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HAMATH

(Heb. ḥămāṯ)

An important city located on the Orontes River, along the primary trade route heading south from Asia Minor. The site is modern µamā (312503) in Syria, ca. 210 km. (130 mi.) N of Damascus. Seven levels of Neolithic remains are attested, and Paleolithic remains are found throughout the immediate vicinity. By the 5th millennium b.c.e. trade links had been established with Mesopotamia, and with Asia Minor by the middle of the 3rd. Hamath was a major, if not the most significant, power in central Syria early in the 1st millennium. It survived as a Neo-Hittite center until the 8th century, and then was subsumed in the Aramean cultural milieu. Hamath is mentioned in Eblaite, Egyptian, Ugaritic, Luwian, and Akkadian texts.

Hamath formed the ideal northern boundary of the land of Israel (cf. Num. 13:21; Josh. 13:5; Ezek. 47:15). In the Table of Nations its inhabitants are reckoned among the descendants of Canaan (Gen. 10:18; 1 Chr. 1:16). The phrase lĕḇōʾ ḥămāṯ (“entrance to Hamath”) probably denotes the boundary of the political realm associated with Hamath (though some associate this with Lebo, NW of Baalbek). David extended his boundaries to this location, establishing an alliance with Toi, king of Hamath (2 Sam. 8:9-12). Solomon extended this boundary, placing storage centers beyond the border (2 Chr. 8:4). The city was among the coalition (with Israel) which repeatedly repulsed the Assyrian armies under Shalmaneser III (853, 849, 848, and 845 b.c.e.). Jeroboam II extended the border of Israel to this point (2 Kgs. 14:25, 28). The city was ultimately incorporated into Assyria (conquered 738, incorporated as a province in 720); a number of its people were deported to Samaria (2 Kgs. 24), and some Israelites were settled in Hamath (Isa. 11:11). In its last pre-classical period mention it was incorporated into Babylon.

Mark Anthony Phelps

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

HAMATH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)