6756. Tsalmown

Lexical Summary

Tsalmown: Zalmon

Original Word: צַלְמוֹן
Part of Speech: proper name, of a mountain ; proper name, masculine
Transliteration: Tsalmown
Pronunciation: tsal-mone'
Phonetic Spelling: (tsal-mone')
KJV: Zalmon
Word Origin: [from H6754 (צֶּלֶם - images)]

1. shady
2. Tsalmon, the name of a place in Israel and of an Israelite

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance

Zalmon

From tselem; shady; Tsalmon, the name of a place in Palestine and of an Israelite -- Zalmon.

see HEBREW tselem

Brown-Driver-Briggs

I. צַלְמוֺן proper name, of a mountain 1. ׳הַרצֿ Judges 9:48 near Shechem, not identified, compare GFM, Buhl^{Geogr. 100}; Ερμων (erroneous).

2 snow-capped mountain Psalm 68:14, probably east of Jordan (in Hauran according to Wetzst, compare Buhl^{Geogr. 118}), Σελμων.

II. צַלְמוֺן proper name, masculine a hero of David 2 Samuel 2; 2 Samuel 23:28 (= עִילַי I Chron 2 Samuel 11:29), (Σ) ελλω, ᵐ5^L Ελιμαν.

צַלְמָוֶת see III. צלל.

Topical Lexicon

Entry: Zalmon (Strong’s Hebrew 6756)

Occurrences and Canonical Setting

• Judges 9:48 – Mount Zalmon becomes the staging ground for Abimelech’s punitive attack on Shechem.
• 2 Samuel 23:28 – Zalmon the Ahohite is listed among the elite warriors who stood with King David.
• Psalm 68:14 – The mountain is recalled poetically: “When the Almighty scattered kings in the land, it was like snow falling on Zalmon”.

Geographical Notes

Mount Zalmon is generally identified with a wooded height in the central hill country of Ephraim, close to Shechem. Thick forest growth supplied ample timber, explaining Abimelech’s use of freshly-cut branches for his assault. The region’s elevation and vegetation also provide a natural backdrop for the psalmist’s imagery of sudden, dazzling snowfall—an uncommon but memorable phenomenon in Israel’s interior highlands.

Historical Context

1. Judges 9: In the turbulence following Gideon’s death, Abimelech exploits Zalmon’s forest to exact retribution on Shechem. The episode underscores the judge period’s cyclical pattern of covenant unfaithfulness, social breakdown, and divinely permitted judgment.
2. 2 Samuel 23: The second occurrence shifts from geography to genealogy. Zalmon the Ahohite joins the roster of “the Thirty,” David’s crack troops whose loyalty preserved the emerging monarchy. His placement in the list attests to the widespread tribal support David enjoyed beyond Judah.
3. Psalm 68: In a triumphal hymn celebrating God’s march from Sinai to Zion, Zalmon functions symbolically. Snow covering a dark, wooded mountain evokes total, unanticipated victory: hostile powers are blanketed and silenced under divine sovereignty.

Theological Themes

• Divine Sovereignty over Warfare – Whether through Abimelech’s axe, David’s warrior, or the Almighty’s snow, Zalmon scenes reveal that ultimate outcomes rest in God’s hands.
• Judgment and Mercy – Abimelech’s brutal deed on Zalmon illustrates covenant-breaking judgment; the psalmist’s reference to snow on the same peak proclaims covenant-keeping deliverance.
• Light over Darkness – The name’s association with “shadow” contrasts sharply with the blinding whiteness of snow in Psalm 68:14, reinforcing Scripture’s recurring motif of God’s light dispelling darkness.

Ministry Implications

1. Spiritual Readiness – Like Zalmon the warrior, believers are called to disciplined loyalty amid cultural conflict (2 Timothy 2:3-4).
2. Resolute Leadership – Abimelech misuses leadership; David’s corps models self-sacrificial service. Pastors and elders may draw cautionary and exemplary lessons respectively.
3. Hope in Divine Intervention – Psalm 68 encourages congregations to trust God to overturn entrenched opposition suddenly and decisively, just as snow can transform a landscape overnight.

Links with Broader Biblical Narrative

• Judges 9 anticipates the monarchy’s need for godly leadership, fulfilled more faithfully in David but ultimately in Jesus Christ, the perfect King (Luke 1:32-33).
• The mighty-men motif prefigures the New Testament image of the church as an army clothed in spiritual armor (Ephesians 6:10-18).
• Snow imagery reappears in Isaiah 1:18 and Revelation 1:14, framing Zalmon’s whiteness within the larger promise of sin’s cleansing and the Lord’s radiant purity.

Summary

Zalmon serves Scripture as mountain, man, and metaphor. Each usage converges on one message: God overturns darkness, establishes righteous rule, and calls His people into loyal service under His unfailing authority.

Forms and Transliterations

בְּצַלְמֽוֹן׃ בצלמון׃ צַלְמ֗וֹן צַלְמוֹן֙ צלמון bə·ṣal·mō·wn bəṣalmōwn betzalMon ṣal·mō·wn ṣalmōwn tzalMon

Englishman's Concordance

Judges 9:48
HEB: אֲבִימֶ֜לֶךְ הַר־ צַלְמ֗וֹן הוּא֮ וְכָל־
NAS: up to Mount Zalmon, he and all
KJV: to mount Zalmon, he and all the people
INT: Abimelech to Mount Zalmon he and all

2 Samuel 23:28
HEB: צַלְמוֹן֙ הָֽאֲחֹחִ֔י מַהְרַ֖י
NAS: Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai
KJV: Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai
INT: Zalmon the Ahohite Maharai

Psalm 68:14
HEB: בָּ֗הּ תַּשְׁלֵ֥ג בְּצַלְמֽוֹן׃
NAS: there, It was snowing in Zalmon.
KJV: in it, it was [white] as snow in Salmon.
INT: the kings snowing Zalmon

3 Occurrences

Strong's Hebrew 6756
3 Occurrences

bə·ṣal·mō·wn — 1 Occ.
ṣal·mō·wn — 2 Occ.