Ezekiel 47:16

Eze 47:16 Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which [is] between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazarhatticon, which [is] by the coast of Hauran.

Ver. 16. Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim.] Towns of Arabia Deserta. All this is to set forth the amplitude of the Christian Church, spread far and near upon the face of the whole earth, and therefore rightly called Catholic. Roman Catholic is contradictio in adiecto, for it is a particular universal

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hamath--As Israel was a separate people, so their land was a separate land. On no scene could the sacred history have been so well transacted as on it. On the east was the sandy desert. On the north and south, mountains. On the west, an inhospitable sea-shore. But it was not always to be a separate land. Between the parallel ranges of Lebanon is the long valley of El-Bekaa, leading to "the entering in of Hamath" on the Orontes, in the Syrian frontier. Roman roads, and the harbor made at Cæsarea, opened out doors through which the Gospel should go from it to all lands. So in the last days, when all shall flock to Jerusalem as the religious center of the world.

Berothah--a city in Syria conquered by David (Sa2 8:8); meaning "wells."

Hazar-hatticon--meaning "the middle village."

Hauran--a tract in Syria, south of Damascus; Auranitis.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 16. Hamath] Emesa or Amesa, in Syria. - Calmet.

Berothah] Berytus, now Baruth or Beeroth, which David took from Hadarezer, king of Syria, 2Sa 8:8; but these things are very uncertain.

Sibraim] Sabarim or Sepharvaim, according to the Syriac, between Hamath and Damascus.

Hazar-hatticon] The middle Hazar; or middle village, as the margin.

Hauran.] The city Aurana, and the district Auranitis, are in the north-east limit of the Holy Land.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(16) Hamath is not to be understood of the city of Hamath on the Orontes (which was much too far to the north), but of the boundary of the district of Hamath; this cannot be now precisely fixed, but certainly came as far south as the “entrance of Hamath” (Num_34:8), or the defile between the Lebanon and Antilebanon Mountains which leads to Hamath. This defile, however, is many miles in length, and the authorities differ as to whether its southern end or its northern (where the Lebanon and Antilebanon ranges end, and a rolling country several miles broad intervenes between them and the next ranges) should be called “the entrance to Hamath.’

Berothah is also mentioned in 2Sa_8:8, as one of the cities conquered by David from the king of Zobah, and it is evident from this passage that it was between “Hamath” and Damascus; but nothing further is known of its situation.

Sibraim may be the same with Ziphron of Num_34:9, and must have been on the confines of the two kingdoms of Hamath and Damascus; but nothing more is known of it, and it is not mentioned elsewhere.

Hazar-hatticon.—That is, as noted in the margin, the middle Hazar, to distinguish it from the Hazar-enan mentioned in the next verse. All that is known of it is from this passage, that it was on the border of the district of Hauran. Hauran, here and in Eze_47:18, is used in a wider sense than the classic Auranitis, and includes also Gaulanitis (Golan), and Batanœa (Bashan), in fact the whole land between the territories of Damascus and Gilead (Eze_47:18).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim,.... The line of the northern border should be drawn on by Hamath, the same with Antiochia in Syria, since called Epiphania, as Jerom observes, from Antiochus Epiphanies; and go on by Berothah, a city of Hadadezer king of Zobah, Sa2 8:8, the same with the Barothena of Ptolemy (q), placed by him in Syria; and from thence the line would be carried on to Sibraim, a city in Arabia Deserta:

which is between the border of Damascus; the chief city in Syria: and the border of Hamath; before mentioned. Calmet (r) imagines it to be that which Ishmael Abulfeda calls Hovvarin; which he says is a village of the country of Ems or Hamath, to the southeast of the city.

Hazarhatticon, which is by the coast of Hauran; this seems to be explanative of Sibraim, which lay between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; and therefore is called the middle town or village, as "Hazarhatticon" signifies; and lay by the coast of Hauran, which Jerom calls a town of Damascus, with which it is mentioned, Eze 47:18, from whence the country adjacent is called Auranitis, as this place is here by the Septuagint. The Targum calls Hazar the fish pool of the Agbeans; but for what reason, and what is meant by it, I know not.

(q) Geograph. l. 5. c. 19. (r) Dictionary, in the word "Sibraim".

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

“Berothah,” probably the same as “Berothai” (marginal reference), lay between Hamath and Damascus, as did “Sibraim.”

“Hazar-hatticon” is probably, as in the margin, “the middle Hazar,” to distinguish it from Hazar-enan Eze 47:17.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Berotha, conquered by David, 2 Kings viii. 8.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Hamath; very near to the head of Eleutherus, or Gebat, and to Sedada: it is likely to be that mentioned Isa 10:9, situate about the middle of the north boundary of the land, called sometime Epiphania, from Antiochus Epiphanes, who repaired it, and some say now called Enimas.

Berothah; Berotha, a small and inconsiderable town or village lying east of Sedada. Sibraim, or Sabarim, a place of no further note than the former, known thus by being a boundary. It lay between these two, Hamath to the west of it, and Damascus to the east by north, somewhat nearer to Hamath than to Damascus.

Hazar-hatticon; though we render it as a proper name, some render it otherwise. The small villages between them two, (so the French,) i.e. between Hamath and Hauran.

Hauran, or Auran, some miles beyond Jordan, eastward from Hamath, which also gives name to the country called Auranitis.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The four names here mentioned belong to towns or places lying on the road to Zedad, and stretching from west to east. Hamath, called also Hamath the Great, (Amo_6:2) situated on the Orontes, north of Hermon and Antilibanus (Jos_13:5; Jud_1:3:3) was the capital of a kingdom to which also belonged Riblah. (2Ki_23:33) Originally colonized by the Canaanites, (Gen_10:18) it became in David"s time a flourishing kingdom under Toi, who formed an alliance with the Hebrew sore-reign against Hadadezer of Zoba. (2Sa_8:9; 1Ch_18:9) It was subsequently conquered by the King of Assyria. (2Ki_18:34) Winer thinks it never belonged to Israel; but Schurer 1Ki_9:19 and 2Ch_8:3, 4 to show that at least in Solomon"s reign it was temporarily annexed to the empire of David"s son. In Ezekiel"s chart the territory of united Israel should extend, not to the town of Hamath, but to the southern boundary of the land of Hamath. Berothah was probably the same as Berothai, (2Sa_8:8) afterwards called Chun, (1Ch_18:8) if Chun is not a textual corruption. The town in question cannot be identified either with the modern Beirut on the Phoenician coast (Conder), since it must have lain west of Hamath, and therefore at a considerable distance from the sea; or with Birtha, the present day El-Bir, or Birah, on the east bank of the Euphrates, which is too far east; or with the Galilaean Berotha, near Kadesh (Josephus), as this is too far south; but must be sought for between Hamath and Damascus, and most likely close to the former. Sibraim, occurring here only, may, on the other hand, be assumed to have lain nearer Damascus, and may, perhaps, be identified with Ziphron, (Num_34:9) though the site of this town cannot be where Wetstein placed it, at Zifran, north-east of Damascus, and on the road to Palmyra. Smend compares it with Sepharvaim. (2Ki_17:24) Damascus was the well-known capital of Syria, (Isa_7:8) and the principal emporium of commerce between East and West Asia. (Eze_27:18) Its high antiquity is testified by both Scripture (Gen_14:15 Gen_15:2) and the cuneiform inscriptions, in which it appears as Dimaski and Dimaska (Schrader, "Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament," p. 138). Hazar-hatticon; or, the middle Hazar, was probably so styled to distinguish it from Hazar-enan (ver. 17). (On the import of Hatticon, see Exo_26:28 and 2Ki_20:4, in both of which places it signifies "the middle. The word Hazar (rxj) "an enclosure," or "place fenced off," was employed to denote villages or townships, of which at least six are mentioned in Scripture (see Gesenius, "Lexicon," sub voce). Hauran, Aujranitiv (LXX), "Cave-land," so called because of the number of its caverns, was most likely designed to designate "the whole tract of land between Damascus and the country of Gilead" (Keil).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hazer-hatticon Jonathan renders: the pond of the Agebeans.

which is by the border of Hauran The border of Damascus is in the east, near the corner.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.