Hamath Zobah

HAMATH ZOBAH (hā'măth zō'ba). Mentioned in 2Chr.8.3, but the reference is uncertain. It could mean the neighbor kingdoms of Hamath and Zobah, or some place called Hamath, belonging to the kingdom of Zobah; or, to avoid confusion with the Zobah in the Hauran (2Sam.23.36), Hamath may have been mentioned in connection with it.

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HAMATH-ZOBAH hā’ măth zo’ bə (חֲמָ֣ת צוֹבָ֔ה; Βαισωβά). A city conquered by Solomon, somewhere near Tadmor in the Hamath region (2 Chron 8:3). It is not certain to what it refers. Some have identified it with Hamath; others have conjectured that it is another Hamath situated in the territory of Zobah, an Aramean kingdom which Assyrian records say reached as far as the Euphrates and in the 10th cent. was a threat to Assyria. Others, again, think that the double name is used only to indicate the extent of Solomon’s conquests. The site is unknown.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

(chamath tsobhah; Baisoba) : Mentioned only in 2Ch 8:3. Apart from Great Hamath no site answering to this name is known. It does not seem to be implied that Solomon took possession of Hamath itself, but rather that he "confirmed" his dominion over parts of the kingdom of Zobah, which on its fall may have been annexed by Hamath. The Septuagint’s Codex Vaticanus suggests a reading--Bethzobah--omitting all reference to Hamath. On the other hand, the geographical distinctions between Zobah and Hamath having passed away long before Chronicles was written, the double name may have been used to indicate generally the extent of Solomon’s conquests, as also to avoid confusion with the Zobah in the Hauran (2Sa 23:36).