Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 9:18
And Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land,
18. and Baalath ] This place is mentioned (Jos 19:44) among the places which fell to the tribe of Dan, and must therefore have been on the border of the country of the Philistines, and for that reason we may presume that it was included among the places which Solomon strengthened.
and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land ] Here the Hebrew text reads Tamar, and Tadmor is only given on the margin (Keri). The R.V. adopts the reading of the text, probably because of the words ‘in the land.’ All the places mentioned here lie in Palestine, and we know from Ezekiel (Eze 47:19, Eze 48:28) that there was a city Tamar on the south border of the Holy Land, which was towards the wilderness. It seems therefore most likely, as this place is spoken of as ‘in the land,’ that Tamar should be here preferred, and the position assigned to it in Ezekiel is that of a place which it would be most important to fortify. The marginal reading Tadmor is no doubt due to the mention of Tadmor among the cities which Solomon built in 2Ch 8:4. But there Tadmor is mentioned in connexion with Hamath-Zobah and the conquest of the northern part of the land. This reading may be correct in Chronicles, for with Solomon’s ambition to extend his dominion and foster commerce, Tadmor in the wilderness (afterwards so famous as Palmyra) would be a place much to be coveted as a step on the road to Babylon. Tadmor grew famous, and Tamar was well-nigh forgotten, hence we can see how the former name (not mentioned anywhere but in Chronicles) should be substituted on the margin in the verse before us. It may well be that Solomon occupied both places, but there is no warrant for importing the name Tadmor into Kings, especially as the place here mentioned is spoken of as being ‘in the land.’
Josephus is very minute in his account of this city, which he (as was to be expected) says was Tadmor ( Ant. viii. 6, i), ‘Having invaded the desert that lies above Syria, and acquired it, he founded there a very great city, two days’ journey from upper Syria, and one from the Euphrates, and its distance from the great city of Babylon was six days. And the reason why he built this city so distant from the inhabited parts of Syria was that nowhere in the land lower down was there water, but that there alone were found fountains and wells. So having built the city and surrounded it with very strong walls, he named it Thadamora, and it is still so called by the Syrians, but the Greeks name it Palmyra.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Tadmor – The Hebrew text here has, as written, Tamor (or Tamar), and as read, Tadmor. That the latter place, or Palmyra, was meant appears, first, from the distinct statement of Chronicles 2Ch 8:4 that Solomon built Tadmor, and the improbability that the fact would be omitted in Kings; secondly, from the strong likelihood that Solomon, with his wide views of commerce, would seize and fortify the Palmy-rene Oasis: and thirdly, from the unanimity of the old versions in rendering Tamar here by Tadmor. The probability seems to be that Tamar was the original name of the place, being the Hebrew word for a palm, from where it is generally agreed that the town derived its name. Tadmor was a corrupt or dialectic variety of the word, which was adopted at the city itself, and prevailed over the original appellation. No reference is found to Tadmor in the Assyrian inscriptions, or in any Classical writer before Pliny.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 18. And Tadmor in the wilderness] This is almost universally allowed to be the same with the celebrated Palmyra, the ruins of which remain to the present day, and give us the highest idea of Solomon’s splendour and magnificence. Palmyra stood upon a fertile plain surrounded by a barren desert, having the river Euphrates on the east. The ruins are well described by Messrs. Dawkes and Wood, of which they give fine representations. They are also well described in the ancient part of the Universal History, vol. i., p. 367-70. The description concludes thus: “The world never saw a more glorious city; the pride, it is likely, of ancient times, and the reproach of our own; a city not more remarkable for the state of her buildings and unwontedness of her situation than for the extraordinary personages who once flourished there, among whom the renowned Zenobia and the incomparable Longinus must for ever be remembered with admiration and regret.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Baalath, in the tribe of Dan, Jos 19:40,44.
Tadmor; supposed to be called Tamar, Eze 47:19.
In the land: this clause may belong either, first, To all the places above mentioned, which are here declared to be in the land of Canaan. But so that clause may seem superfluous; for none would easily think that he would build much out of his own land. Or rather, secondly, To Tadmor, which otherwise being in that wilderness which was the border of the land, might have been presumed to have been out of the land.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. BaalathBaal-bek.
TadmorPalmyra, betweenDamascus and the Euphrates, was rebuilt and fortified as a securityagainst invasion from northern Asia. In accomplishing these andvarious other works which were carried on throughout the kingdom,especially in the north, where Rezon of Damascus, his enemy, mightprove dangerous, he employed vast numbers of the Canaanites as galleyslaves (2Ch 2:18), treatingthem as prisoners of war, who were compelled to do the drudgery andhard labor, while the Israelites were only engaged in honorableemployment.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Baalath,…. A city in the tribe of Dan, Jos 19:44
and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land; or “Tamar”, as in the Cetib, or Scriptural reading; for we go according to the marginal reading, and so Thamato in Ptolemy p; and is thought by some to be the same with Tamar in Eze 47:19, which Jerom there says is Palmyra. Tamar signifies a palm tree, from whence this city had its name Palmyra, the situation of which place agrees with this; hence we read both in Ptolemy q and Pliny r of the Palmyrene deserts: the ruins of it are to be seen to this day, and of it this account is given; that it is enclosed on three sides with long ridges of mountains, which open towards the east gradually, to the distance of about an hour’s riding; but to the south stretches a vast plain, beyond the reach of the eye; the air is good, but the soil exceeding barren; nothing green to be seen therein, save some few palm trees in the gardens, and here and there about the town; and from these trees, I conceive, says my author, it obtained its name both in Hebrew and in Latin: it appears to have been of a large extent, by the space now taken up by the ruins; but there are no footsteps of any wall remaining, nor is it possible to judge of the ancient figure of the place. The present inhabitants, as they are poor, miserable, dirty people, so they have shut themselves up, to the number of about thirty or forty families, in little huts made of dirt, within the walls of a spacious court, which enclosed a most magnificent Heathen temple s. Benjamin of Tudela says t, it is situated in a wilderness, far from any habitable place, and is four days’ journey from Baalath before mentioned; which place he takes to be the same with Baalbek, in the valley of Lebanon, built by Solomon for Pharaoh’s daughter; which, according to the Arabic geographer u, was situated at the foot of Mount Lebanon; and Tadmor seems to be in the land of Hamathzobah, 2Ch 8:3.
p Geograph. l. 5. c. 16. q Ib. c. 15. r Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 26. & 6. 28. s Halifax apud Philosphic. Transact. vol. 3. p. 504. t Itinerar. p. 57, 58. u Geograph. Nub. par. 5. clim. 3. p. 117.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(18) Baalath is said by Josephus to have been in the same neighbourhood; and this agrees with the mention of it in Jos. 19:44, as lying in the region assigned to Dan, on the edge of the Philistine country. The three, Gezer, Beth-horon, and Baalath, evidently form a group of fortified places commanding the passes from the sea-coast.
Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land.The Hebrew text here has Tamar (with, however, Tadmor as a marginal reading). From this fact, and from the peculiar expression in the land, which certainly seems to designate the land of Israel, and from the juxtaposition of the name in this passage with the names of places situated in the southern part of Palestine, it has been thought that the place meant is the Tamar of Eze. 47:19; Eze. 48:28), or, perhaps, Hazazon-Tamar, the old name of En-gedi; and that the marginal reading, and the reading of the old versions, have arisen from a mistaken identification of this place with the Tadmor of 2Ch. 9:4. But, on the whole, these considerations are not sufficient to counterbalance the invariable reference of this passage, by all the ancient versions and by the narrative of Josephus, to the celebrated Tadmor, the name of which is a local variety of the Hebrew name Tamar (or the palm-tree,) preserved in the later name of Palmyra. If this be meant, it is indeed difficult to suppose that there is not some omission after the words in the land.
Tadmor, or Palmyra, is described by Josephus as in the desert above Syria, a days journey from the Euphrates, and six long days journey from Babylon the Great. Its foundation is described in 2Ch. 9:4, as connected with a subjugation of Hamathzobah, and it may have had a military purpose. But situated on a well-watered oasis, in the midst of the desert, south-west of Tiphsah or Thapsacus on the Euphrates, also occupied by Solomon (see 1Ki. 4:24), and about 120 miles from Damascus, it would be eminently fitted for trade both with Damascus and with Babylon and the north. Its importance is indicated by its long existence as a great city, and by its splendour (still traceable in its ruins), in Greek and Roman times, down to, at least, the age of Diocletian.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18. Baalath Probably identical with the town of this name in the tribe of Dan. Jos 19:44. Some have supposed it to be the same as Baalbek in Coele-Syria, whose splendid ruins are still the wonder of the modern traveller.
Tadmor Such is the name in the margin of the Hebrew Bible, ( keri,) and in 2Ch 8:4; but in the Hebrew text of this verse it is Tamar, which seems to have been the original name, and means a palm tree. The place probably received this name from the many palm trees which were planted within and around it, and hence the later Greek and Roman name Palmyra, city of palms. The site of this celebrated city was a fertile oasis in the great Syrian desert, midway between the Euphrates and Palestine, and served as a most important watering-station for the caravans which carried on commerce between the Western nations and those of the far East. Its importance to commerce was, perhaps, suggested to Solomon by Phenician merchants, and his ready practical wisdom would not be slow to secure to his own dominion the advantage of such a control over the traffic between the East and the West as this central emporium would naturally give him. It was probably at first strongly built, and so garrisoned as to give protection and security to the caravans against the tribes of lawless Arabs which then, as now, infested those deserts, and exposed all travel and commerce in great danger and inconvenience. But the city soon rose to magnificence and luxury, and became a city of merchants, who monopolized the trade between the East and the West, buying up the products of Arabia and India and selling them again to the Western traders. Tadmor, probably soon after the death of Solomon, passed from the possession of the Hebrews to that of the Assyrians. It is not mentioned again in Scripture; but from other sources we learn that it passed through various fortunes under the Eastern kings, the Roman emperors, the Mohammedan khalifs, and was at last plundered and laid waste by the Mongol conqueror, Tamerlane. Its ruins were long unknown to Europeans, but were discovered towards the close of the seventeenth century. They occupy a sandy plain, slightly elevated above the surrounding desert, and consist of “scattered groups of columns and single monumental pillars, while everywhere the ground is thickly strewn with broken shafts, and great shapeless piles of ruins, all white and glistering in the bright sunlight. Like bleached bones on a long-neglected battle-field those ruins lie, lonely and forsaken.” PORTER, Giant Cities of Bashan.
In the wilderness In the great Syrian desert between Palestine and the Euphrates.
In the land The land of Solomon’s dominion. The phrase is to be construed with built in 1Ki 9:17. Solomon built in his land the cities here named.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ki 9:18. And Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land See 2Ch 8:3-4. This Tadmor in the wilderness is generally supposed to be the same with the city of Palmyra, whose ruins are at present so extraordinary, and of which some valuable travellers of our nation have given us the most pleasing and accurate accounts. We refer our reader to these, not only that they may receive great pleasure but great improvement; since it is not possible to conceive higher ideas of Solomon’s magnificence than these ruins present, nor more humiliating ideas of the vanity and weakness of all human splendor. See Messrs. Dawkins and Wood’s ruins of Palmyra.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Ki 9:18 And Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land,
Ver. 18. In the wilderness, in the land, ] i.e., So in the wilderness, as not out of the land of Canaan. Places which were but thinly inhabited, the Jews called wildernesses.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Tadmor. Called, later, Palmyra (from its palms).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Baalath: Jos 19:44
Tadmor: 2Ch 8:4
Reciprocal: 1Ki 12:25 – built 2Ch 8:6 – Baalath Psa 72:9 – They that