Hamath

2 definitions found

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  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.
     

From Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's) [hitchcock]:

  Hamath, anger; heat; a wall