Bible Encyclopedias
Hobah

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

Place to the north of Damascus to which Abraham pursued the defeated army of Chedorlaomer (Genesis 14:15). Wetzstein identified the Biblical Hobah with the modern Ḥobah, 60 miles north of Damascus (Delitzsch,"Genesis," pp.561 et seq.). But the Jews of Damascus affirm that the village of Jobar, not far from Damascus, is the Hobah of the Bible. Rashi, following pseudo-Jonathan, takes "Hobah" as a substitution for "Dan," where Jeroboam had erected a golden calf as an object of worship (1 Kings 12:29), interpreting "Hobah" as "the sinful place." The Targum of Jerusalem renders it by "'Awweta."

E. G. H.
M. Sel.
Bibliography Information
Singer, Isidore, Ph.D, Projector and Managing Editor. Entry for 'Hobah'. 1901 The Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​tje/​h/hobah.html. 1901.