Rimmon

Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

(pomegranate). (1) Father of Ishbosheth’s murderers (2 Sam. 4:2-92And Saul's son had two men that were captains of bands: the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon a Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin: (for Beeroth also was reckoned to Benjamin: 3And the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and were sojourners there until this day.) 4And Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up, and fled: and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth. 5And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went, and came about the heat of the day to the house of Ish-bosheth, who lay on a bed at noon. 6And they came thither into the midst of the house, as though they would have fetched wheat; and they smote him under the fifth rib: and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. 7For when they came into the house, he lay on his bed in his bedchamber, and they smote him, and slew him, and beheaded him, and took his head, and gat them away through the plain all night. 8And they brought the head of Ish-bosheth unto David to Hebron, and said to the king, Behold the head of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul thine enemy, which sought thy life; and the Lord hath avenged my lord the king this day of Saul, and of his seed. 9And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said unto them, As the Lord liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity, (2 Samuel 4:2‑9)). (2) A Syrian deity worshipped at Damascus (2 Kings 5:1818In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon: when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon thy servant in this thing. (2 Kings 5:18)). (3) Levitical city in Zebulun (1 Chron. 6:7777Unto the rest of the children of Merari were given out of the tribe of Zebulun, Rimmon with her suburbs, Tabor with her suburbs: (1 Chronicles 6:77)). Remmon-methoar (Josh. 19:1313And from thence passeth on along on the east to Gittah-hepher, to Ittah-kazin, and goeth out to Remmon-methoar to Neah; (Joshua 19:13)). (4) Town in Judah and Simeon (Josh. 15:3232And Lebaoth, and Shilhim, and Ain, and Rimmon: all the cities are twenty and nine, with their villages: (Joshua 15:32)). (5) A rock or fastness, now Rummon, 10 miles north of Jerusalem, to which the defeated Benjamites retreated (Judg. 20:45,47; 21:1345And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them unto Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them. (Judges 20:45)
47But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness unto the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months. (Judges 20:47)
13And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably unto them. (Judges 21:13)).

Concise Bible Dictionary:

Rammun, Ancient Rimmon
4. Father of Rechab and Baanah who slew Ish-bosheth (2 Sam. 4:2-92And Saul's son had two men that were captains of bands: the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon a Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin: (for Beeroth also was reckoned to Benjamin: 3And the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and were sojourners there until this day.) 4And Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up, and fled: and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth. 5And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went, and came about the heat of the day to the house of Ish-bosheth, who lay on a bed at noon. 6And they came thither into the midst of the house, as though they would have fetched wheat; and they smote him under the fifth rib: and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. 7For when they came into the house, he lay on his bed in his bedchamber, and they smote him, and slew him, and beheaded him, and took his head, and gat them away through the plain all night. 8And they brought the head of Ish-bosheth unto David to Hebron, and said to the king, Behold the head of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul thine enemy, which sought thy life; and the Lord hath avenged my lord the king this day of Saul, and of his seed. 9And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said unto them, As the Lord liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity, (2 Samuel 4:2‑9)).

Jackson’s Dictionary of Scripture Proper Names:

pomegranate : his pomegranate (1 Chron. 6:77)

From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

1. Rimmon is supposed to have been a prominent deity of the Syrians. Traces of the name are found in Tabrimon, the father of Benhadad, king of Syria (1 Kings 15:1818Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants: and king Asa sent them to Ben-hadad, the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying, (1 Kings 15:18)) and perhaps in Hadadrimmon (Zech. 12:1111In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. (Zechariah 12:11)). Nothing definite is known of this deity or of the nature of his worship, and the derivation of the word is uncertain. Some suppose it to be the application to a deity of the word rimmon. a pomegranate. Stollberg in his History of Religion, (cited by Rosenmuller, Morgenland, vol. 3, p. 231,) says that the Orientals consider apples as symbols of the sun, and on this account certain court servants of the king of Persia carried a staff with a golden apple on the point. Others derive the word from ramam, to be high, or lifted up. This again would point to the sun; and it is highly probable that the worship of Rimmon had some connection with that adoration of the sun so common among the heathen nations of the East.
2. It was probably a part of the court etiquette that the king should lean on the arm of one of his chief officers. The king of Israel had this custom as well as the king of Syria (2 Kings 7:2,172Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. (2 Kings 7:2)
17And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spake when the king came down to him. (2 Kings 7:17)). The Jews have a tradition that two young women waited on Esther when she was queen of Persia, one to hold up her train, and the other for her to lean upon.

Related Books and Articles:

337. Rimmon Etiquette
Narrator: Chris Genthree