Hamah is still a town of 30,000 inhabitants. It is beautifully situated in the narrow and rich valley of the Orontes, thirty-two miles north of Emesa, and thirty-six south of the ruins of Assainea itinerarium, ed. Wesseling, p. 188). Four bridges span the rapid river ; and a number of huge wheels turned by the current, like those at Verona, raise the water into rude aqueducts, which convey it to the houses and mosques. There are no remains of antiquity now visible. The mound on which the castle stood is in the centre of the city ; but every trace of the castle itself has disappeared The houses are built of sun-dried bricks and timber Though plain and poor externally, some of them have splendid interiors. The inhabitants carry on a considerable trade in silks and woollen and cotton stuffs with the Bedawin. A number of noble but decayed Muslem families reside in Hamah, at tracted thither by its beauty, salubrity, and cheap ness (Pococke, Travels, ii. pt. i. pp. 143, sq. ; Burckhardt, Travels in Syria, pp. 146, sq. ; Hana book for S. and P., ii. p. 620).
The entrance of Hamath,' or entering. into Hamath' (my, Kin ; eioropeuoygpcoo Al/.4.1a ; introitnm Emalh) is a phrase often used in the O. T. as a geographical name. It is of considerable Importance to identify it, as it is one of the chief landmarks on the northern border of the land of Israel. There can be no doubt that the sacred writers apply the phrase to some well-known 'pass ' or opening into the kingdom of Han-lath (Num. xxxiv. 8 ; Josh. xiii. 5). The kingdom of Hamath embraced the great plain lying along both banks of the Orontes, from the fountain near Riblah on the south to Apamea on the north, and from Leba non on the west to the desert on the east. To this plain there are two remarkable entrances '—one front the south, through the valley of Coelesyria, between the parallel ranges of Lebanon and An i lebanon ; the other from the \vest, between the northern end of Lebanon and the Nusairiyeh mountains. The former is the natural entrance ' from central Palestine ; the latter from the sea coast. The former is on the extreme south of the kingdom of Hamath ; the latter on its western border.
Until within the last few years sacred geogra phers have almost universally maintained that the southern opening is the entrance of Hamath.' Reland supposed that the land described in Num. xxxiv. 8, to did not extend farther north than the parallel of Sidon. Consequently he holds that the southern extremity of the valley of Coelesyria, at the base of Hermon, is the entrance ' of Hamath (Pakestina, pp. 118, sq.) Kitto set forth this view in gmater detail ; and he would identify the entrance of Hamath ' with the expression used in Num. xiii. 21, as men come to Hamath.' The
two, however are distinct. The latter is only in tended to dehne the position of Beth-rehob, which was situated on the road leading from central Palestine to Hamath—` as men come to Hamath ;' that is, in the great valley of Coelesyria (Pictorial Bible ; Cyclopeca'. of Bibl. s. v. flamalk and Palestine, ist ed.) Van de Velde appears to locate the entrance of Hamath' at the northern end of the valley of Coelesyria (Travels, ii. 470) ; and Stanley adopts the same view (Sin. ana' Pal. 399). Dr. Keith would place the entrance of Hamath ' at that sublime gori,,,e through which the Orontes flows from Antioch to the sea (Land of Israel, pp. 112, sq.) The writer of this article, after a careful survey of the whole region, and a study of the passages of Scripture on tHe spot, was led to the conclusion that the entrance of Hamath' must be the open ing towards the west, between Lebanon and the Nusairtyeh mountains. His reasons are as follow: —t. That opening forms a distinct and natural northern boundary for the land of Israel, such as is evidently required by the following passages : Kings viii. 65 ; 2 Kings xiv. 25 ; 2 Chron. xiii. 5 ; Am. vi. 14. 2. The entrance of Hamath ' is spoken of as being from the western border or sea board ; for Moses says, after describing the western border,—' This shall be your north border, from Me great sea ye shall point out for you Mount Hor; from Mount Hor ye shall point out into the en trance of Hamath' (Num. xxxv. 7, 8). Compare this with Ezek. xlvii. 2o, 'the west side shall be the great sea from the (southern) border, till a ntan come over against Hanzath ; and ver. 16, where the wayof Ifethlon as men go to Zedad ' is mentioned, and is manifestly identical with the entrance of Hamatli,' and can be none other than the opening here alluded to. 3. The entmnce of Hamath ' must have been to the north of the entire ridges of Lebanon and Antilebanon Uosh. xiii. 5 ; Judg. 3) ; but the opening from Coelcsyria into the plain of Harnath is not so. 4. The territory of lIamath was included in the Promised Land,' as described both by Moses and Ezekiel (Num. xx.xiv. 8-11 ; Ezek. xlvii. 15-2o ; xlviii. t). The entrance of Hamath ' is one of the rnarks of its northern bor der ; but the opening from Coelesyria is on the extreme south of the territory of Hamad', and could not therefore be identical with the entrance of Hamath.' From the above statements it is abundantly evident that the entrance of Hamath ' must be the opening from that kingdom to the western coast between Lebanon and the Nusairiyeh moun tains. The phrase was used by the sacred writers with all the definiteness of a proper name (see Porter's Damascus, ii. 354, sq. ; also Robinson, B. R. iii. 568).—J. I- P.