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Bible Dictionaries
Hamath
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or HAMATH . A city on the Orontes, the capital of the kingdom of Hamath, to the territory of which the border of Israel extended in the reign of Solomon ( 1 Kings 8:65 ), who is related to have built store-cities there ( 2 Chronicles 8:4 ). Jeroboam ii., the son of Joash, restored the kingdom to this northern limit ( 2 Kings 14:25; 2 Kings 14:28 ), and it was regarded as the legitimate border of the land of Israel ( Numbers 34:8 , Joshua 13:5 ), and was employed as a geographical term ( Numbers 13:21 , cf. Judges 3:3 ). The Hamathite is mentioned last of the sons of Canaan in the table of nations ( Genesis 10:18 , 1 Chronicles 1:16 ). During the time of David, Toi was king of Hamath ( 2 Samuel 8:9 ); the greatness of the city is referred to by the prophet Amos ( Amos 6:2 ), and it is classed by Zechariah with Damascus, Tyre and Zidon ( Zechariah 9:1 f.). The city was conquered by Tiglath-pileser iii. and Sargon, and part of its inhabitants were deported and the land was largely colonized by Assyrians; its capture and subjugation are referred to in the prophetic literature ( Isaiah 10:9 , Jeremiah 49:23; cf. also 2 Kings 18:34 , Isaiah 36:19 , 2 Kings 19:13 ). Hamath is mentioned as one of the places to which Israelites were exiled ( Isaiah 11:11 ), and it was also one of the places whose inhabitants were deported to colonize Israelite territory on the capture of Samaria ( 2 Kings 17:24; 2 Kings 17:30 ). See Ashima.
L. W. King.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Hamath'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/h/hamath.html. 1909.
