“Hobah.” This site has not been located.

“north of Damascus.” The Hebrew is literally, “on the left hand.” In our Western culture, we ordinarily turn our maps to point north, and think of East as “to the right” of north. In the biblical culture, everyone thought of East as “straight ahead” because it was where the sun rose, and the sun was a blessing from God. So, for example, the Tabernacle and Temple had their entrances to the East. The Messiah is called, “the Rising Sun from on high” (Luke 1:78) because when he comes he will dispel these dark times. So the “left hand of Damascus is north of Damascus. It is important that the student of Scripture keep in mind that the biblical world was oriented to the East; it comes up in a number of verses.