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” (Numbers 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 2 Samuel 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 Numbers 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 Ezekiel 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 (Ezekiel 47:18).