metheg-ammah Summary and Overview

bridle of the mother, a figurative name for a chief city, as in 2 Sam. 8:1, "David took Metheg-ammah out of the hand of the Philistines" (R.V., "took the bridle of the mother-city"); i.e., subdued their capital or strongest city, viz., Gath (1 Chr. 18:1).

(bridle of the metropolis), a place which David took from the Philistines, apparently in his last war with them. #2Sa 8:1| Ammah may be taken as meaning "mother-city" or "metropolis," comp. #2Sa 20:19| and Metheg-he-Ammah "the bridle of the mother-city" --viz. of Gath, the chief town of the Philistines.

ME'THEG-AM'MAH (curb of the metropolis). This word, in 2 Sam 8:1, is translated in the margin "the bridle of Ammah," and it may be rendered "the bridle or bit of the metropolis," meaning that David subdued the metropolis of the Philistines, probably Gath. Thus expressed, the passage corresponds closely with the parallel passage, 1 Chr 18:1: "Gath and her towns."

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.