Metheg-Ammah

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

METHEG-AMMAH. ‘David took Metheg-ammah out of the hand of the Philistines’ (  2 Samuel 8:1 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] and RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ). RV [Note: Revised Version.] tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘the bridle of the mother-city,’ which has been interpreted to mean authority over the metropolis, or the suzerainty exercised by the Philistines, it being assumed that Gath was the leading city. In all probability the text is corrupt beyond restoration. See, further, ExpT [Note: Expository Times.] , Oct. 1899, p. 48, and Feb. 1906, p. 215.

W. F. Cobb.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

 2 Samuel 8:1. Not in the parallel  1 Chronicles 18:1. The name Metheg-Ammah must have fallen into disuse, originally designating the region wherein Gath was. Rather it is figurative: "David took the bridle of the mother (Gath the metropolis, i.e. wrested the supremacy) out of the hand of the Philistines." The Arabic idiom for submission is to give up one's bridle to another. The phrase "Gath and her daughter towns" (Hebrew,  1 Chronicles 18:1) favors the rendering "mother." Gath became tributary to David.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

 2 Samuel 8:1;  1 Chronicles 18:1 . See Gath .

Holman Bible Dictionary

 2 Samuel 8:1 1 Chronicles 18:1

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 2 Samuel 8:1 1 Chronicles 18:1

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb me'theg ha-anmmah', הָאִמָּה מֶתֶג, bridle [as in  2 Kings 19:28, etc.] of the mother [i.e. mother-city = אֵם, in  2 Samuel 20:19]; Sept. ἡ ἀρωρισμένη,Vulg. frenum tributi), a figurative term for a chief city, occurring in the statement ( 2 Samuel 8:1), " David took the bit of the metropolis (Auth. Vers. ‘ Metheg-Ammah') out of the hand of the Philistines," i.e. he subdued their capital or strongest town, meaning GATH, as is expressly affirmed in the parallel passage ( 1 Chronicles 18:1). Other interpretations may be seen in Glassii Philol. Sacr. ed. Dathe, p. 783. Gesenius (Thes. Hebrews p. 113) compares the Arabic proverb, "I give thee not my bridle," i.e. I do not submit to thee (see Schultens ad  Job 20:11; and Hariri Cons. iv; Hist. Tamerl. p. 243; Vit. Tim. 1:50). On the other hand, Ewald (Gesch. 3:190) less naturally takes Ammah as meaning the "forearm," and treats the words as a metaphor to express the perfect manner in which David had smitten and humbled his foes, had torn the bridle from their arm, and thus broken forever the dominion with which they curbed Israel, as a rider manages his horse by the rein held fast on his arm. He objects to the other interpretation that Gath had its own king still in the days of Solomon; but it may be replied that the king in Solomon's time. may have been, and probably was, tributary to Israel, as the kings ‘ on this side the Euphrates" ( 1 Kings 4:24) were. It is an obvious objection to Ewald's interpretation, that to control his horse a rider must hold the bridle, not on his arm, but fast in his hand.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

mē - theg - am´a , meth - eg - am´a ( האמּה מתג , methegh hā - 'ammāh , "bridle of the metropolis"; Septuagint τὴν ἀφορισμένην , tḗn aphorisménēn ): It is probable that the place-name Metheg-Ammah in   2 Samuel 8:1 the King James Version should be rendered as in the Revised Version (British and American), "the bridle of the mother city," i.e. Gath, since we find in the parallel passage in   1 Chronicles 18:1 וּבנתיה גּת , gath ūbhenōthehā , "Gath and her daughters," i.e. daughter towns. The Septuagint has an entirely different reading: "and David took the tribute out of the hand of the Philistines," showing that they had a different text from what we now have in the Hebrew. The text is evidently corrupt. If a place is intended its site is unknown, but it must have been in the Philistine plain and in the vicinity of Gath.