Hadadezer (Biblical Hebrew: חדדעזר, romanized: Ḥăḏaḏʿezer, lit. 'Hadad helps';[1]), son of Rehob, was king of Zobah or Sova (Imperial Aramaic Ṣoḇā), a Syrian kingdom that may have been in the Beqaa Valley (now in Lebanon),[2] extended along the eastern side of the Anti-Lebanon mountains, reaching Hama to the north.[3] Zobah exercised power throughout southern Syria and inevitably clashed with the expanding empire of Israel.[1]
| Hadadezer bar Rehob | |
|---|---|
| King of Zobah | |
Biography
editHanun, king of Ammon (now Jordan), hired Hadadezer in his war against David. Joab found them in a double-battle array, with the Ammonites toward the capital of Rabbah (now Amman) and the Sovan mercenaries near Madaba. David battled the Sovans, which caused them to scatter. This alarmed the Ammonites, who fled back to their capital.[4]
After the Syrians were defeated, Hadadezer traveled north to "recover his border" (2 Samuel 8:3).[4] The power of the Ammonites and the Syrians was finally broken, and David's empire expanded to the Euphrates according to 2 Samuel 10:15–19 and 1 Chronicles 19:15–19.[5]
See also
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Footnotes
edit- ^ a b Eerdmans 2000, p. 537.
- ^ Eerdmans 2000, p. 537: According to Mark Anthony Phelps, in association with David Noel Freedman, the precise location of the city of Zobah is not known; however there is some agreement that it may have lied in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon. In later Assyrian documents it may have been named a provincial center that derived from the recently incorporated city of Damascus..
- ^ "The Doctrine of Aram (Syria)". kukis.org. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
- ^ a b Easton 1894, p. 302.
- ^ Easton 1894, p. 303.
References
edit
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Easton, Matthew George (1897). "Hadadezer". Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.
- Easton, Matthew George (1894). Easton's Bible Dictionary (Extended Annotated ed.). Altenmünster: T. Nelson. pp. 302–303. ISBN 9783849621865.
- Eerdmans, David Noel Freedman, ed.-in-chief; Allen C. Myers, associate ed.; Astrid B. Beck, managing (2000). Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI [etc.]: Eerdmans. p. 537. ISBN 9789053565032.
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