The "waters of Merom," Jos 11:5, or lake of Semechon, is the most northern of the three lakes supplied by the river Jordan. It is situated in the southern part of a valley formed by the two branches of Mount Hermon. The lake is now called after the valley, the lake of Huleh. The lake proper is four or five miles long, and perhaps four broad, tapering towards the south. It is very shallow, and a large part of it is covered with aquatic plants. Thousand of waterfowl sport on its surface, and its water abound in fish. On the north lies the plain of the Huleh, which is a dead level for a distance of six miles or more. Near the upper end of this, the three streams which form the Jordan unite. On the west side of the Jordan above the lake, a marsh extends up north as far as the junction of these streams, or even farther; while on the eastern side the land is tilled almost down to the lake. It is a splendid plain, and extremely fertile. All kinds of grain grow on it, with very little labor; and it still merits the praise accorded to it by the Danite spies; "We have seen the land; and behold, it is very good, ....a place where there is no want of anything that is in the earth," Jg 18:9-10. Its rich soil is formed by deposit, and it seems to be partially submerged in the spring. Thus the lake and valley El-Huleh form an immense reservoir, and unite with the snows of Hermon to maintain the summer supplies of the Jordan. Near this lake Joshua defeated the kings of Northern Canaan, Jos 11:1-8.

height, a lake in Northern Palestine through which the Jordan flows. It was the scene of the third and last great victory gained by Joshua over the Canaanites (Jos 11:5-7). It is not again mentioned in Scripture. Its modern name is Bakrat el-Huleh. "The Ard el-Huleh, the centre of which the lake occupies, is a nearly level plain of 16 miles in length from north to south, and its breadth from east to west is from 7 to 8 miles. On the west it is walled in by the steep and lofty range of the hills of Kedesh-Naphtali; on the east it is bounded by the lower and more gradually ascending slopes of Bashan; on the north it is shut in by a line of hills hummocky and irregular in shape and of no great height, and stretching across from the mountains of Naphtali to the roots of Mount Hermon, which towers up at the north-eastern angle of the plain to a height of 10,000 feet. At its southern extremity the plain is similarly traversed by elevated and broken ground, through which, by deep and narrow clefts, the Jordan, after passing through Lake Huleh, makes its rapid descent to the Sea of Galilee."

The lake is triangular in form, about 4 1/2 miles in length by 3 1/2 at its greatest breadth. Its surface is 7 feet above that of the Mediterranean. It is surrounded by a morass, which is thickly covered with canes and papyrus reeds, which are impenetrable. Macgregor with his canoe, the Rob Roy, was the first that ever, in modern times, sailed on its waters. (See Jordan.)

Me'rom Waters of. (See also Jordan, lake of Huleh)

A lake in the north of Palestine. The lake was drained in 1957 to provide fertile agricultural land. It was connected with a large morass on its north side, in which there was an abundance of tall papyrus. The streams forming the Jordan flowed into this morass, and thence into the Merom waters. The open water was about four and a half miles from north to south and three and a half miles at its widest. It lay seven feet above sea level. This was where Joshua defeated the confederate kings of the north. Jos 11:5-9. Identified with Baheiret el Huleh, 33 4' N, 35 37 E.

Me'rom

(high place), The waters of, a lake formed by the river Jordan, about ten miles north of the Sea of Galilee. It is a place memorable in the history of the conquest of Palestine. Here Joshua completely routed the confederacy of the northern chiefs under Jabin.

Jos 11:5,7

It is a remarkable fact that though by common consent "the waters of Merom" are identified with the lake thorough which the Jordan runs between Banias and the Sea of Galilee --the Bahr el-Huleh of the modern Arabs-- Yet that identity cannot be proved by any ancient record. In form the lake is not far from a triangle, base being at the north and the apex at the south. It measures about three miles in each direction, and eleven feet deep. The water is clear and sweet; it is covered in parts by a broad-leaved plant, and abounds in water-fowl. (The northern part is a dense swamp of papyrus reeds, as large as the lake itself. See "Rob Roy on the Jordan." --ED.)

MEROM, WATERS OF, or lacus Samechonitis: the most northern and the smallest of the three lakes which are supplied by the waters of the Jordan. Indeed the numerous branches of this river, descending from the mountains, unite in this small piece of water; out of which issues the single stream which may be considered as the Jordan Proper. It is at present called the lake of Houle; and is situated in a hollow or valley, about twelve miles wide, called the Ard Houle, formed by the Djebel Heish on the west, Djebel Safat on the east, the two branches into which the mountains of Hasbeya, or Djebel Esheikh, the ancient Hermon, divides itself about fifteen miles to the north.