Zobah

Not to be confused with Zoba.

Zobah or Aram-Zobah (Hebrew צובה or ארם צובא) was an early Aramean state mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, which extended north-east of biblical King David's realm. The the 1896 article of the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges places it broadly between Damascus to the Euphrates. It is thought by some to have extended from the Beqaa Valley along the eastern side of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, reaching Hamath to the north and Damascus to the south, possibly reaching the Euphrates and at one time of considerable importance.

In the Hebrew Bible

In I Samuel, the kings of Zobah were said to have fought with Israelite king Saul (I Samuel 14:47Template:Bibleverse with invalid book). A. F. Kirkpatrick, in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges suggests that "the 'kings' were apparently independent chiefs", but by the time of King David there was a single king, Hadadezer bar Rehob.

Later, King Hadadezer bar Rehob allied with Ammon against King David, who defeated Zobah and made the kingdom tributary to Israel (II Samuel 10Template:Bibleverse with invalid book). In this war, Arameans from across the Euphrates came to Hadadezer's aid (II Sam. 10:16Template:Bibleverse with invalid book). Upon the accession of Solomon, Zobah became independent of Israel (compare I Kings xi. 23Template:Bibleverse with invalid book et seq.).

The chapter-heading of Psalm 60 in the New King James Version refers to Zobah. In the Revised Standard Version and the New American Bible (Revised Edition), the reference is to Aram-Zobah.

In Mesopotamian sources

After the 10th century BCE, Zobah is not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, but the city of Subiti, which is mentioned in the annals of 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 lists of towns in connection with Hamath and Damascus.

Medieval Rabbinical sources

From the 11th century, it was common Rabbinic 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 (882‒942 CE), in his Judeo-Arabic translation (Tafsīr) of the Book of Psalms, has identified Aram-zobah with Nisibis.

Identification attempts

Based on the biblical narrative, primarily from the books of Kings and II Samuel, Berothai, a city belonging to Hadadezer (II Sam. 8:8Template:Bibleverse with invalid book) is identified by many with Berothah (Ezekiel 47:16Template:Bibleverse with invalid book), which was between Hamath and Damascus. Zobah was probably located near this city, though Joseph Halévy claims to have identified Zobah with Chalcis. On either view, the area in question would be found in the far south of Syria and parts of Lebanon.

Some sources indicate that Zobah city is the modern town of Anjar in Lebanon'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.

See also

• Aleppo Codex, Hebrew Bible manuscript called in Hebrew "Keter Aram-Zoba", meaning "Crown of Aleppo"
• Hamath-zobah, biblical city
• Homs, city in Syria

Bibliography

• Schrader, K. B. ii. 121 et seq;
• Delitzsch, Wo Lag das Paradies? pp. 279 et seq.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Aram-zobah". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.