Zobah or Aram-Zobah ( ʾ''Ărām-Ṣōḇāʾ'') was an early
Aramean
The Arameans ( oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; syc, ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ, Ārāmāyē) were an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Near East, first recorded in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. The Aramean ...
A. F. Kirkpatrick
Alexander Francis Kirkpatrick (25 June 1849 – 22 January 1940) was Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge University (1882–1903) and the third Master of Selwyn College, Cambridge (1898–1907).
Life
Kirkpatrick was born at Lewes, East Su ...
, in the
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges is a biblical commentary set published in parts by Cambridge University Press from 1882 onwards. Anglican bishop John Perowne was the general editor. The first section published was written by theologi ...
(1896), places it broadly between Damascus and the
Euphrates
The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers''). Originating in Turkey, the Eup ...
Anti-Lebanon Mountains
The Anti-Lebanon Mountains ( ar, جبال لبنان الشرقية, Jibāl Lubnān ash-Sharqiyyah, Eastern Mountains of Lebanon; Lebanese Arabic: , , "Eastern Mountains") are a southwest–northeast-trending mountain range that forms most of t ...
to the north and Damascus to the south, making it at one time a state of considerable importance.
In the Hebrew Bible
In I Samuel, the kings of Zobah were said to have fought with Israelite king
Saul
Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered t ...
(). Kirkpatrick suggests that "the 'kings' were apparently independent chiefs", but by the time of King David there was a single king,
Hadadezer bar Rehob
Hadadezer ( ''bib'' Heb: ''Ḥăḏaḏeʹzer''; meaning "Hadad helps"), son of Rehob, was king of Zobah, a Syrian (Aramaean) kingdom that may have been in the Beqaa valley of Lebanon, extended along the eastern side of the Anti-Lebanon Mounta ...
. Later, King Hadadezer bar Rehob allied with
Ammon
Ammon ( Ammonite: 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''ʻAmān''; he, עַמּוֹן ''ʻAmmōn''; ar, عمّون, ʻAmmūn) was an ancient Semitic-speaking nation occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Arnon and Jabbok, in ...
against King David, who defeated Zobah and made the kingdom tributary to
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
(). In this war, Arameans from across the Euphrates came to Hadadezer's aid (). Upon the accession of Solomon, Zobah became independent of Israel (compare et seq.).
The chapter-heading of
Psalm 60
Psalm 60 is the 60th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us". In the slightly different numbering system of the Greek Septuagint version of the Bible and ...
After the 10th century BCE, Zobah is not mentioned in the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach" '' Ashurbanipal as having been conquered by him in the 7th century BCE, is probably identical with it (compare Schrader, "K. B." ii. 217). The same city is mentioned in some broken
cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sh ...
lists of towns in connection with Hamath and Damascus.
Medieval Rabbinical sources
From the 11th century, it was common
Rabbinic
Rabbinic Judaism ( he, יהדות רבנית, Yahadut Rabanit), also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, or Judaism espoused by the Rabbanites, has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE, after the codification of the Babylonian ...
usage to apply the term "Aram Zobah" to the area of Aleppo, and this is perpetuated by Syrian Jews to this day. However, Rabbi
Saadia Gaon
Saʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon ( ar, سعيد بن يوسف الفيومي ''Saʻīd bin Yūsuf al-Fayyūmi''; he, סַעֲדְיָה בֶּן יוֹסֵף אַלְפַיּוּמִי גָּאוֹן ''Saʿăḏyāh ben Yōsēf al-Fayyūmī Gāʾōn''; ...
(882‒942 CE), in his
Judeo-Arabic
Judeo-Arabic dialects (, ; ; ) are ethnolects formerly spoken by Jews throughout the Arabic-speaking world. Under the ISO 639 international standard for language codes, Judeo-Arabic is classified as a macrolanguage under the code jrb, enco ...
translation (''
Tafsīr
Tafsir ( ar, تفسير, tafsīr ) refers to exegesis, usually of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' ( ar, مُفسّر; plural: ar, مفسّرون, mufassirūn). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, in ...
'') of the Book of Psalms, has identified Aram-zobah with
Nisibis
Nusaybin (; '; ar, نُصَيْبِيْن, translit=Nuṣaybīn; syr, ܢܨܝܒܝܢ, translit=Nṣībīn), historically known as Nisibis () or Nesbin, is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009 and is ...
.
Identification attempts
Based on the biblical narrative, primarily from the books of Kings and II Samuel, Berothai, a city belonging to Hadadezer () is identified by many with Berothah (), which was between
and Damascus. Zobah was probably located near this city, though
Joseph Halévy __NOTOC__
Joseph Halévy (15 December 1827, in Adrianople – 21 January 1917, in Paris) was an Ottoman born Jewish-French Orientalist and traveller.
His most notable work was done in Yemen, which he crossed during 1869 to 1870 in search of Saba ...
claims to have identified Zobah with Chalcis. On the later view, the area in question would be found in the far north of Syria and parts of
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
.
Some sources indicate that Zobah city is the modern city of Homs in Syria, or Anjar in
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
's Bekaa Valley. In later Assyrian documents it may have been named a provincial center derived from the recently incorporated city of Damascus, which might be Deir Khabiyah west of Al-Kiswah.مملكة آرام حماة /ref>
See also
* Aleppo Codex, Hebrew Bible manuscript called in Hebrew "Keter Aram-Zoba", meaning "Crown of Aleppo"
* Aram-Damascus, another Iron Age Aramean kingdom
*
Hamath-zobah Hamath-zobah was a place of uncertain location in Aram or Ancient Israel. According to , it was conquered by Solomon and thus figured in his only military engagement alluded to in the Books of Chronicles. It is not referred to in the parallel or so ...