Hobah

Ho'bah (Heb. Chobah', חוֹבָה, hiding-place; Sept.. Χοβά), a place to the northward of Damascus (לדִמֶּשֶׂק מַשּׂמאֹל, lit. on the left), whither Abraham pursued the kings who had taken Lot captive (Ge 14:15); perhaps the Chobai or Choba mentioned in the Apocrypha. (Χωβαϊv, Judith 15:4; Χωβά, 4:4). Eusebius (Onomast. s.v. Choba) confounds this place with Cocaba, the seat of the Ebionites in the 4th century; and Burckhardt- (Syria, p. 312) found a village called Kokab, probably the same, which, however, lies south of Damascus. This is apparently also the village Hoba, visited in the year 1666 by Ferd. von Troilo, who says, "It lies a quarter of a (German) mile north from the town, on the left hand. Near the city of Damascus is seen a large hill, where the patriarch Abraham overtook and defeated the army of the four kings. There formerly dwelt here a sect of Jews, converted to the (Christian) faith, who were called Ebionites; but at present the place is inhabited by a great number of Moors (Arabs) who have a mosque. In the neighborhood is a cave, in which the patriarch offered to the Divine Majesty his thanksgivings for the victory" (Travels, p. 584). On the other hand, Reland thinks of a castle called Caucab, mentioned by Edrisi as being on the lake of Tiberias (Palaest. p. 727). "Josephus mentions a tradition concerning Abraham which he takes from Nicolaus of Damascus: 'Abraham reigned at Damascus, being a foreigner… and his name is still famous in the country; and there is shown a village called from him The Habitation of Abraham (Ant. 1, 7, 2).' It is remarkable that in the village of Burzeh, three miles north of Damascus, there is a oely held in high veneration by the Mohammedans, and called after the name of the patriarch, Masjad Abraham, 'the prayer-place of Abraham.' The tradition attached to it is that here Abraham offered thanks to God after the total discomfiture of the Eastern kings. Behind the wely is a cleft in the rock, in which another tradition represents the patriarch as taking refuge on one occasion from the giant Nimrod. It is remarkable: that the word Hobah signifies 'a hiding-place.' (See: Ritter, Syria, 4:312; Wilson, Lands of Bible, 2, 331.) The Jews of Damascus affirm that the village of Jobar, not far from Burzeh, is the Hobah of Scripture. They have a synagogue there dedicated to Elijah, to which they make frequent pilgrimages (see Porter, Handbook for Syria and Palestine, p. 491, 492; Stanley, Jewish. Church, 1, 481)."