Helam

Helam was the staging ground in Transjordan where the great Aramean coalition under Hadadezer king of Zobah mustered after the Ammonites had hired them to attack David (2 Samuel 10:16-19, 1 Chronicles 19:16-19). When the Arameans drew up in battle array, David himself crossed the Jordan with all Israel and met them at Helam. Israel struck them down, killing the men of seven hundred chariots and forty thousand horsemen — and Shobach the commander of Hadadezer's army died on the field. The defeat broke Aramean military power east of the Jordan and led directly to the surrender of all Hadadezer's vassal kings, who made peace with David and served him from then on. The location of Helam is uncertain but lay east of the Jordan in the open plain between the Yarmuk and the Jabbok, well-positioned for chariot warfare. The site is sometimes connected with Alma south of Damascus.