Ha'math. (fortress). The principal city of upper Syria, was situated in
the valley of the Orontes, which it commanded from the low screen of hills,
which forms the water-shed between the source of the Orontes and Antioch. The
Hamathites were a Hamitic race, and are included among the descendants of
Canaan. Gen_10:18.
Nothing appears of the power of Hamath, until the time of David. 2Sa_8:9. Hamath seems clearly to have been
included in the dominions of Solomon. 1Ki_4:21-24.
The "store-cities" which Solomon "built in Hamath," 2Ch_8:4, were perhaps staples for trade. In the
Assyrian inscriptions of the time of Ahab, (B.C. 900), Hamath appears as a
separate power, in alliance with the Syrians of Damascus, the Hittites and the
Phoenicians.
About three-quarters of a century later, Jeroboam, the Second,
"recovered Hamath." 2Ki_14:28.
Soon afterwards, the Assyrians took it, 2Ki_18:34;
2Ki_19:13, etc., and from this time, it
ceased to be a place of much importance. Antiochus Epiphanes changed its name
to Epiphaneia. The natives, however, called it Hamath even in St. Jerome's
time, and its present name, Hamah, is but slightly altered from the
ancient form.
Source:
Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Hamath
hā´math (חמת, ḥămā̄th;
Ἡμάθ, Hēmáth,
Αἱμάθ, Haimáth;
Swete also has Hemath): The word signifies a defense or citadel, and
such designation was very suitable for this chief royal city of the Hittites,
situated between their northern and southern capitals, Carchemish and Kadesh,
on a gigantic mound beside the Orontes. In Amo_6:2
it is named Great Hamath, but not necessarily to distinguish it from other
places of the same name.
1. Early History
The Hamathite is mentioned in Gen_10:18 among the sons of Canaan, but in
historic times the population, as the personal names testify, seems to have
been for the most part Semitic. The ideal boundary of Israel reached the
territory, but not the city of Hamath (Num_34:8;
Jos_13:5; Eze_47:13-21).
David entered into friendly relations with Toi, its king (2Sa_8:9), and Solomon erected store cities in
the land of Hamath (2Ch_8:4). In the
days of Ahab we meet with it on the cuneiform inscriptions, under the name mat
hamatti, and its king Irhuleni was a party to the alliance of the Hittites
with Ben-hadad of Damascus and Ahab of Israel against Shalmaneser II; but this
was broken up by the battle of Qarqar in 854 bc, and Hamath became subject to
Assyria. Jeroboam II attacked, partially destroyed, and held it for a short
time (2Ki_14:28; Amo_6:2). In 730 bc, its king Eniilu paid
tribute to Tiglath-pileser, but he divided its lands among his generals, and
transported 1,223 of its inhabitants to Sura on the Tigris. In 720, Sargon
“rooted out the land of Hamath and dyed the skin of Ilubi'idi (or Jau-bi'idi)
its king, like wool” and colonized the country with 4,300 Assyrians, among whom
was Deioces the Mede. A few years later Sennacherib also claims to have taken
it (2Ki_18:34; 2Ki_19:13; Isa_36:19;
Isa_37:13). In Isa_11:11, mention is made of Israelites in
captivity at Hamath, and Hamathites were among the colonists settled in Samaria
(2Ki_17:24) by Esarhaddon in 675 bc.
Their special object of worship was Ashima, which, notwithstanding various
conjectures, has not been identified.
2. Later History
The Hamathite country is mentioned in 1 Macc 12:25
in connection with the movements of Demetrius and Jonathan. The Seleucids
renamed it Epiphaneia (Josephus, Ant, I, vi, 2), and by this name
it was known to the Greeks and the Romans, even appearing as Paphunya in
Midrash Ber Rab chapter 37. Locally, however, the ancient
name never disappeared, and since the Moslem conquest it has been known as
Hama. Saladin's family ruled it for a century and a half, but after the death
of Abul-fida in 1331 it sank into decay.
3. Modern Condition
The position of Hama in a fruitful plain to the
East of the Nusairiyeh Mountains, on the most frequented highway between
Mesopotamia and Egypt, and on the new railway, gives it again, as in ancient
times, a singular significance, and it is once more rising in importance. The
modern town is built in four quarters around the ancient citadel-mound, and it
has a population of at least 80,000. It is now noted for its gigantic
irrigating wheels. Here, too, the Hittite inscriptions were first found and
designated Hamathite.
4. Entering in of Hamath
In connection with the northern boundary of Israel,
“the entering in of Hamath” is frequently mentioned (Num_13:21; 1Ki_8:65,
etc., the American Standard Revised Version “entrance”). It has been sought in
the Orontes valley, between Antioch and Seleucia, and also at Wādy
Nahr el-Bārid, leading down from Homs to the Mediterranean to
the North of Tripoli. But from the point of view of Palestine, it must mean
some part of the great valley of Coele-Syria (Biqa'a). It seems that
instead of translating, we should read here a place-name - “Libo of Hamath” -
and the presence of the ancient site of Libo (modern Leboué) 14
miles North-Northeast of Baalbek, at the head-waters of the Orontes, commanding
the strategical point where the plain broadens out to the North and to the
South, confirms us in this conjecture.
Source:
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Hamath
Fortress, the capital of one of the kingdoms of Upper Syria of the same
name, on the Orontes, in the valley of Lebanon, at the northern boundary of
Palestine (Num_13:21; Num_34:8), at the foot of Hermon (Jos_13:5) towards Damascus (Zec_9:2; Jer_49:23).
It is called “Hamath the great” in Amo_6:2,
and “Hamath-zobah” in 2Ch_8:3.
Hamath, now Hamah, had an Aramaean population, but Hittite monuments
discovered there show that it must have been at one time occupied by the
Hittites. It was among the conquests of the Pharaoh Thothmes III. Its king, Tou
or Toi, made alliance with David (2Sa_8:10),
and in 740 B.C. Azariah formed a league with it against Assyria. It was,
however, conquered by the Assyrians, and its nineteen districts placed under
Assyrian governors. In 720 B.C. it revolted under a certain Yahu-bihdi, whose
name, compounded with that of the God of Israel (Yahu), perhaps shows that he
was of Jewish origin. But the revolt was suppressed, and the people of Hamath
were transported to Samaria (2Ki_17:24,
2Ki_17:30), where they continued to
worship their god Ashima. Hamah is beautifully situated on the Orontes, 32
miles north of Emesa, and 36 south of the ruins of Assamea.
The kingdom of Hamath comprehended the great plain lying on both banks
of the Orontes from the fountain near Riblah to Assamea on the north, and from
Lebanon on the west to the desert on the east. The “entrance of Hamath” (Num_34:8), which was the north boundary of
Palestine, led from the west between the north end of Lebanon and the Nusairiyeh
mountains.
Source:
Easton’s Bible Dictionary