How he recovered Damascus, and Hamath. — Jeroboam II. was probably contemporary with Rammân-nirâri, king of Assyria (B.C. 812-783). This king has recorded his exaction of tribute from Tyre and Sidon, “the land of Omri” (i.e., Israel), Edom, and Philistia; and a siege of Damascus, followed by the submission of Mari’, its king, and the spoiling of his palace. The prostration of his enemy thus accounts for the permanent success of Jeroboam, who was himself a vassal of Assyria.
He recovered. — This verb was rendered “lie restored” in 2 Kings 14:25, and that is the meaning here.
Damascus and Hamath. — Not the entire states so named, which were powerful independent communities, but portions of their territory, which had belonged to Israel in the days of Solomon. (See Note on 2 Chronicles 8:3-4.)
Which belonged to Judah. — This is really an epithet restrictive of the phrase, “Damascus and Hamath,” the sense being, “Judœan Damascus and Hamath.” (Comp, the Note on 2 Kings 15:1.)
For Israel. — Heb., in Israel. The sense is obscure; but the particle “in” appears to refer to the re-incorporation of the Damascene and Hamathite districts with Israel. Ewald would cancel “which belonged to Judah,” and read “to Israel” (so the Syriac and Arabic. But the LXX., Vulg., and Targum support the existing text.) Others explain: He restored Damascus and Hamath to Judah (i.e., to the theocratic people) through Israel (i.e., the northern kingdom, to which the recovered districts were actually annexed). No explanation, however, is really satisfactory. It may be that by an oversight the Judæan editor wrote” to Judah, “instead of” to Israel and that some scribe added a marginal note “in Israel,” which afterwards crept into the text. It is curious to find certain districts of Hamath leagued with Azariah, king of Judah, against Tiglath Pileser. (See Note on 2 Kings 15:1.)