Coele-Syria valley (also called the Biqaʽ) that runs between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountain ranges. Others say it was farther N up this valley, halfway between Baalbek and Riblah at the sources of the Litani and Orontes Rivers. Yet others suggest it was still farther N where the pass opens up between Homs and the sea.—Ezek. 47:20.

RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL

As an independent kingdom its King Toi (Tou) sent his son Joram (Hadoram) to congratulate King David for having defeated their common enemy Hadadezer. (2 Sam. 8:3, 9, 10; 1 Chron. 18:3, 9, 10) However, during Solomon’s reign the kingdom of Hamath seems to have been under Israel’s control, for Solomon built storage cities in that region. (2 Chron. 8:3, 4) After Solomon’s death Hamath gained its independence, except for a brief period in the ninth century B.C.E. when Jeroboam II temporarily brought it again under Israelite control. (2 Ki. 14:28) About this time it was described as “populous Hamath.”—Amos 6:2.

In the eighth century B.C.E. Hamath and her neighbors, including the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel, were overrun by the Assyrian sweep to world domination. Assyria’s policy was to exchange and relocate her captives, and so people of Hamath were brought in to replace inhabitants of Samaria who, in turn, were moved to Hamath and other places. (2 Ki. 17:24; 19:12, 13; Isa. 10:9-11; 37:12, 13) The Hamathites then set up in the high places of Samaria images of their god Ashima, even though this worthless god had proved to be helpless against the Assyrians.—2 Ki. 17:29, 30; 18:33, 34; Isa. 36:18, 19.

According to an extant cuneiform inscription (British Museum catalog No. 21946), after the battle of Carchemish in 625 B.C.E. (Jer. 46:2), Nebuchadnezzar’s forces overtook and destroyed the fleeing Egyptians in the district of Hamath. (Chronicles of Chaldean Kings, D. J. Wiseman, 1961, p. 69) In this same area, a few years earlier, Pharaoh Nechoh had taken King Jehoahaz captive. (2 Ki. 23:31-33) Then in 607 B.C.E., with the fall of Jerusalem, Zedekiah and other captives were taken to Riblah in the region of Hamath, and there before his eyes Zedekiah’s sons were put to death along with others of the nobility. (2 Ki. 25:18-21; Jer. 39:5, 6; 52:9, 10, 24-27) Nevertheless, God promised that in due time he would restore a remnant of his captive people, including those in the land of Hamath.—Isa. 11:11, 12.

HAMATH-ZOBAH

(Haʹmath-zoʹbah).

A place apparently conquered by King Solomon and thus figuring in his only military engagement alluded to in Scripture. (2 Chron. 8:3) The exact identity of Hamath-zobah is uncertain. Hamath and Zobah may have been adjoining kingdoms (compare 1 Chronicles 18:9; 2 Chronicles 8:4), whence the compound name “Hamath-zobah.” That two neighboring geographical locations may be joined in this way is illustrated by 1 Chronicles 6:78. The literal Hebrew of this text reads “the Jordan Jericho” or “the Jordan of Jericho,” and is usually rendered “the Jordan at [by] Jericho.”—NW, RS, AV.

HAMMATH

(Hamʹmath) [hot spring].

1. The “father” of the house of Rechab and an ancestor of certain Kenites.—1 Chron. 2:55.

2. A fortified city of Naphtali. (Josh. 19:32, 35) It is generally identified with Hammam Tabariyeh, about a mile and a half (2.4 kilometers) S of Tiberias on the W side of the Sea of Galilee. The sulphurous spring there apparently gave Hammath its name (meaning “hot spring”). If, as most scholars believe, Hammoth-dor (Josh. 21:32) and Hammon (1 Chron. 6:76) are alternate names for the same location, Hammath also functioned as a Levite city.

HAMMEDATHA

(Ham·me·daʹtha) [possibly, given by the moon].

An Agagite; father of Haman, who plotted the extermination of the Jews in the days of Mordecai and Esther.—Esther 3:1, 6.

HAMMER

A tool used for pounding and driving; a mallet. Hammers were employed for driving in nails (Jer. 10:4) and tent pins (Judg. 4:21), in the quarrying operation for splitting stones by repeated pounding, as well as in shaping and facing building stones (1 Ki. 6:7), and for shaping metal, as in the making of idols.—Isa. 41:7; 44:12.

The various materials used for making hammerheads included stone, metal and wood. Likely the hammer or mallet used by Jael to drive the tent pin into the temples of Sisera was made of wood.—Judg. 4:21; 5:26.

In a figurative sense the word of Jehovah’s judgment is compared to a forge hammer that smashes the crag. (Jer. 23:29) Also, in Jehovah’s hand, Babylon was like a forge hammer, breaking nations and kingdoms in pieces.—Jer. 50:23; compare Jeremiah 25:8, 9, 17-26.

HAMMOLECHETH

(Ham·moʹle·cheth) [the queen].

The sister of Manasseh’s grandson Gilead. She gave birth to Ishhod, Abi-ezer and Mahlah.—1 Chron. 7:14, 17, 18.

HAMMON

(Hamʹmon) [perhaps, hot spring].

1. A city on the boundary of Asher. (Josh. 19:24-28) It is generally identified with Umm el-ʽAwamid, on the Mediterranean seacoast, about eight miles (12.9 kilometers) S of Tyre.

2. A site in the territory of Naphtali given to the Levites (1 Chron. 6:71, 76); apparently the same as Hammath.—Josh. 19:35; see HAMMATH No. 2.

HAMMOTH-DOR

(Hamʹmoth-dor) [hot springs of Dor].

A city of Naphtali given to Gershonite Levites. (Josh. 21:27, 32) It is apparently the same as Hammath.—Josh. 19:35; see HAMMATH No. 2.

HAMMUEL

(Hamʹmu·el) [possibly, warmth of God].

Son of Mishma of the tribe of Simeon.—1 Chron. 4:24-26.

HAMONAH

(Ha·moʹnah) [crowd, the feminine form of Ha·mohn’].

A symbolic city in the vicinity of the valley in which Gog and his crowd are to be buried, after their combined attack on God’s people ends in defeat and mass slaughter. The city derives its name from that circumstance, as a memorial of Jehovah’s victory over these foes. (Ezek. 39:16) A city implies an organized body of persons, here apparently relating to the organization for bone disposal described in Ezekiel 39:11-15.—See GOG No. 2.

HAMON-GOG

(Haʹmon-Gog) [Gogʼs crowd].

The English derivation of the Hebrew name of a valley, evidently symbolic, described as “the valley of those passing through on the east of the [Dead] sea.” In this valley, Gog and all his forces are buried after their destruction by Jehovah.—Ezek. 39:11, 15, NW, 1960 ed., ftns.; see GOG No. 2.

HAMOR

(Haʹmor) [he-ass].

A Hivite chieftain; father of Shechem. It was from the sons of Hamor that Jacob purchased a tract of land where he pitched his tent and then later set up an altar. After Shechem violated Jacob’s daughter Dinah, Simeon and Levi, in avenging their sister, killed both Hamor and his son.—Gen. 33:18-20; 34:1, 2, 25, 26.

HAMSTRING

In quadrupeds the hamstrings are the back tendons above the hock of the hind legs. Hamstringing, the act of cutting these tendons, cripples the animal, rendering it unfit for work or warfare The arbitrariness of Jacob’s sons Simeon and Levi found expression in their hamstringing bulls, likely when executing vengeance on the Hivites of Shechem. (Gen. 49:5, 6) In carrying out war operations,