The History of Bashan: From Ancient Rebellion to Modern Contention
Bashan was more than a region of fertile highlands. In the biblical and Ancient Near Eastern worldview, it was a spiritually charged landscape, a territory tied to divine rebellion, judgment, and confrontation. Stretching east of the Sea of Galilee into the modern Golan Heights and parts of southern Syria, Bashan was known for its rich volcanic soil, mighty oaks, and fortified cities. But towering above it all was Mount Hermon, a mountain steeped in myth and theology, anchoring Bashan as a place where heaven, earth, and the underworld collided.
Mount Hermon and the Descent of the Watchers
Mount Hermon, the highest point in the region, played a central role in both biblical and Second Temple Jewish traditions. According to the Book of 1 Enoch, Hermon was the site where the Watchers, divine beings who rebelled against God, descended to take human wives. This act of defiance resulted in the birth of the Nephilim, hybrid offspring who spread corruption, violence, and forbidden knowledge across the earth.
This rebellion gave Mount Hermon a reputation as a gateway for chaos and divine treachery. The mountain was associated not with holiness, but with defilement. Ugaritic texts, which reflect the religious culture of nearby Canaanite regions, describe the high places of Bashan and Hermon as locations tied to the divine realm, but not to Yahweh. For biblical writers, these were counterfeit mountains, opposing what Zion represented. Hermon and the broader region of Bashan were viewed as strongholds of illegitimate spiritual authority.
Og of Bashan and the Last of the Rephaim
By the time of Israel’s wilderness journey, Bashan was ruled by Og, described in Deuteronomy as the last of the Rephaim. These beings were remembered as ancient, semi-divine tyrants, spiritually connected to the Nephilim and the primeval rebellion of Genesis 6. Og’s legacy tied him to the shadow of that earlier corruption.
The significance of Og’s defeat was not merely political or territorial; it was spiritual. Israel was not just conquering a king, but reclaiming ground that had long been under the influence of divine rebellion. Bashan had become the last known outpost of the Rephaim, and its conquest marked a turning point in the cosmic conflict between God and the rebel powers.
The Tribe of Dan and the Northern High Places
The legacy of rebellion tied to Hermon did not vanish with Og’s death. It continued within Israel through the Tribe of Dan. Originally allotted land near the Philistine coast, the Danites failed to fully secure their inheritance. Instead, they migrated northward, conquering the city of Laish and renaming it Dan, as described in Judges 18. This placed them at the foot of Mount Hermon, deep within the spiritual territory of Bashan.
Their relocation was accompanied by spiritual compromise. They brought with them stolen household idols, a private ephod, and their own priest, establishing a rival sanctuary. This unauthorized cult center became one of the first organized systems of idolatry in Israel, enduring well into the monarchy.
Centuries later, King Jeroboam I institutionalized this corruption by setting up a golden calf at Dan, according to 1 Kings 12. His goal was political, preventing northern Israelites from going to Jerusalem, but the location was spiritually significant. The base of Hermon, long associated with divine rebellion, became a formal center of counterfeit worship in the name of Yahweh.
Dan’s legacy was so marked by apostasy that the tribe is omitted from the listing of the 144,000 in Revelation 7. Whether symbolic or literal, the absence signals a theological judgment. Dan aligned itself with the wrong mountain and the wrong god.
Bashan in the Psalms and Prophets
The imagery of Bashan continues in the Psalms and Prophets. Psalm 22 refers to the strong bulls of Bashan surrounding the suffering servant, a vivid symbol of spiritual enemies. In Amos 4, the cows of Bashan represent indulgent, oppressive elites. The region becomes shorthand for arrogance, luxury, and rebellion against God.
Psalm 68 includes a direct theological confrontation between Bashan and Zion. It describes the many-peaked mountain of Bashan, looking with envy at the place God has chosen for His throne. Bashan’s natural grandeur is meaningless in the face of divine election. The spiritual high place is Zion, not Hermon.
Caesarea Philippi and the Reversal at Hermon
In the New Testament, Bashan and Mount Hermon appear again, this time in the context of Christ’s ministry. At Caesarea Philippi, located at the foot of Hermon, Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” as recorded in Matthew 16. This region, filled with pagan temples and shrines, including a cave believed to be a gate to the underworld, was steeped in spiritual darkness.
Jesus’s declaration that the gates of Hades would not prevail against His church takes on deeper meaning when spoken at the very site once ruled by the gods of Bashan. It was a deliberate challenge, not just to human powers, but to the ancient spiritual rebels whose influence lingered in that land.
Just days later, the Transfiguration likely took place on Mount Hermon itself. There, Jesus was revealed in radiant glory, a declaration that the true Son of God now stood where the sons of God had once rebelled. The mountain of corruption became the mountain of unveiling. The site of descent became the site of exaltation.
Bashan in Later History and Modern Conflict
After the biblical period, Bashan passed through the hands of empires, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Islamic, and Ottoman. Though the spiritual memory of the region faded in public consciousness, the land remained strategically important.
In the 20th century, Bashan reentered the spotlight. The area now known as the Golan Heights was seized by Israel from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War. Today, it remains one of the most disputed territories in the Middle East.
To the world, it is contested land. But in the biblical imagination, it is ground reclaimed from ancient rebellion. Its soil once bore the footprints of giants, idolaters, and false gods. Now it is a living reminder that geography remembers, and that the story of spiritual war is not yet over.
Conclusion
Bashan was never just a battlefield or a pastureland. It was a spiritual frontier. From the descent of the Watchers, to the rise of Og, to the compromise of Dan, to the glory of Christ, Bashan has been the stage for some of the Bible’s most profound moments of confrontation and reversal. It remains a symbol of ground once ruled by rebellion, and of a God who reclaims even the darkest high places for Himself.
Discussion Questions
How does the association of Bashan with the Watchers and Rephaim shape our understanding of Israel's conquest of that region?
In what ways did the Tribe of Dan's relocation and idolatry reflect the broader theme of spiritual compromise within Israel?
Why might Jesus have chosen Caesarea Philippi, near Mount Hermon, as the setting for revealing His identity and declaring authority over the gates of Hades?
How does the Transfiguration of Christ on or near Mount Hermon serve as a theological reversal of the rebellion described in 1 Enoch?
What does the enduring spiritual significance of Bashan suggest about how biblical writers understood geography, memory, and cosmic conflict?
Want to Know More?
Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible
Heiser systematically unpacks the Divine Council worldview, explains the spiritual geography of Bashan and Mount Hermon, and explores how these regions are tied to rebellious supernatural beings and Yahweh’s campaign to reclaim the nations.
John H. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible
Walton provides essential context for interpreting the Old Testament within its ANE setting, including the concept of cosmic geography, high places, and how land and spiritual authority were understood in biblical theology.
Amar Annus (ed.), Demons and Spirits in Biblical Theology: Reading the Biblical Text in Its Cultural and Literary Context
A scholarly collection exploring biblical demonology and the role of figures like the Rephaim and the Watchers in the cultural matrix of Israel’s neighbors, shedding light on Bashan's dark reputation in the Hebrew Bible.
Michael S. Heiser, Reversing Hermon: Enoch, the Watchers, and the Forgotten Mission of Jesus Christ
Focuses directly on the rebellion of the Watchers on Mount Hermon and shows how Jesus’s ministry, particularly the Transfiguration and His statement at Caesarea Philippi, was a calculated reversal of that rebellion.
Judd H. Burton, Interview With the Giant: Ethnohistorical Notes on the Nephilim
Burton investigates the memory and cultural echoes of the Nephilim and Rephaim across history. He draws on biblical, Enochic, and Ugaritic material to support the idea that Bashan, Mount Hermon, and the region’s high places were long associated with divine rebellion and spiritual contamination.