The hill of God is... — Better,
“Mountain of God, mount Basan;
Mountain of peaks, mount Basan.”
Even if the range of Hermon were not included, the basalt (basanite, probably from the locality) ranges, always rising up before the eyes of those looking eastward from Palestine, must have been doubly impressive from their superior height, and the contrast of their bold and rugged outlines with the monotonous rounded forms of the limestone hills of Judæa. And it is quite possible that, in a poetic allusion, the term “mountains of Bashan” might include all the heights to the eastward of Jordan, stretching southward as well as northward. There would then be an additional propriety in their introduction as jealously watching the march of Israel from Sinai to take possession of the promised land. Why these trans-Jordanic ranges should be styled “mountains of God” has been much discussed. Some explain the term to denote ancient seats of religious worship; others take it simply as a general term expressing grandeur — “a ridge of god-like greatness.”