the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Encyclopedias
Hadadezer
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
or Hadade´zer (Hadad-helped), or Hadad-rezer, king of Zobah, a powerful monarch in the time of David, and the only one who seems to have been in a condition seriously to dispute with him the predominancy in south-western Asia. He was defeated by the Israelites in the first campaign (B.C. 1032) in the neighborhood of the Euphrates, with a great loss of men, war-chariots, and horses, and was despoiled of many of his towns (; ). This check not only impaired, but destroyed his power. A diversion highly serviceable to him was made by a king of Damascene-Syria (whom the Scripture does not name, but who is the same with Hadad, 3), who, coming to his succor, compelled David to turn his arms against him, and abstain from reaping all the fruits of his victory (, sq.; , sq.). The breathing time thus afforded Hadadezer was turned by him to such good account that he was able to accept the subsidies of Hanun, king of the Ammonites, and to take a leading part in the confederacy formed by that monarch against David. The first army brought into the field was beaten and put to flight by Abishai and Joab; but Hadadezer, not yet discouraged, went into the countries east of the Euphrates, and got together the forces of all his allies and tributaries, which he placed under the command of Shophach, his general. To confront so formidable an adversary, David took the field in person, and in one great victory so completely broke the power of Hadadezer, that all the small tributary princes seized the opportunity of throwing off his yoke, of abandoning the Ammonites to their fate, and of submitting quietly to David, whose power was thus extended to the Euphrates.
Public Domain.
Kitto, John, ed. Entry for 'Hadadezer'. "Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature". https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/kbe/h/hadadezer.html.
