Hadadezer

From Bible Exegesis

Hadad is help; called also Hadarezer, Adod is his help, the king of Zobah. Hanun, the king of the Ammonites, hired among others the army of Hadadezer to assist him in his war against David. Joab, who was sent against this confederate host, found them in double battle array, the Ammonities toward their capital of Rabbah, and the Syrian mercenaries near Medeba. In the battle which was fought the Syrians were scattered, and the Ammonites in alarm fled into their capital. After this Hadadezer went north “to recover his border” (2Sa_8:3, A.V.); but rather, as the Revised Version renders, “to recover his dominion”, i.e., to recruit his forces. Then followed another battle with the Syrian army thus recruited, which resulted in its being totally routed at Helam (2Sa_10:17). Shobach, the leader of the Syrian army, died on the field of battle. The Syrians of Damascus, who had come to help Hadadezer, were also routed, and Damascus was made tributary to David. All the spoils taken in this war, “shields of gold” and “very much brass,” from which afterwards the “brazen sea, and the pillars, and the vessels of brass” for the temple were made (1Ch_18:8), were brought to Jerusalem and dedicated to Jehovah. Thus the power of the Ammonites and the Syrians was finally broken, and David's empire extended to the Euphrates (2Sa_10:15-19; 1Ch_19:15-19).

had-ad-ē´zẽr (הדדעזר, hădhadh‛ezer; so 2 Sam 8; 1Ki_11:23, but הדרעזר, hădhar‛ezer, 2 Sam 10; 1 Ch 18):

Mentioned in connection with David's wars of conquest (2Sa_8:3; 2 Sam 10:1-19; 1Ch_18:3); was king of Zobah in Syria. The exact position and size of this Syrian principality are uncertain, but it seems to have extended in David's time southward toward Ammon and eastward to the Euphrates. When the Ammonites had put themselves in the wrong with David by the insult done to his ambassadors (2Sa_10:1-5) they summoned to their aid against the incensed king of Israel the Syrians of various adjoining principalities, among them the Syrians of Zobah under Hadadezer, the son of Rehob. The strategy of Joab, who set the force under command of Abishai his brother in array against the Ammonites, and himself attacked the Syrian allies, won for Israel a decisive victory. Not content with this result, Hadadezer gathered together another Syrian force, summoning this time also “the Syrians that were beyond the River” (2Sa_10:16), with Shobach the captain of his host at their head. On this occasion David himself took command of the Israelite forces and again defeated them near Helam, Shobach being left dead on the field. Hadadezer and his Syrian vassals, finding resistance hopeless, “made peace with Israel and served them” (2Sa_10:19).

For the name Hadador Hadarezer, see Benhadad.

Literature

Winckler, Geschichte Israels, I, 137ff; McCurdy, HPM, 204; Maspero, The Struggle of the Nations, 731.