Zoarites. See Separatists of Zoar.
Zo'ba (Heb. Tsoba', X^I^J, 2 Sam. x, 6, 8) or Zo'- bah (Heb. Tsobah', nni:i [briefly n^iJ, 2 Sam. xxiii, 36], station; Sept. 'SloJlSa v. r. Soi/JoX, etc.; Vulg. usu- ally Soba), the name of a portion of Aram or Syria, which formed a separate kingdom in the time of the Jewish monarchs Saul, David, and Solomon. It is difficult to fix its exact position and limits; but there seem to be grounds for regarding it as lying chiefly eastward of Coele-Syria, and extending thence north- east and east towards, if not even to, the Euphrates (see 1 Chron. xviii, 3-9; xix, 6). It would thus have included the eastern flank of the mountain chain which shuts in Coele-Syria on that side, the high land about Aleppo, and the more northern portion of the Syrian desert. The Syriac interpreters take Zobah to be Xisi- bis, in Mesopotamia, and they have been followed by Michaelis (De Si/riu Sobcea, in the Comment. Soc. Got- thig. p. 57 sq.). Others would identify it with the clas- sic Chains. It was so closely connected with Hamath that that great city was sometimes distinguished as Hamath-zobah (2 Chron. viii, 3). Among the cities of Zobah were also a place called Tibhath or Betah (2 Sam. viii, 8; 1 Chron. xviii, 8), which is, perhaps, Tai- beh, between Palmyra and Aleppo; and another called BertJthai, which has been supposed to be Beirvlt, but with little probability, for the kingdom of Hamath must have intervened between Zobah and the coast. See Beuothah. Zobah was a wide, arid plain inter- sected by several ranges of bare, white mountains, but having also a few fertile vallej's. The inhabitants were probably semi- nomads, and chiefl3' shepherds. Like the modern Bedawin of that region, they were rich in horses (Hitter, Pal. und Syr. iv, 1700; Porter, Handbook for Pal. p. 614). See Syhja.
We first hear of Zobah in the time of Saul, when we find it mentioned as a separate country, governed ap- parently by a number of kings who own no common head or chief (1 Sam. xiv, 47). Saul engaged in war with these kings and " vexed them," as he did his oth- er neighbors. Some forty years later than this we find Zobah under a single ruler, Hadadezer, son of Kehob, who seems to have been a powerful sovereign. He had wars with Toi, king of Hamath (2 Sam. viii, 10), while he lived in close relations of amity with the kings of Damascus. Beth-rehob, Ish-tob, etc., and held various petty Syrian princes as vassals under his yoke (x, 19), He had even considerable influence in INIesopotaraia, beyond the Euphrates, and was able on one occasion to obtain an important auxiliary force from tiiat quarter (ver. 16; comp. title to Psa. Ix). David, having re- solved to take full possession of the tract of territory originally promised to the posterity of Abraham (2 Sam. viii, 3; comp. Gen. xv, 18), attacked Hadadezer in the early part of his reign, defeated his army, and took from him a thousand chariots, seven hundred (seven thou- sand, 1 Chron. xviii, 4) horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen. Hadadozer's allies, the S3'rians of Damas- cus, liaving marched to his assistance, David defeated them ill a great battle, in which they lost twenty-two
ZOBEBAII
no:
ZOIIELETII
thousand men. The wealth of Zobah is very apparent in the narrative of this canipaijin. Several of tiio of- ticers of Hadadezer's army carried '-sliields of -iold" {•! Sara, viii, 7), by which we are prohalily to understand iron or wooden frames overlaid with plates of tlie pre- cious metal. The cities, moreover, which David took, Betah(or Tibhath) and Herothai, yielded liim "exceed- ing much brass" (ver. 8). It is not clear whether the Syrians of Zobah submitted and became tributary on this occasion, or whether, althoui;!! defeated, they were able to maintain their independence. At any rate, a few years later they were again in arms against David. This time the Jewish king acted on the defensive. The war was provoked by the Ammonites, who hired the services of the Syrians of Zobah among others to help them against the people of Israel, and ol)tained in this way auxiliaries to the amount of thirty-three thousaiul men. Tbe allies were defeated in a great battle by Joab, who engaged the Syrians in person with tlie flow- er of his troops (x, 9). Hadadezer, upon this, made a last effort. He sent across the Euphrates into jMeso- potamia and " drew forth the Syrians that were beyond the river" (1 Chron. xix, 16), who had hitherto taken no part in the war. With these allies anci his own troops, he once more renewed the struggle with the Is- raelites, who were now commanded by David himself, the crisis being such as seemed to demand the presence of the king. A battle was fought near Ilelam — a place the situation of which is uncertain — where the Syrians of Zobah and their new^ allies were defeated with great slaughter, losing between forty thousand and fifty thou- sand men. After this we hear of no more hostilities. The petty princes hitherto tributary to Hadadezer transferred tlieir allegiance to the king of Israel, and it is probable that he himself became a vassal to Da- vid. Zobah, however, though subdued, continued to cause trouble to the Jewish kings. A man of Zobah, one of the subjects of Hadadezer — Rezon, son of Elia- ilah — having escaped from the battle of Helam and "gathered a band" (i. e. a body of irregular marauders), marched southward, and contrived to make himself master of Damascus, where he reigned (apparently) for some fifty years, proving a fierce adversary to Israel all through the reign of Solomon (1 Kings xi, 23-25). Solomon also was (it would seem) engaged in a war with Zobah itself. The Hamath-zobah against which he " went up" (2 Chron. viii, 3) was probably a town in that country which resisted his authority, and which he accordingly attacked and subdued. This is the last that we hear of Zobah in Scripture. The name, how- ever, is found at a later date in the inscriptions of As- syria, where the kingdom of Zobah seems to intervene between Hamath and Damascus, falling thus into the regular line of march of the Assyrian armies. Several Assyrian monarchs relate that tliey took tribute from Zobah, while others speak of haviiig traversed it on their way to or from Palestine.— Smith ; Kitto,