Zobah

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Zobah

Zobah or Aram-Zobah (Hebrew ??? ???? or ??? ????) was the capital of an early Aramean state in southern Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is an Arab-majority country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north....
, at one time of considerable importance. In I Samuel xiv. 47, its king is supposed to have fought with Saul

Saul

Saul or Shaul may also refer to:...
, but this has hitherto been unconfirmed.

Its king Hadadezer bar Rehob

Hadadezer bar Rehob

Hadadezer the son of Rehob was king of the Aramaean kingdom of Zobah during the early tenth century BCE. According to II Samuel, Hadadezer allied with the Ammon against King David of Kingdom of Israel but was defeated....
allied with Ammon against David

David

David , was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. He is depicted as a righteous king, although not without fault, as well as an acclaimed warrior, musician and poet ....
, who defeated Zobah and made the kingdom tributary to Israel

United Monarchy

The united Kingdom of Israel was a kingdom in the Land of Israel which according to the Bible existed from c. 1050 BCE until c. 930 BCE, a period referred to by scholars as the United Monarchy....
(II Samuel x.). In this war Hadadezer brought to his aid Arameans from beyond the Euphrates

Euphrates

The Euphrates is the western of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia which flows from Anatolia....
(II Sam.

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Zobah or Aram-Zobah (Hebrew ??? ???? or ??? ????) was the capital of an early Aramean state in southern Syria

Syria

Saul

Saul or Shaul may also refer to:...
, but this has hitherto been unconfirmed.

Its king Hadadezer bar Rehob

Hadadezer bar Rehob

David

United Monarchy

Euphrates

The Euphrates is the western of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia which flows from Anatolia....
(II Sam. x. 16). Upon the accession of Solomon

Solomon

Solomon is a figure described in the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an. The biblical accounts identify Solomon as the son of David. He is also called Jedidiah in the Tanakh , and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah split; following th...
, Zobah became independent of Israel (compare I Kings xi. 23 et seq.). Berothai, a city belonging to Hadadezer (II Sam. viii. 8) is identified by many with Berothah

Berothah

Berothah or Berothai was a city in ancient Syria belonging to Hadadezer bar Rehob, king of Zobah in the early tenth century BCE. It is identified by many scholars with the Berothah mentioned in Ezekiel xlvii....
(Ezekiel

Ezekiel

This article is about the main speaker in the biblical Book of Ezekiel. For a summary and analysis of the book itself, see Book of Ezekiel.According to religious texts, Ezekiel was a prophet and priest in the Hebrew Bible who prophesied for 22 years sometime in the 6th century BC in the form of visions while exiled in Babylon, as recorded...
xlvii. 16), which was between Hamath and Damascus

Damascus

Damascus is the capital and largest city of Syria. It is List of oldest continuously inhabited cities and its current population is estimated at about 4,000,000....
. Zobah was probably located near this city, though Joseph Halévy

Joseph Halévy

Joseph Hal?vy was a Jewish-France Orientalist and traveller.He did his most notable work was done in Yemen, which he crossed during 1869 to 1870 in search of Sabaean inscriptions, no European having traversed that land since A.D....
claims to have identified Zobah with Chalcis

Chalcis, Syria

Chalcis was an ancient city in Syria. Syrian Chalcis was the birthplace of 3rd century AD Neoplatonism philosopher Iamblichus .It is thought to be the site of the modern town of Qinnasrin, though Anjar, Lebanon in Lebanon has also been suggested as the site of ancient Chalcis....
. On either view, the area in question would be found in the far south of Syria and parts of Lebanon.

After the 10th century BCE, Zobah is not mentioned in the Bible

Bible

The Bible is the central religious text of Judaism and Christianity. The exact Books of the Bible is dependent on the religious traditions of specific denominations....
, but the city of Subiti, which is mentioned in the annals of Assurbanipal as having been conquered by him in the seventh century BCE, is probably identical with it (compare Schrader, "K. B." ii. 217). The same city is mentioned in some broken cuneiform

Cuneiform script

Cuneiform script is one of the earliest known forms of writing system. Emerging in Sumer around the 30th century BC, with predecessors reaching into the late 4th millennium , cuneiform writing began as a system of pictography....
lists of towns in connection with Hamath and Damascus.

From the 11th century CE it was common Rabbinic usage to apply the term "Aram Zobah" to the area of Aleppo

Aleppo

Aleppo is a city in northern Syria, capital of the Aleppo Governorate; the Governorate extends around the city for over 16,000 km? and has a population of 4,393,000, making it the largest Governorate in Syria by population....
, and this is perpetuated by Syrian Jews

Syrian Jews

Syrian Jews derive their origin from two groups: those who inhabited the region of today's Syria from the History of Ancient Israel and Judah and those Sephardim who fled to Syria after the Alhambra decree ....
to this day..

Zobah

See also