Metheg-ammah

Metheg-ammah (meaning bridle of bondage or bridle of the mother city) appears in 2 Samuel 8:1, where David is said to have taken it from the Philistines — an event parallel to 1 Chronicles 18:1, which substitutes Gath and its villages. The term has been understood both as a place name (likely Gath, the major Philistine city) and as a more abstract expression denoting the key position or metropolis of Philistia. Most scholars identify Metheg-ammah with Gath and its surrounding dependent towns. David's capture of it ended Philistine control over key parts of the Shephelah.