I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.
That goodly mountain, and Lebanon. The name Lebanon denotes 'whiteness,' and was given to that gigantic mountain pile either from the chalky colour of its cliffs, or from its summits being capped with perpetual snow. The natural and very earnest wish of Moses to be allowed to cross the Jordan was founded on the idea that the divine threatening might be conditional and reversible. "That goodly mountain" is supposed by Jewish writers to have pointed to the hill on which the temple was to be built (Exodus 15:2), thus making a reference to two mountains-namely, Zion, as "that goodly mountain," and Lebanon. These, if they were both objects of longing desire to Moses, must have excited his interest on different grounds; because he could only look in a prophetic spirit on mount Zion, as to be distinguished for "the glorious things that were to be spoken of it," and on Lebanon, as far-famed for its natural grandeur and productions. But biblical scholars now generally render the words, 'that goodly mountain, even Lebanon,' and consider it to be mentioned as typifying the beauty of Palestine, of which hills and mountains were so prominent a feature.