Damascus
Capital · Damascus → Damascus, Syria
The chief city of Aram, often at war with Israel. On its road Saul met the risen Christ.
People
- Eliezer of Damascus
- Ben-Hadad
- Hazael
- Elisha
- Naaman
- Saul of Tarsus
- Ananias
At a glance
- Realm
- Aram (Syria)
- Role
- Royal capital, caravan crossroads
- Peoples
- Arameans
- First mention
- Genesis 14
The story
Damascus sits where the desert roads meet the mountains, watered by the rivers Abana and Pharpar that Naaman boasted were better than all the waters of Israel. The caravans made it rich, and the kings of Aram made it a power that pressed Israel hard through the days of Elijah and Elisha.
Yet it was to Damascus that Naaman came home healed of his leprosy, and on its road that Saul of Tarsus was stopped by a light from heaven. In a house on the street called Straight he received his sight, and in this same city the persecutor first preached that Jesus is the Son of God.
Through the eras
- The Patriarchs · standing. Abraham pursued the eastern kings past this city; his steward Eliezer came from here.
- The United Kingdom · standing. David garrisoned Damascus; in Solomon’s day Rezon made it the seat of a new Aramean kingdom.
- Divided Kingdoms · in ruins. Aram’s chief city and Israel’s great rival, until Tiglath-Pileser took it in 732 BC; Rezin was slain and its people carried to Kir.
- The Exile · standing. It lived on as a provincial city under Assyria and then Babylon.