2 Chronicles 8:3

And Solomon went to Hamathzobah, and prevailed against it.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) And Solomon went.—Marched (2Samuel 12:29).

Hamath-zobah.—That is, Hamath bordering on Zobah. (Comp. 1Chronicles 18:3.) Solomon’s conquest of the kingdom of Hamath, which had been on terms of amity with David, is not mentioned in 1 Kings 9; nor indeed anywhere else in the Old Testament. Thenius (on 2Kings 14:25) supposes that the text describes not a conquest of Hamath itself, but only the annexation of part of its territory; viz., a part of the highly fruitful plain of Cœle-Syria, called by the Arabs Ard-el-Beqâa. This appears to be correct.

Against it.—Or, over it (a late construction, 2Chronicles 27:5; Daniel 11:5).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:1 - 18 Solomon's buildings and trade. - It sometimes requires more wisdom and resolution to govern a family in the fear of God, than to govern a kingdom with reputation. The difficulty is increased, when a man has a hinderance instead of a help meet in the wife of his bosom. Solomon kept up the holy sacrifices, according to the law of Moses. In vain had the altar been built, in vain had fire come down from heaven, if sacrifices had not been constantly brought. Spiritual sacrifices are required of us, which we are to bring daily and weekly; it is good to be in a settled method of devotion. When the service of the temple was put into good order, it is said, The house of the Lord was perfected. The work was the main matter, not the place; the temple was unfinished till all this was done. Canaan was a rich country, and yet must send to Ophir for gold The Israelites were a wise people, but must be beholden to the king of Tyre for men that had knowledge of the seas. Grace, and not gold, is the best riches, and acquaintance with God and his law, the best knowledge. Leaving the children of this world to scramble for the toys of this world, may we, as the children of God, lay up our treasure in heaven, that where our treasure is, our hearts also may be.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hamath-zobah - Usually identified with the "great Hamath" Amos 6:2; the capital of Coele-Syria; but probably a town of Zobah otherwise unknown, which revolted from Solomon, and was reduced to subjection.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3-6. And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah—Hamath was on the Orontes, in Cœle-Syria. Its king, Toi, had been the ally of David; but from the combination, Hamath and Zobah, it would appear that some revolution had taken place which led to the union of these two petty kingdoms of Syria into one. For what cause the resentment of Solomon was provoked against it, we are not informed, but he sent an armed force which reduced it. He made himself master also of Tadmor, the famous Palmyra in the same region. Various other cities along the frontiers of his extended dominions he repaired and fitted up, either to serve as store-places for the furtherance of his commercial enterprises, or to secure his kingdom from foreign invasion (see on [426]2Ch 1:14; [427]1Ki 9:15).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Solomon went to Hamathzobah,.... In an hostile manner, which is the only instance of any warlike expedition of Solomon's. This was Coelesyria, which though subdued in the times of David, perhaps rebelled, and now Solomon went forth to reduce it:

and prevailed against it; took it.

Geneva Study Bible

And Solomon went to Hamathzobah, and prevailed against it.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. Hamath-zobah] The two kingdoms of Hamath and Zobah are distinguished from one another (1 Chronicles 18:3; 1 Chronicles 18:9 = 1 Samuel 8:3; 1 Samuel 8:9), Hamath apparently being north of Zobah. It is probable however that Hamath as the name of a city belonged to more than one place, and Hamath-Zobah may be a southern namesake of the well-known Hamath the great (Amos 6:2).

Though Solomon was a “man of rest” (1 Chronicles 22:9) his reign was not wholly free from war (cp. 1 Kings 11:14; 1 Kings 11:13).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - Hamath-zobah. Hamath (when the name occurs separately) was a place both of great geographical note (occupying, whether regarded as a larger region or a town, an important position in the northern end of that broad valley of Coele-Syria which separates Lebanon and Antilebanon, and through which passed the river Orontes) and of great historical note from the time of the Exodus to that of Amos. The town, or city, is to be understood to be the Great Hamath (Amos 6:2). But the kingdom, or district, or county, was almost conterminous with Coele-Syria. Zobah, also a portion of Syria, amounted to a small kingdom, and is read of alike in Saul's and in David's times, as in Solomon's time. It probably lay to the north-east of Hamath (1 Samuel 14:47; 2 Samuel 8:8, 7, 8, 10; 2 Samuel 10:9, 16, 19; 1 Chronicles 18:4; 1 Chronicles 19:16). But Hamath-zobah of this verse was probably a place called Hamath, in the region of Zobah, in which also two other cities are mentioned, Berothai and Tibhath, or Betah (2 Samuel 8:8; 1 Chronicles 18:8). These two kingdoms of Hamath and Zobah, contiguous as they were, seem as though they purposed to compliment one another - Zobah by naming one of its towns Hamath, and vice versa It is said that the Assyrian inscriptions show that they remained, after Solomon, distinct kingdoms. 2 Chronicles 8:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

2 Chronicles 8:2 must be regarded as the apodosis of 2 Chronicles 8:1, notwithstanding that the object, the cities which ... precedes. The unusual position of the words is the result of the aphoristic character of the notice. As to its relation to the statement 1 Kings 9:10-13, see the discussion on that passage. בּנה, 2 Chronicles 8:2, is not to be understood of the fortification of these cities, but of their completion, for, according to 1 Kings 9:10, 1 Kings 9:13, they were in very bad condition. ויּושׁב, he caused to dwell there, i.e., transplanted Israelites thither, cf. 2 Kings 17:6. The account of the cities which Solomon built, i.e., fortified, is introduced (2 Chronicles 8:3) by the important statement, omitted in 1 Kings 9:"Solomon went to Hamath-zobah, and prevailed against it." על חזק, to be strong upon, that is, prevail against, conquer; cf. 2 Chronicles 27:5. Hamath-zobah is not the city Hamath in Zobah, but, as we learn from 2 Chronicles 8:4, the land or kingdom of Hamath. This did not lie, any more than the city Hamath, in Zobah, but bordered on the kingdom of Zobah: cf. 1 Chronicles 18:3; and as to the position of Zobah, see the Commentary on 2 Samuel 8:3. In David's time Hamath and Zobah had their own kings; and David conquered them, and made their kingdoms tributary (1 Chronicles 18:3-10). Because they bordered on each other, Hamath and Zobah are here bound together as a nomen compos. עליה יחזק signifies at least this, that these tributary kingdoms had either rebelled against Solomon, or at least had made attempts to do so; which Solomon suppressed, and in order to establish his dominion over them fortified Tadmor, i.e., Palmyra, and all the store cities in the land of Hamath (see on 1 Kings 9:18.); for, according to 1 Kings 11:23., he had Rezon of Zobah as an enemy during his whole reign; see on that passage.