Mount, Mountain

A high area of land. In Israel and nearby countries, people thought of mountains as places to meet God. Many important events in Israel's religion happened on Mount Sinai or Horeb (see Exodus 3:1–4; 16; 19–23; 1 Kings 19:8–18).

Mount Zion became almost as important when David was king (Psalm 50:2; Isaiah 2:2–4).

Israel's neighbors sometimes thought mountains were magical places where their gods lived. But Israelites knew their God lived in heaven. He only came down to the mountain at special times (Exodus 19; compare 1 Kings 8:27).

In the New Testament, Jesus did many things on mountains:

He taught there (Matthew 5:1)

He retired there to pray (Luke 6:12)

He was transfigured on a mountain (Luke 9:28–36).