Rimmon

The name Rimmon attaches to several distinct figures, settlements, and a deity in the UPDV. A man of Beeroth fathers two assassins in Saul's house. A town in Judah's southern allotment passes to Simeon and reappears after the exile under the form En-rimmon. A different Rimmon sits on Zebulun's northern border and is later given to the Levites. A rocky stronghold in Benjamin shelters the survivors of a tribal war. A wilderness encampment, a Manassite Levitical city, and the Syrian house-god worshiped by Naaman's master round out the picture. The verses below are arranged by these distinct Rimmons rather than by a single referent.

Rimmon the Beerothite, father of Saul's assassins

After Saul's death, two of Ishbosheth's captains came from Beeroth in Benjamin's territory. The narrative names their father by his town: "And Ishbosheth, Saul's son, had two men who were captains of bands: the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamin (for Beeroth also is reckoned to Benjamin:" (2 Sa 4:2). Their crime is told as a household intrusion: "And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went, and came about the heat of the day to the house of Ishbosheth, as he took his rest at noon" (2 Sa 4:5). The killing itself is told twice, once with the household framing and once as a treacherous act: "And, look, they came there into the midst of the house, as though they would have fetched wheat; and they struck him in the body: and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped" (2 Sa 4:6). David's reply identifies them again by their patronymic before pronouncing judgment on the deed: "And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, As Yahweh lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity," (2 Sa 4:9). In this branch the name Rimmon belongs to a man, and is the only thing the text says about him directly — his sons carry the action.

Rimmon south of Jerusalem (Judah and Simeon)

A town named Rimmon — in UPDV consistently rendered "En-rimmon" in the tribal lists — lies in the southern Judean hills. The southern boundary description in Joshua's allotment for Judah closes the count of cities with: "and Lebaoth, and Shilhim, and En-rimmon: all the cities are twenty and nine, with their villages." (Jos 15:32). The same site is reckoned to Simeon when Simeon's allotment is carved from Judah's: "En-rimmon, and Ether, and Ashan:" (Jos 19:7), with a UPDV footnote that the three-city listing follows the CTAT reconstruction and is paralleled in 1 Chronicles 4:32. The Chronicler's parallel reads, "And their villages were Etam, and En-Rimmon, and Tochen, and Ashan;" (1 Ch 4:32), again on the CTAT reconstruction. After the return from exile, En-rimmon is named among the Judahite settlements: "and in En-rimmon, and in Zorah, and in Jarmuth," (Ne 11:29). Zechariah's vision of a transformed land places Rimmon as the southern terminus of the area to be levelled: "All the land will be made like the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and she will be lifted up, and will dwell in her place, from Benjamin's gate to the place of the first gate, to the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel to the king's wine-presses." (Zec 14:10).

Rimmonah on Zebulun's border (Levitical city)

A separate Rimmon — UPDV spells it Rimmonah — lies on Zebulun's northern frontier. The boundary description traces it past Gath-hepher: "and from there it passed along eastward to Gath-hepher, to Eth-kazin; and it went out at Rimmonah stretching to Neah;" (Jos 19:13). When the Levitical cities are assigned, this Rimmonah goes to Merari's clan: "\p To the rest of [the Levites], the sons of Merari, [were given], out of the tribe of Zebulun, Rimmonah with its suburbs, Tabor with its suburbs;" (1 Ch 6:77). The two notices fix the same site as a tribal-border marker and a Levitical holding.

Gath-rimmon: Dan and Manasseh

Gath-rimmon ("winepress of Rimmon") appears twice as a Levitical city, once in Dan and once in Manasseh. In Dan's allotment it stands among the coastal-plain towns: "and Jehud, and Azor, and Bene-berak, and Gath-rimmon," (Jos 19:45). The half-tribe of Manasseh contributes its own Gath-rimmon to the Levites: "And out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its suburbs, and Gath-rimmon with its suburbs; two cities." (Jos 21:25). The Chronicles parallel gives the Danite town again: "and Aijalon with its suburbs, and Gath-rimmon with its suburbs;" (1 Ch 6:69), and then names the Manassite holdings under a different toponym: "and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Aner with its suburbs, and Bileam with its suburbs, for the rest of the family of the sons of Kohath." (1 Ch 6:70). The pairing shows that Bileam stands in 1 Chronicles 6:70 where Joshua's list gave Gath-rimmon for Manasseh.

The rock of Rimmon (Benjamin)

In the war of Judges 20-21, the surviving Benjamites flee to a rocky refuge that the narrative names "the rock of Rimmon." The first notice records the flight: "And they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men, and stuck [closely] after them to Gidom, and struck of them two thousand men." (Jud 20:45). The remnant that reaches the rock is six hundred men: "But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and remained in the rock of Rimmon four months." (Jud 20:47). The reconciliation that ends the cycle is delivered to that same site: "\p And the whole congregation sent and spoke to the sons of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them." (Jud 21:13). The rock is not a settlement here — it is a defensible outcrop where Benjamin survives.

Rimmon-perez in the wilderness

The travel itinerary in Numbers names a stage called Rimmon-perez. Two consecutive notices give arrival and departure: "And they journeyed from Rithmah, and encamped in Rimmon-perez." (Nu 33:19), and "And they journeyed from Rimmon-perez, and encamped in Libnah." (Nu 33:20). The site appears only in this list.

Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon

A compound name, Hadadrimmon, appears in Zechariah's lament-image for Jerusalem: "In that day there will be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon." (Zec 12:11). The verse uses the place as a reference point for an established mourning rite without explaining the rite itself.

The house of Rimmon at Damascus

A separate Rimmon altogether is the deity housed in a Damascene temple. After Naaman's healing, his request to Elisha treats his civic duty as a problem of conscience: "In this thing Yahweh pardon your slave: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, Yahweh pardon your slave in this thing." (2 Ki 5:18). The repetition of "the house of Rimmon" three times within a single verse is the UPDV's wording, and the text foregrounds the gesture (bowing supported on Naaman's arm) rather than any cult description. Naaman's prayer asks Yahweh's pardon for the act in advance.