Lebanon: The White Mountain

Read Joshua 9

The following is an excerpt from a sermon preached by Pastor Chris on the meaning behind the name Lebanon Presbyterian Church.

"What's in a name?" Shakespeare poignantly asks through Juliet. He explores the notion that names are merely conventions used to identify people or things, inherently lacking in intrinsic value or significance.

"It is only your name that is my enemy. You are yourself, not just a Montague. What does ‘Montague’ even mean? It’s not about a hand, a foot, an arm, a face, or any other part of your body. You could just take another name! What’s so special about a name? The thing we call a rose would be just as sweet-smelling if it were called something else."

The idea: names have no defining worth or meaning, they have no intrinsic values you are still the person even without the name. Yet, names can have associative or symbolic value. Names might not change who you intrinsically are, but they can certainly change how you're seen, remembered, or even how you think and feel.

For Example:

I am still Chris no matter if you change my name. If you were to change my name to Mint Chip Ice Cream (that sound’s really good) but that wouldn’t have any worth! Right? Change my name to whatever I’m still Chris.

But it’s not like the name Mint Chip Ice Cream didn’t do anything? What did it do? I began to desire Mint Chip Ice Cream…the name did that! And now I want some! Names can influence us to action by pointing to something greater than the thing itself, to remind us of a reality that we might otherwise not see and either never know or worse leave dormant in our memories.

For instance, consider the meaning of Lebanon, which is the name of our church. If someone asked, "What does Lebanon mean? I saw it in your church's name," how would you reply?

A: “Well it’s in the Bible”

Q: “Yes, but it's the name of a Middle Eastern country located just north of Israel, with Beirut as its capital. How is that name connected to a Presbyterian church in rural Mississippi?”

The point is, the name is unusual for a Presbyterian church in rural Mississippi! However, as we will discover, Lebanon is a name rich with Biblical theological significance.

So if we forget a name’s meaning it is then likely we have also forgotten a very important reality…so let us remember

Lebanon Through Geography, Anthropology & Story

Geography:

In Hebrew לְבָנוֹן leb-aw-nohn´; means The White Mountain (from its snow); Lebanon, a mountain range in Palestine:—Lebanon. The White Mountain is so beautiful, mountain range smack dab in the middle of relatively flat land and the white snow covers the tops like a blanket and like sprinkled powdered sugar around the mid section. Up close the white snow would be a blinding white from the sun.

Just like the description of the Ancient of Days in Daniel:

““As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow,”

Daniel 7:9)

And Jesus because he is the Ancient of Days:

“(Jesus’) appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow”

Matthew 28:3)

And the same clothing you wear by being in Jesus:

“I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen,”

Revelation 3:18)

NO MONEY? BUY!

““Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”

Isaiah 55:1)

““Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;”

Isaiah 1:18)

These white garments symbolize the righteousness of Jesus, transforming our sins from a deep red to a brilliant white. When you observe God's creation outdoors, keep these thoughts in mind.

As I contemplate God's general revelation, the creation, I don't just want to admire His creative beauty—which I certainly do—but I also aim to apply God's special revelation, the Scriptures, to gain an accurate and richer understanding of the world around me.

Reading through the Old Testament, we learn to perceive the world in this way, from rainbows to trees; they encourage us to think like this. Consider all the Scriptures that use creation to convey redemptive and theological truths—it’s truly profound. The world is God's Flannel Graph, and the Scriptures are its true interpreter, which is part of the message in Romans 1.

As an ancient Israelite with faith, you embrace the promise that although your sins are like scarlet, they will become as white as snow. When you gaze at The White Mountain in Lebanon, shielding your eyes from the dazzling white light, you exclaim, "That's what it looks like!"

The White Mountain serves a continual reminder:

“Does the snow of Lebanon leave the crags of Sirion? Do the mountain waters run dry, the cold flowing streams?”

Jeremiah 18:14)

Mountains hold a unique significance in the Scriptures, so unique that we are dedicating an entire sermon to Jesus, Mountains, & the Presence of God. In essence, mountains are depicted as the spatial presence of God or symbolically as the earthly location of God's heavenly presence.

Lebanon serves as a reminder of our forgiveness of sins in Christ, with our righteousness resembling a dazzling white garment, symbolizing that our sins are covered just as snow covers Lebanon. It should also remind us of the nearness of God's presence.

Anthropology

We need to move on so I will place into your hands the further study of other things connected to Lebanon like its forests and cedar trees…fascinating stuff. But before we move on there is a group of people who are dwelling on Mount Lebanon, they are called the Hivites. “the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon”

Judges 3:3 We don’t know a ton about them. The small sampling we have of the Hivite living isn’t pretty. And here in Joshua 9 they are seeking to trick their way into covenant and blessing with Israel. But that’s an old drum beat…Jacob and Esau.

The Story

And that takes us into Joshua 9…the Hivites have totally unwittingly have taken a play from Israel’s own playbook. We’ve seen this before…just like Jacob tricking his father Isaac so he could inherit the double blessing as the first son instead of Esau…he tried in his mother’s womb…missed his shot and said “We will finish this later.”

And the Hivites have come to Israel dressed in deception but instead of fury arm wraps and smelling like they’ve been hunting, they have come with premade worn out garments, dry bread and old cracked and dry wineskins that can’t hold water.

And they are doing this in desperation to not be slaughtered by the holiness of Israel’s God. They’d rather come into covenant with their God and be servants in the house of that God than be consumed by the wrath of God.

It says they have heard of the God of the Exodus, how he absolutely annihilates injustice kings and peoples…and they want in…by any means necessary…desperately wanting into covenant of peace with Israel’s God and all that will mean for them. Without seeking the Lord’s counsel Israel accepts them into covenant and so does God but he makes them servants, wood cutters in Lebanon. And they are brought near.

Redemptive Symbols

It’s interesting did you notice the three items that are mentioned at this covenant: garments, bread and wine. Doesn’t that sound so familiar? We come into the kingdom of God, as strangers to the covenants and promises, through faith in Jesus and he takes our old garments and gives us new garments, and bread and wine.

Listen up gentiles: the Hivites are strangers to the promises and covenants with God. Yet they are coming in! They are coming in garments that are old and worn and they are in desperate need of covenant with the God of Israel so that he can give them bright new white clothes of righteousness, new bread of life and new wineskins of life fit for God’s Spirit. Christ is here in the volume of the book!

And so, Joshua makes the covenant with the Hivites but they hear that they were indeed tricked so the sons of Israel travel to Hivite territory to strike them down but the elders of Israel remind Israel that they can not slay them for they are in covenant and the stipulation of the covenant was that they would live. And so even though they deserve to die…they will not die …but live…why? Because God does not break covenant.

So instead of getting what they deserve which is death they get resurrection, they live! And Joshua 9 says this happened on the 3rd day! (You can't make this up! So glorious!)

You see that connection to your own life through Jesus?

Conclusion: Forget Not Your Name Lebanon

When you think upon our church name Lebanon, remember Jesus:

The White Mountain – atonement – sins white as snow on the mountains of Lebanon – where the presence of the Lord is. Remember some of the inhabitants the Hivites though a rotten bunch, foreigners and strangers, they were brought into covenant with God, and should remind us of God’s gracious covenant with us, in His blood. That God takes our old worn out garments of our righteousness and clothes us in his own, bright and shinning white, and gives us new bread and new wine and for us the wineskins. Remember God’s covenant that though we deserve to die, by faith through Jesus’ new covenant we live and he will not destroy us but surely give us life & life more abundantly.

Do names inherently possess value or significance? Perhaps not, at least not until God bestows them with meaning.

May God aid us in understanding our name and never forgetting it, for the name Lebanon signifies numerous wonderful blessings that belong to us…and we have only touched on a few.

Glory be to God through Jesus our Lord.