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Abana, Abanah
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ab'-a-na (made of stone; a building, stony)
RELATED: Damascus |
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Easton's Bible Dictionary
stony (Hebrew marg. "Amanah," perennial), The chief river
of Damascus ( 2
Kings 5:12 ). Its modern name is Barada, the Chrysorrhoas, or "golden stream,"
of the Greeks. It rises in a cleft of the Anti-Lebanon range, about 23 miles north-west
of Damascus, and after flowing southward for a little way parts into three smaller
streams, the central one flowing through Damascus, and the other two on each side
of the city, diffusing beauty and fertility where otherwise there would be barrenness.
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
made of stone; a building
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(perennial, stony)
One of the "rivers of Damascus." ( 2
Kings 5:12 ) The Barada and the Awaj are now the chief streams of Damascus,
the former representing the abana and the latter the Pharpar of the text. The
Barada (abana) rises in the Antilibanus, at about 23 miles from the city, after
flowing through which it runs across the plain, of whose fertility it is the chief
source, till it loses itself in the lake or marsh Bahret-el-Kibliyeh.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
ab'-a-na, a-ba'-na ('abhanah (Kethibh, Septuagint, Vulgate)), or AMANA a-ma'-na
('amanah (Qere, Peshitta, Targum); the King James Version abana (American Standard
Revised Version, margin Amana), the Revised Version (British and American) abanaH
(Revised Version, margin Amanah)):
Mentioned in 2
Kings 5:12, along with the PHARPAR (which see), as one of the principal
rivers of Damascus. The reading Amana (meaning possibly the "constant," or perennial
stream) is on the whole preferable. Both forms of the name may have been in use,
as the interchange of an aspirated b (bh = v) and m is not without parallel (compare
Evil-merodach = Amilmarduk).
The abanah is identified with the Chrysorrhoas ("golden stream") of the Greeks,
the modern Nahr Barada (the "cold"), which rises in the Anti-Lebanon, one of its
sources, the Ain Barada, being near the village of Zebedani, and flows in a southerly
and then southeasterly direction toward Damascus. A few miles southeast of Suk
Wady Barada (the ancient Abila; see ABILENE) the volume of the stream is more
than doubled by a torrent of clear, cold water from the beautifully situated spring
'Ain Fijeh (Greek pege, "fountain"), after which it flows through a picturesque
gorge till it reaches Damascus, whose many fountains and gardens it supplies liberally
with water. In the neighborhood of Damascus a number of streams branch off from
the parent river, and spread out like an opening fan on the surrounding plain.
The Barada, along with the streams which it feeds, loses itself in the marshes
of the Meadow Lakes about 18 miles East of the city.
The water of the Barada, though not perfectly wholesome in the city itself, is
for the most part clear and cool; its course is picturesque, and its value to
Damascus, as the source alike of fertility and of charm, is inestimable.
C. H. Thomson
Tags:
abana, abanah, barada, bible commentary, bible history, bible reference, bible study, chrysorrhoas, damascus, define, golden stream, river
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