2 Chronicles 8:4

Tadmor in the wilderness Palmyra (Bädeker, p. 364) is meant, a city on an oasis N.E. of Damascus half way between Damascus and the Euphrates. Apart from this passage of Chron. it first appears in history in b.c. 34, when it was threatened with attack by Mark Antony. This silence of history for a thousand years casts a doubt on the belief that Tadmor (Palmyra) is as old as the time of Solomon, and the doubt is strengthened by a reference to the parallel passage (1 Kings 9:18), for there (1) the text (C'thib) has "Tamar," with "Tadmor" as marginal reading (K'ri), and (2) Tamar (Tadmor) is associated with Gezer, Bethhoron, and Baalath, cities either in Judah or on its borders. Probably therefore the marginal reading Tadmor in 1 Kin. is due to the influence of 2 Chr., and the text of 1 Kin. ("Tamar") is correct. The city built by Solomon was probably a Tamar in the south of Judah.