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Rimmon Methoar

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(Heb. Rimmon' ham-Methoar', רַמּוֹן הִמְּתֹאָר, i.e. Rimmon the extensive; Sept. ῾Ρεμμωναὰ Μαθαραοζᾶ v.r. ῾Ρεμμωνὰμ μαθαρίμ; Vulg. Remmon, Amthar; A.V. "Remmon-methoar"), a place which formed one of the landmarks of the eastern boundary of the territory of Zebulun (Joshua 19:13 only). It occurs between Eth-Katsin and Neah. Methoar does not really form a part of the name, but is the Pual of תָּאִר, to stretch, and should be translated accordingly (as in the margin of the A.V.) — "Rimmon which reaches to Neah." The object of the sacred writer is to describe as minutely as possible the exact course of the borderline. This is the judgment of Gesenius, Thesaur. col. 1292 a; Rodiger, ibid. 1491 a; Fü rst, Handwb. 2, 512 a; and Bunsen, as well as of the ancient Jewish commentator Rashi, who quotes as his authority the Targum of Jonathan, the text of which has, however, been subsequently altered, since in its present state it agrees with the A.V. in not translating the word. The latter course is taken by the Sept. and Vulg. as above, and by the Peshito, Junius and Tremellius, and Luther. Symmachus rendered המתאר, a descriptive epithet attached to Rimmon, "Rimmon the Renowned" (Rosenmü ller, ad loc.). This Rimmon does not appear to have been known to Eusebius and Jerome, but it is mentioned by the early traveler Parchi, who says that it is called Rumaneh, and stands an hour south of Sepphoris (Zunz, Benjamin, 2, 433). If for south we read north, this is in close agreement with the statements of Robinson (Bib. Res. 3, 110) and Van de Velde (Memoir, p. 344), who place Rummaneh on the south border of the plain of Buttauf, three miles north northeast of Seffuirieh (comp. Pococke, Trav. 2, 62; Thomson, Land and Book, 2, 123; De Saulcy, Dead Sea, 1, 69).

Rimmon is not improbably identical with the Levitical city which in Joshua 21:35 appears in the form of Dimnah, and again, in the parallel lists of Chronicles (1 Chronicles 6:77) as Rimmono (A.V. "Rimmon").