The Mountains of the Bible

We now embark on an interesting adventure through the lands of the Bible. Specifically, we are going to focus on mountain climbing. In these studies, we are going to look at the different mountains of the Bible and try to glean some of the lessons that each mountain offers up to us. I believe it will be an interesting study.

I don’t know about you, but I love mountains. They are spectacular, majestic, and beautiful, whether they are the Green Mountains of Vermont, the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee, the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, or the spectacular red mountains of Sedona, Arizona.

As we open the curtain on these studies, we are going to take a look at the first mountain mentioned in the Bible, Mount Ararat. I have labeled this mountain as the mountain of commencement or “new beginning,” not only because it is listed first, but because of the lessons taught by this place.

This area is mentioned in Isaiah 37:38 under a different name. It is referred to as the land of Armenia where it was a place of refuge for the sons of Sennacherib after they murdered their father.

* Isaiah 37:38—And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia … (Also 2 Kings 19:37).

It is also associated with the names Minni and Ashchenaz in Jeremiah 51.

* Jeremiah 51:27—Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers.

Genesis 8 informs us that Noah’s Ark rested upon one of the mountains of the Ararat mountain range after the waters of the Genesis Flood receded. Ararat was the center of humanity at that time. The ark rested on one of these mountains in this range and from this place, the human race had a new beginning in a much different world than what existed before the Flood. Ararat was the stepping stone between two worlds.

The eight people in the ark, Noah and his family, were alone in the world. The rest of the human race was dead because the waters of the Flood covered even the mountains, including Mount Ararat whose highest point is 16,854 feet in elevation. The highest mountain in the world is Mount Everest in the Himalaya mountain range north of India. It is 29,035 feet high. That means that the waters from the Flood buried the lands of this world in over 5½ miles of water at sea level.

Mount Ararat is a memorial to mankind of the world-wide flood as it arose from a chaos of mountain peaks which gleam and glitter in the sun-beams that are reflected from their snowy sides. The glare of snow that crowns these peaks is blinding on a sunny day. The top 4000 feet of the mountain is covered by a perpetual snow. The summit forms a small cruciform platform about 200 feet in diameter that is composed of eternal ice unbroken by rock. Immense avalanches of ice are hurled down the mountain like a football player spiking the ball in the end zone. This area is also the scene of volcanic eruptions.

These mountains overlook a sea on one side and a desert on the other. Modern Turkey, Iran, and the old Soviet Armenia occupy parts of this ancient land area. It has seldom been scaled by human feet because of the snakes, wild dogs, bears, loose, porous rocks, and ice and snow. At one time, however, it was blanketed by the waters of the sea, never to be covered again by water.

Mattoon, Rod. 2014. Treasures from Bible Mountains. Treasures from Scripture Series. Springfield, IL: Rod Mattoon.