< Previous | Contents | Next >
occupied by the Hittites. It was among the conquests of the Pharaoh Thothmes III. Its king, Tou or Toi, made alliance with David (2 Samuel 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” (Numbers 34:8), which was the north boundary of Palestine, led from the west between the north end of Lebanon and the Nusairiyeh mountains.
•HAMMATH warm springs, one of the “fenced cities” of Naphtali (Joshua 19:35). It is identified with the warm baths (the heat of the water ranging from 136 degrees to 144 degrees) still found on the shore a little to the south of Tiberias under the name of Hummam Tabariyeh (“Bath of Tiberias”).
•HAMMEDATHA father of Haman, designated usually “the Agagite” (Esther 3:1, 10; 8:5).
•HAMMELECH the king’s, the father of Jerahmeel, mentioned in Jeremiah 36:26. Some take this word as a common noun, “the king”, and understand that Jerahmeel was Jehoiakim’s son. Probably, however, it is to be taken as a proper name.
•HAMMER (1.) Hebrews pattish, used by gold-beaters (Isaiah 41:7) and by quarry-men (Jeremiah 23:29). Metaphorically of Babylon (Jeremiah 50:23) or Nebuchadnezzar.
(2.) Hebrews makabah, a stone-cutter’s mallet (1 Kings 6:7), or of any workman (Judges 4:21; Isaiah 44:12).