Chamat

חמת


Genesis 10:18 has ha-Chamati as descendants of Kena'an in the family of Cham; the list is plainly intended to show those who originally inhabited Kena'an. This is however an error - see below.

Another Chamat, meaning "warm baths", is referred to in Joshua 19:35 as being in the tribal domain of Naphtali. Naphtali's eastern border was the river Yarden (Jordan), all the way from Banyas (Caesarea Philippi) to just south of what is today 
Teveriah (טְבֶרְיָה - Tiberias), and any number of hot water springs can be found in the area, the most famous about a mile and a half south of Tiberias, at what archaeologists believe was the original Chamat. See also Joshua 13:5.

Joshua 21:32 refers to Chamot Dor as being a refuge-city in Naphtali.

None of the other references to Chamat can be taken as linked to Cham the son of No'ach, though they may well be linked to the root-word CHAMAM (חמם) = "to be hot"; all refer to Syrian or Judean towns named Chamat.

Numbers 13:21 places it north of the wilderness of Zin (the place that first made T.E. Lawrence known in the world) and calls its city Rechov (רחב) in Chamat, not far from Chevron.

Numbers 34:8 places it specifically on the northern border of Mosheh's kingdom "a line from the Great Sea to Mount Hor and thence to Chamat". It is, alas, unclear where precisely Mount Hor might be located.

2 Chronicles 8:3 has Shelomoh (Solomon) seizing Chamat-Tsovah (חמת צובה) and rebuilding other store-cities in Chamat.

Amos 6:2 calls it Chamat the Great (חמת רבה) and Isaiah 10:9 compares it with Arpad, another fortified town in Syria adjacent to Chamat.

2 Kings 25:21 makes it the spot where the King of Babylon flogged and executed the leaders of Yisra-El, probably in Syria, on the Orontes river, known by the Greeks as Epiphania.

2 Kings 19:13 likewise links it with Arpad (ארפד).

Self-evidently there are a number of different places, in very different parts of the region, which had the same or at least a very similar name - but then, in today's America, Homer Simpson's home town of Springfield could be any one of thirty-four, so why should places with hot springs or strong walls (see below) have been named Chamat in the Biblical world. How many erstwhile Roman forts still retain Castra as part of their name?

Despite the claim in Genesis 10:18, the root word for Chamat is not exclusively CHAM = "heat", from Chamam, for which see notes to CHAM). As neatly segued by my reference to Roman forts, there is also Chomah (חומה) = "a wall", used especially for "citadel" or "fortification" or "walled city", a variation of Medinah, which likewise finds its repetition in various places, and with the same description given of it every time.






Copyright © 2019 David Prashker 
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