HA'MATH [fortification, citadel], an ancient city and province of Syria, in existence at the time of the conquest of Canaan, Num. 8.21, and in later times of such importance that it is called " Hamath the Great," Am. 45.2. The city was situated on the Orontes, at the northern extremity of the Lebanon range, about 76 miles north-east of Tripoli, and 81 south from Aleppo. Not Hamath itself, but rather the "entering in of Hamath," is often mentioned as the boundary on the north of the dominion of Israel, Num. 34.8; Joshua 13.5, &c.

There is some difference of opinion as to the point indicated by this expression. Robinson (Suppl. Ros. p. 56) would place it on the western approach to Hamath, consequently farther off from Palestine than Hamath itself. But this seems improbable, and is not concurred in by Van de Velde, Stanley, and others. The entering in to Hamath is more naturally understood as given from the Palestinian point of view, therefore on the south of the land of Hamath, probably about Riblah (as Van de Velde thinks), a place about 30 miles beyond Baalbec, and a place where the two Lebanon ranges terminate, opening on the wide plain, which belonged to Hamath. This appears the remotest point to which the spies could possibly extend their personal inquiries, Num. 13.21, and seems most naturally to accord with the general conditions of the geographical problem. In David's time Hamath appears to have formed the seat of an independent kingdom; for Toi the king of Hamath is mentioned among those who entered into friendly relations with David, 2 Sam. 8.9, seq. In the age of Solomon it appears to have formed part of the extensive dominion of Israel, as he is spoken of as having built store-cities in it, 2 Chr. 8.4 ; and long afterwards the second Jeroboam is said to have conquered it, 2 Kings 14.28. Along with the whole of that part of Syria, it fell shortly afterwards under the sway of the king of Assyria, Isaiah 37.12, and then under that of the king of Babylon. After the period of the Alexandrian conquest it bore the name of Epiphania (Επιφάνεια); but the old name has again supplanted this, and among the native population the latter probably never took root. Hamath has become one of the larger cities of the Turkish empire, and is supposed to contain about 30,000 inhabitants, of which 2500 belong to the Greek church. The modern town ¡s "built in the narrow valley of the Orontes, and on both sides of the river, whose banks are fringed with poplars. Four bridges span the river; and a number of huge wheels, turned by the current, raise the water into aqueducts, which convey it to the houses and mosques of the town. There are no antiquities in it. The mound on which the castle stood is in the midst of the town; but the castle itself, materials and all, has completely disappeared. The houses are built in the Damascus style, of sun-dried bricks and wood. Though plain and poor enough externally, some of them have splendid interiors. The city carries on a considerable trade with the Bedawin" (Porter, in Murray's Handbook).

HAMATH:

-Also called HEMATH

-A city of upper Syria
    Nu 13:21; 34:8; Jos 13:5; 1Ki 8:65; Ezekiel 47:16

-Inhabited by Canaanites
    Ge 10:18

-Prosperity of
    Am 6:2

-David receives gifts of gold and silver from Toi, king of
    2Sa 8:9,10; 1Ch 18:3,9,10

-Conquest of, by Jeroboam
    2Ki 14:25,28

-By the Chaldeans
    2Ki 25:20,21

-Israelites taken captive to
    Isaiah 11:11

-Prophecy concerning
    Jer 49:23

-Solomon builds store cities in
    2Ch 8:4

HAMATH:  ha'-math (chamath; Hemath, Haimath; 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 Am 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 Ge 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 (Nu 34:8; Jos 13:5; Ezekiel 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; Am 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; 19:13). In Isaiah 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 (Nu 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 Wady Nahr el-Barid, 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 Leboue) 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.

W. M. Christie

HAMATH:

A celebrated city of Syria. Hamath, like Jerusalem and Damascus, is one of the few places in Syria and Palestine which have retained a certain degree of importance from the very earliest ages to the present time. The name occurs in Ge 10:18, as the seat of a Canaanitish tribe; and it is often mentioned as the northern limits of Canaan in its widest extent, Nu 13:21; Jos 13:5; Jud 3:3. In David’s time, Toi king of Hamath was his ally, 2Sa 8:9,10. Burckhardt describes Hamath as "situated on both sides of the Orontes; a part of it is built on the declivity of a hill, and a part in the plain. The town is of considerable extent, and must contain at least 30,000 inhabitants. There are four bridges over the Orontes in the town. The river supplies the upper town with water by means of buckets fixed to high wheels, which empty themselves into stone canals, supported by lofty arches on a level with the upper part of the town. There are about a dozen of the wheels; the largest of them is at least seventy feet in diameter. The principal trade of Hamath is with the Arabs, who buy here their tent furniture and clothes. The government of Hamath comprises about one hundred and twenty inhabited villages, and seventy or eighty which have been abandoned. The western part of its territory is the granary of the northern Syria, though the harvest never yields more than ten for one, chiefly in consequence of the immense numbers of mice, which sometimes wholly destroy the crops." "The entering in of Hamath" is the northern part of the valley which leads up to it from Palestine, between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, Nu 13:21; 1Ki 1:53.

Hamath, hā'math [fortress], a noted city of Syria, and capital of a province of the same name, lying on the river Orontes, on the north boundary of Palestine, Jos. 13.4; Ju. 3.3;

    —the king of, friendly to David, 2 Sa. 8.9;

    —afterwards taken by Solomon, 2 Ch. 8.3;

    —was taken by the Assyrians in the time of Hezekiah, 2 Kings 17.24; 18.34;

    —called 'Hamath the Great,' Аm. б.2.


(From Easton's Bible Dictionary, copyright 1875)

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; 34:8), at the foot of Hermon (Josh. 13:5) towards Damascus (Zech. 9:2; Jer. 49:23). It is called "Hamath the great" in Amos 6:2, and "Hamath-zobah" in 2 Chr. 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 (2 Sam. 8:10), and in B.C. 740 Azariah formed a league with it against Assyria. It was, however, conquered by the Assyrians, and its nineteen districts placed under Assyrian governors. In B.C. 720 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 (2 Kings 17:24, 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.

HAMATH:
anger; heat; a wall

HAMATH:
(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. (ge 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.

HAMATH:
    a city and kingdom north of Damascus
        Nu 13:21; 34:8;
        2Ki 17:24; 18:34; 23:33;
        1Ch 18:3;
        2Ch 8:4;
        Isaiah 10:9