Bible Locations

Hamath was an ancient city on the Orontes River in central Syria, at modern Hama, and the capital of a kingdom that often marked Israel's northern limit, called "Lebo Hamath," the entrance to Hamath. Its king Tou congratulated David after he defeated Zobah. Jeroboam II recovered territory as far as Hamath. After Hamath rebelled, the Assyrian king Sargon II destroyed it in 720 BC and sent its people to Samaria, where they worshiped the god Ashima (2 Kings 17:24, 30). The Assyrian commander boasted, "Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad?" Riblah, "in the land of Hamath," was where Pharaoh Neco imprisoned King Jehoahaz and where Nebuchadnezzar blinded Zedekiah and executed Judah's officials. Amos called it "great Hamath." Danish archaeologists excavated its citadel mound from 1931 to 1938. Hama is famous for its huge wooden water wheels, called norias, on the Orontes.