³And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah, and prevailed against it. =3.= _Hamath-zobah_] The two kingdoms of Hamath and Zobah are distinguished from one another (1 Chronicles xviii. 3, 9 = 2 Samuel viii. 3, 9), Hamath apparently being north of Zobah. It is probable however that _Hamath_ as the name of a city belonged to more than one place, and Hamath-zobah may be a southern namesake of the well-known Hamath the great (Amos vi. 2). _prevailed against it_] No mention of this campaign is made elsewhere. It may be a genuine tradition preserved only in Chronicles. On the other hand, this statement and the reference to the store-cities _built in Hamath_ (verse 4) may be due to nothing except the mention of _Tadmor in the wilderness_ (itself an error, see following note). If Solomon built far-off Tadmor, then (the Chronicler thinks) he must also have subdued the region of Hamath. ⁴And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store cities, which he built in Hamath. =4.= _Tadmor in the wilderness_] Palmyra (Bädeker, _Palestine_⁵, p. 344) is meant, a city on an oasis north-east of Damascus half-way between Damascus and the Euphrates. Apart from this passage of Chronicles it first appears in history in B.C. 34, when it was threatened with attack by Mark Antony. This silence of history for a thousand years casts a doubt on the belief that Tadmor (Palmyra) is as old as the time of Solomon, and the doubt is strengthened by a reference to the parallel passage (1 Kings ix. 18), for there (1) the text (_Kethīb_) has “Tamar,” with “Tadmor” as marginal reading (_Ḳerī_), and (2) Tamar (Tadmor) is associated with Gezer, Beth-horon, and Baalath, cities either in Judah or on its borders. Probably therefore the marginal reading “Tadmor” in 1 Kings is due to the influence of 2 Chronicles, and the text of 1 Kings (“Tamar”) is correct. The city built by Solomon was a Tamar in the south of Judah. ⁵Also he built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fenced cities, with walls, gates, and bars; =5.= _Beth-horon the upper_] Not mentioned in the parallel passage (1 Kings ix. 17) which however has Gezer. The site of Gezer has recently been explored with extremely interesting results (see e.g. Macalister, _Bible Side-lights from the Mound of Gezer_). The Chronicler probably omits the name of Gezer, because he had no liking for the tradition that Solomon married a daughter of Pharaoh (a heinous sin in the eyes of the Chronicler’s contemporaries), and according to 1 Kings ix. 16 Gezer was presented to Solomon by the Pharaoh as the dowry of his daughter. ⁶and Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. =6.= _Baalath_] A city in the tribe of (the southern) Dan not far from Gezer and Beth-horon (1 Kings ix. 18).