Baal-gad

AI summary: Baal-gad matters because it appears at the northern horizon of the land. Joshua uses it as a way of describing how far the conquest reached toward Lebanon and Hermon, so the city functions almost as a boundary expression as much as a conquest target. The cross references present Baal-gad as a northern Canaanite center at the edge of Israel's remembered victories.¹

Lord of fortune, or troop of Baal, a Canaanite city in the valley of Lebanon at the foot of Hermon, hence called Baal-hermon (Judge. 3:3; 1 Chr. 5:23), near the source of the Jordan (Josh. 13:5; 11:17; 12:7). It was the most northern point to which Joshua’s conquests extended. It probably derived its name from the worship of Baal. Its modern representative is Banias. Some have supposed it to be the same as Baalbec. ³