ADAREZER. - Aramean king of Zobah. The Hebrew name is Hadad'ezer and Hadar'ezer: the latter form, found in Chronicles and in the Septuagint (Ἀδραχάς), in the Vulgate and in the Syriac version, is less correct. Hadad (v.), an Aramean deity, forms part of the name, which is identified with Adad-idri (inscription of Shalmaneser III), identical with Ben-hadad II (v.), Aramean king of Damascus.

David waged two campaigns against this warlike prince. In one (II Sam. 8:1-14; I Chr. 18:1-13), A. was defeated near Hamath, close to Hermon, and David adorned the sanctuary with the "shields of gold" taken from his officers; then the Arameans of Damascus who had come to his aid were defeated. In the second, in which A. seems not to have taken part personally (II Sam. 10:6-19; I Chr. 19:6-19), he was conquered together with the Ammonites and their Aramean allies of Rehob, Tob and Maacah; but the Aramean troops, commanded by his general Shobach, hastily assembled in the eastern regions, renewed the battle and were definitively defeated at Helam, in the Yarmuk basin, where Shobach was killed. Few exegetes, among them Fillion, identify the two wars.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: R. Kittel, Geschichte des Volkes Israel, II, 7th ed., Stuttgart 1925, pp. 253-55; L. Desnoyers, Histoire du peuple hébreu, II, Paris 1930, pp. 204-23.

Francesco Spadafora

@incollection{ec1_adarezer, author = {Spadafora, Francesco}, title = {Adarézer}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {I}, pages = {287}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1948}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/adarezer} }

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Adarezer

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