Perazim, Mount
Per'azim, Mount
[some Pera'zim], MOUNT (Heb. Har Peratsim', הִראּפּרָצַים. mountain of clefis; Sept. ὄρος ἀσεβῶν [apparently by mistake for רשָׁעַים]; Vulg. Mons division'im), a place mentioned by the prophet Isaiah, in warning the Israelites of the divine vengeance about to come upon the nation, with which they did not seem sufficiently impressed, referring to instances of God's wrath exhibited in their past history in these words: "The Lord shall rise up as in Mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon" (Isa 28:21). The commentators almost unanimously take his reference to be to David's victories at Baal-perazim and Gibeon (Gesenius, Strachey), or to the former of these on the one hand, and Joshua's slaughter of the Canaanites at Gibeon and Beth-horon on the other (Eichhorn, Rosenmüller, Michaelis). Hendewerk thinks reference is made to "the breach of Uzzah" (פרוֹ עזה, Perez-Uzzah) described in 2Sa 6:6-8 (Die Deutero-Jesaiaschen Weissag. ad loc.); but that narrative contains no mention of any mount. Ewald supposes the prophet may allude to the slaughter of the Canaanites at Gibeon by Joshua (Die Propheten, ad loc.); though in another place he distinctly states that Mount Perazim is the same place which is called Baal-perazim (Geschichte des Volkes Israel, 3:187, note 3). Isaiah in this passage doubtless alludes to David's conquest of the Philistines. "And David came to Baal-perazim, and smote them there, and said, The Lord hath broken forth (פרוֹ) upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters (כפרוֹ מים). Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim" (בעל פרצים, 2Sa 5:20). The play upon the word is characteristic. It seems probable, as Ewald states (l.c.), that there was a high-place of Baal upon the top of the mount, and hence the name Baal-perazim. SEE BAAL. This view is confirmed by the fact that in the second clause of the passage Isaiah mentions another instance of divine wrath in the valley of Gibeon, and in 1 Chronicles 14 the historian connects with the victory at Baal-perazim a second victory of David over the Philistines, in which it is said "they smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gazer" (ver. 16). The exact locality of Mount Perazim is unknown, but it must have been some of the heights on the borders of the valley of Rephaim (1Ch 14:9; 2Sa 5:18), and consequently not far distant from Jerusalem. In the account of Josephus (Ant. 7:4, 1), David's victory assumes much larger proportions than in Samuel and Chronicles. The attack is made not by the Philistines only, but by "all Syria and Phoenicia, with many other warlike nations besides." He places the scene of the encounter in the "groves of weeping," as if alluding to the Baca of Psalm 84. SEE BAAL- PERAZIM.
