Rimmon was a rock where 600 Benjamite survivors fled after a battle with the other Israelite tribes (Jdg. 20:45, 47; 21:13).
Rimmon, meaning "pomegranate," was a rock or cliff where 600 Benjamite men fled after a battle with the other Israelite tribes. The conflict arose when the Benjamites refused to surrender the men of Gibeah who had committed a heinous crime (Jdg. 19-20). In the ensuing battle, the Benjamites were defeated, and the survivors escaped to the rock of Rimmon, where they stayed for four months (Jdg. 20:45, 47). Later, the Israelites sent a peace delegation to the Benjamites at the rock of Rimmon, urging them to return (Jdg. 21:13). The exact location of the rock of Rimmon is uncertain, but it was likely situated in the territory of Benjamin, north of Jerusalem.
Approximate location: 31.935, 35.297 · view on a map · on the Bible atlas
Pomegranate. (1.) A man of Beeroth (2 Sam. 4:2), one of the four Gibeonite cities. (See Josh. 9:17.) (2.) A Syrian idol, mentioned only in 2 Kings 5:18. (3.) One of the “uttermost cities” of Judah, afterwards given to Simeon (Josh. 15:21, 32; 19:7; 1 Chr. 4:32). In Josh. 15:32 Ain and Rimmon are mentioned separately, but in 19:7 and 1 Chr. 4:32 (comp. Neh. 11:29) the two words are probably to be combined, as forming together the name of one place, Ain-Rimmon=the spring of the pomegranate. It has been identified with Um er-Rumamin, about 13 miles south-west of Hebron. (4.) “Rock of,” to which the Benjamites fled (Judg. 20:45, 47; 21:13), and where they maintained themselves for four months after the fearful battle at Gibeah, in which they were almost exterminated, 600 only surviving out of about 27,000. It is the present village of Rummon, “on the very edge of the hill country, with a precipitous descent toward the Jordan valley,” supposed to be the site of Ai.
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
3 verses in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H7417
Then the Benjamites turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and Israel cut down 5,000 men on the roads. And they overtook them at Gidom and struck down 2,000 more.
But 600 men turned and fled into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, where they stayed four months.
Then the whole congregation sent a message of peace to the Benjamites who were at the rock of Rimmon.
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.