs 11:3 with the leased vineyard as the harem (endorsed by Longman, Garrett, Hess, Falk, Linafelt, and Bloch and Bloch), through the softer foil readings of Fox and Exum, who resist making Solomon the butt of a joke given his positive portrayal at Song 3:6-11, to Murphy's cautious agnosticism and Pope's mythic-cultic key. The mirroring of Solomon's leased vineyard against כַּרְמִי שֶׁלִּי, a phrase found only at Song 1:6 and 8:12, and the Isaiah 5 vineyard song (Sawyer, Grossberg, Exum) supply the wider intertextual frame.

Where scholars disagree about ba'al hamon

Whether Baal-hamon is a real settlement or a name coined for its meaning. The word occurs only at Song 8:11 and no site has been securely identified with it.

majorityA symbolic or literary name, chosen for what it says about Solomon's wealth and holdings, whatever village may or may not lie behind it. This is now the standard reading among specialists on the Song.; Marvin H. Pope, Song of Songs, Anchor Bible 7C (Doubleday, 1977), 686-91; J. Cheryl Exum, Song of Songs, Old Testament Library (Westminster John Knox, 2005), 259-61; Othmar Keel, The Song of Songs: A Continental Commentary (Fortress, 1994), 281-84; Tremper Longman III, Song of Songs, NICOT (Eerdmans, 2001), 218-19; G. Ogden and L. Zogbo, A Handbook on the Song of Songs, UBS Handbook Series (United Bible Societies, 1998), ad 8:11
minorityA real place, most plausibly the Balamon of Judith 8:3, located at Khirbet Bel'ameh near Jenin and identified with biblical Ibleam. The Septuagint transliteration of the name supports treating it as a toponym.; Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes (T&T Clark, 1885), ad 8:11; Nadav Na'aman, "Baal-hamon (place)," in Anchor Bible Dictionary (Doubleday, 1992), 1:551, which canvasses the candidates without endorsing one
minorityA corruption of Baal-hermon, differing by a single consonant. The proposal has no manuscript support and has been dismissed as conjecture.; Heinrich Graetz, Schir Ha-Schirim, oder das salomonische Hohelied (Vienna, 1871)

Which shade of the second element of the name is primary: material abundance, a multitude of people, or noise and tumult.

majorityAbundance or wealth, given the thousand pieces of silver named in the same verse and the rejection of purchased love two verses earlier.; J. Cheryl Exum, Song of Songs, Old Testament Library (Westminster John Knox, 2005), 259-61; Tremper Longman III, Song of Songs, NICOT (Eerdmans, 2001), 218-19; Richard S. Hess, Song of Songs (Baker, 2005), 245-46; D. J. A. Clines, ed., Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (DCH), vol. 2 (Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), 574-77
minorityA multitude of people, read pointedly as "husband of a multitude," alluding to the many wives credited to Solomon at 1 Kings 11:3.; Othmar Keel, The Song of Songs: A Continental Commentary (Fortress, 1994), 281-84; Marcia Falk, The Song of Songs: A New Translation and Interpretation (HarperSanFrancisco, 1990), 195-96
minorityNoise or tumult, kept open as an etymological possibility for the name.; Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes (T&T Clark, 1885), ad 8:11

How sharp the criticism of Solomon carried by the name is meant to be.

contestedA pointed satire: the estate called owner of a multitude stands for the royal harem, and the thousand pieces of silver play on Solomon's thousand women, so the passage attacks a commercial view of love.; Othmar Keel, The Song of Songs: A Continental Commentary (Fortress, 1994), 281-84; Duane A. Garrett, Song of Songs, Word Biblical Commentary 23B (Thomas Nelson, 2004), 258-65; Marcia Falk, The Song of Songs: A New Translation and Interpretation (HarperSanFrancisco, 1990), 195-96; Ariel and Chana Bloch, The Song of Songs (Random House, 1995), 217
contestedA gentler foil: the name marks Solomon's scale and affluence, which intimate love simply outstrips, and the Song elsewhere portrays the king positively, as at 3:6-11.; J. Cheryl Exum, Song of Songs, Old Testament Library (Westminster John Knox, 2005), 259-61; Michael V. Fox, The Song of Songs and the Ancient Egyptian Love Songs (University of Wisconsin Press, 1985), 174-75; Roland E. Murphy, The Song of Songs, Hermeneia (Fortress, 1990), 197-200

In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

BDB, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Clarendon, 1907), 128, s.v. בַּעַל הָמוֹןlexicon
Koehler and Baumgartner, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT), rev. ed. (Brill, 1994-2000), 1:142-44, 250-51lexicon
D. J. A. Clines, ed., Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (DCH), vol. 2 (Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), 234-40, 574-77lexicon
Marvin H. Pope, Song of Songs, Anchor Bible 7C (Doubleday, 1977), 686-91commentary
Othmar Keel, The Song of Songs: A Continental Commentary, trans. F. J. Gaiser (Fortress, 1994), 281-84commentary
J. Cheryl Exum, Song of Songs: A Commentary, Old Testament Library (Westminster John Knox, 2005), 259-61commentary
Tremper Longman III, Song of Songs, NICOT (Eerdmans, 2001), 218-19commentary
Duane A. Garrett, Song of Songs, Word Biblical Commentary 23B (Thomas Nelson, 2004), 258-65commentary
Richard S. Hess, Song of Songs, Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms (Baker, 2005), 245-46commentary
Roland E. Murphy, The Song of Songs, Hermeneia (Fortress, 1990), 197-200commentary
Michael V. Fox, The Song of Songs and the Ancient Egyptian Love Songs (University of Wisconsin Press, 1985), 174-75monograph
Ariel and Chana Bloch, The Song of Songs: A New Translation with an Introduction and Commentary (Random House, 1995), 217commentary
Gianni Barbiero, Song of Songs: A Close Reading, VTSup 144 (Brill, 2011), ad 8:11-12commentary
Nadav Na'aman, "Baal-hamon (place)," in Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. D. N. Freedman (Doubleday, 1992), 1:551reference
G. Ogden and L. Zogbo, A Handbook on the Song of Songs, UBS Handbook Series (United Bible Societies, 1998), ad 8:11reference
Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes, trans. M. G. Easton (T&T Clark, 1885), ad 8:11commentary
Marcia Falk, The Song of Songs: A New Translation and Interpretation (HarperSanFrancisco, 1990), 195-96monograph
Philip S. Alexander, The Targum of Canticles, Aramaic Bible 17A (Liturgical Press, 2003), ad 8:11commentary
Frederick Field, Origenis Hexaplorum quae supersunt (Oxford, 1875), 2:432reference
Paolo Xella, Baʿal Ḥammon: Recherches sur l'identité et l'histoire d'un dieu phénico-punique (CNR, 1991)monograph
Frank Moore Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic (Harvard University Press, 1973), 24-39monograph
Mark S. Smith, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, VTSup 55 (Brill, 1994)monograph
Heinrich Graetz, Schir Ha-Schirim, oder das salomonische Hohelied (Vienna, 1871)monograph

What ba'al hamon means

Baal-hamon: the place where Solomon kept a vineyard, a name that reads in Hebrew as "owner of abundance" or "master of a multitude"

Related words

The English words used to translate ba'al hamon

How ba'al hamon differs from similar Hebrew words

What scholars say about ba'al hamon

Where scholars disagree about ba'al hamon

Sources

All attested forms of בַּעַל הָמוֹן

noun