2 Samuel 8:5

the Syrians of Damascus The kingdom of which Damascus was the capital was the most powerful branch of the Aramaeans or Syrians, and played an important part in the history of Israel. It did not long remain subject to them. In Solomon's reign a certain Rezon established himself at Damascus, and proved a troublesome enemy (1 Kings 11:23-25). Benhadad I. was bribed by Asa to break his league with Baasha and invade the Israelite territory (1 Kings 15:18), and actually built a Syrian quarter in Samaria (1 Kings 20:34). His son and successor Ben-hadad II. besieged Samaria (1 Kings 20:1), but was defeated, and compelled to submit to Ahab (1 Kings 20:34). But the defeat and death of Ahab at Ramoth-gilead again gave Syria the upper hand (1 Kings 22); and in the reign of Jehoram Samaria was once more besieged by them, and only saved by a miraculous interposition (2 Kings 6:24 to 2 Kings 7:20). The rising power of Assyria now began to threaten Syria, but in spite of the defeats he suffered from it, the usurper Hazael, succeeding in repulsing the combined forces of Judah and Israel at Ramoth-gilead (2 Kings 8:28-29), ravaged the trans-Jordanic territory of Israel (2 Kings 10:32-33), captured Gath, and threatened Jerusalem, which only escaped on payment of a heavy ransom (2 Kings 12:17-18), and seriously reduced the power of the Northern Kingdom (2 Kings 13:3-7). Joash, however, recovered the lost territory (2 Kings 13:25), and Jeroboam II. extended his conquests to Damascus (2 Kings 14:28). Three quarters of a century later Syria reappears as the ally of Israel against Judah. Rezin, king of Damascus, made a league with Pekah to depose Ahaz and set up a creature of their own in his stead (2 Kings 16:5; Isaiah 7:1-9); but their attempt to take Jerusalem failed, and Ahaz persuaded Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, to attack Syria. Rezin was slain and Damascus destroyed (2 Kings 16:7-9). Damascus now disappears from the O.T. history; but by the fourth century b. c. it had been rebuilt. and has maintained its prosperity down to the present day. It is situated in a fertile plain watered by the river Barada, which is probably the Abana of Scripture, to the E. of the great mountain chain of the Anti-Libanus, on the edge of the desert. Travellers describe it as "embosomed in a wide forest of fruit trees, intersected and surrounded by sparkling streams, in the midst of an earthly paradise." This natural beauty and fertility, combined with its importance as a centre of trade, have secured the permanence of its prosperity for nearly 4,000 years. See Robinson's Biblical Researches, III. 443 ff; Stanley's Sinai and Palestine, p. 414 ff.