Rimmon or Rimon (
Hebrew: רִמּוֹן,
romanized: Rīmmōn) is a
Hebrew word meaning '
pomegranate'. It appears as a name in the
Hebrew Bible where, when translated to
Greek, it takes the form Remmon Ρεμμων, Remmōn).
Rimmon, one of the "uttermost cities" of Judah, afterwards given to
Simeon (Joshua 15:21, 32; 19:7;
1 Chronicles 4:32). In Joshua 15:32, Ain and Rimmon are mentioned separately, but in Joshua 19:7 and 1 Chronicles 4:32 the two words are probably to be combined, as forming together the name of one place, Ain-Rimmon = "the spring of the pomegranate" (compare
Nehemiah 11:29). It has been identified with Um er-Rumamin, about 13 miles south-west of
Hebron.
Zechariah 14:10 describes it as "south of
Jerusalem," to distinguish it from other Rimmons; and uses it in conjunction with
Geba to describe the latitudinal span of the
kingdom of Judah.
The Rock of Rimmon, where the Benjamites fled (
Judges 20:45, 47; 21:13), and where they maintained themselves for four months after the battle at Gibeah. It is the present village of
Rammun, "on the very edge of the hill country, with a precipitous descent toward the
Jordan valley", supposed to be the site of
Ai.[1] Israeli settlement
Rimonim nearby is named after the biblical place.
According to the biblical narrative, the Aramean commander
Naaman, having been healed of his
leprosy by the Israelite prophet
Elisha, requested pardon from God for continuing to minister to the
King of Syria who would continue to worship in the Temple of Rimmon. Elisha granted him this pardon.[7]
Extra-biblical usage
An adornment of the
Torah scroll (usually plural: Torah rimonim), from the Hebrew word for pomegranate.
According to The Urantia Book, allegedly revealed by celestial beings and published in 1955 in the US, Rimmon was a small city in the region of
Galilee which "had once been dedicated to the worship of a Babylonian god of the air, Ramman"[9] (see
Hadad/Ramman).