2 Kings 18:34

2Ki 18:34 Where [are] the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where [are] the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand?

Ver. 34. Where are the gods?] Os ferreum! This is a most insolent insultation, and might well become an Aiax flagellifer, who knew no god but his own weapons.

Have they delivered?] i.e., Have the gods of Samaria?

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ki 18:34-35. Where are the gods of Hamath and of Arpad? — These were cities or countries which the kings of Assyria had conquered, as were the other places here mentioned. And therefore Rab-shakeh argued that the gods of Assyria were more powerful than the gods of any other nation. Who are they, among all the gods of the countries, &c. — He desires them to produce an instance of one god that had been able to save his country, when his master invaded it. And by this he endeavours to persuade them, that it would be their wisdom to deliver up their city to him, insomuch as their God would not be able to preserve it, unless he could do more than any other god had done; which he concluded was unlikely.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 34. Where are the gods of Hamath] Sennacherib is greater than any of the gods of the nations. The Assyrians have already overthrown the gods of Hamath, Arpad, Hena, and Ivah; therefore, Jehovah shall be like one of them, and shall not be able to deliver Jerusalem out of the hand of my master.

The impudent blasphemy of this speech is without parallel. Hezekiah treated it as he ought: it was not properly against him, but against the LORD; therefore he refers the matter to Jehovah himself, who punishes this blasphemy in the most signal manner.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(34) Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad?—Sargon, Sennacherib’s father, had reduced these two cities. The reference to “my fathers” in 2Ki_19:12, and the use of the general term, “the king of Assyria” (2Ki_18:33), are against Schrader’s supposition that the historian has confused the campaigns of Sargon with those of Sennacherib. (Comp. 2Ki_17:24; 2Ki_17:30.) Sargon has recorded that Ya-u-bi-h-di, king of the Hamathites, induced Arpad, Simyra, Damascus, and Samaria to join his revolt against Assyria. The confederacy was defeated at Qarqar, and Yahubihdi taken and flayed alive (B.C. 720).

Arpad.—Tell-Erfâd, about ten miles north of Aleppo. The question, “Where are the gods?” &c, may imply that they had been annihilated along with their temples and statues. (Comp. Job_14:10.) Sometimes, indeed, the Assyrians carried off the idols of conquered nations, but this need not have been an invariable practice, and Isa_10:11 seems to imply that they were sometimes destroyed, as was likely to be the case when a city was taken by storm, and committed to the flames.

Sepharvaim.—See on 2Ki_17:24. This city revolted with Babylon against Sargon at the beginning of his reign. No account of its fall has been preserved.

Hena, and Ivah.—These names do not occur in Isaiah, and are wholly unknown. The words look like two Hebrew verbs (“He hath caused to wander, and overturned”), as at present vocalised; and the Targum translates them as a question: “Have they not made them wander, and carried them away?” Hoffmann thinks the two words are really one (the niphal participle of ‘av’av), and should be rendered as an epithet of Sepharvaim, “the utterly perverted;” a nickname given it by the Assyrians, because of its follyin revolting again after its former subjugation. But the mention of Ava and the Avites (2Ki_17:24; 2Ki_17:31) is in favour of the same proper name here, and the LXX., Syriac, Arabic, and Vulg. agree with this. (The Syriac reads Avva, as in chap. 7:24.)

Have they delivered Samaria . . .?—Rather, How much less have they (i.e., its gods) delivered Samaria out of mine hand! So Ewald, Gram., § 256. The Syriac, Vulg., and Arabic render as the Authorised Version. Perhaps the original reading was not kȋ; but hakî: “Is it the case that they have delivered?” &c. (Job_6:22).

Out of mine hand?—Sennacherib speaks as if he were one with his father, a circumstance which lends some support to the suggestion of Schrader, that the successive Assyrian invasions were not kept quite distinct in the Hebrew tradition. If so, the year 714 B.C. , assigned as the date of the present expedition (2Ki_18:13), may really be that of an earlier expedition under Sargon, who, in fact, invaded the West in 720, 715, and 711 (or 709) B.C.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

34. gods of Hamath, and of Arpad] Of Hamath, see above on 2Ki_17:24. Arpad is always spoken of in connexion with Hamath, but the site of the place has not been determined, nor any trace of the name found except in the Bible (2Ki_19:13; Jer_49:23; Isa_10:9; Isa_36:19; Isa_37:13). In the two last-named places A.V. writes the word Arphad, and the same spelling is found 2Es_9:26 as a various reading for Ardath. From the passage in Jeremiah above quoted it is manifest that like Hamath, it belonged to Damascus, for it is included in the prophecy concerning that city. The chief god of Damascus was Rimmon.

the gods of Sepharvaim] See above, on 2Ki_17:31.

Hena] The LXX. represents the name by Ἀνὰ. From the combination of the gods of Sepharvaim with those of the other two places here mentioned, we should gather that the worship in all three was the same. This gives support to the conjecture which identifies Hena with Ana, a city not far from Sepharvaim. Other opinions favour the identification of the place with Anat, an island in the Euphrates, near its union with the Khabour. This also would be not very remote from Sepharvaim.

and Ivah] R.V. Ivvah. This place is supposed to be the same with Ava (R.V. Avvah) in 2Ki_17:24 above, where see note. If it be identified, as has been suggested, with Ahava, all the three places lie close together. ‘Hena’ and ‘Ivah’ are omitted from the parallel passage in Isaiah.

have they delivered Samaria] Among the gods of the countries, the gods of Samaria have been in Rab-shakeh’s thoughts though he has not expressly spoken of them. But here, as if he had done so, he asks: Have they delivered Samaria?

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Arpad was situated somewhere in southern Syria; but it is impossible to fix its exact position. Sargon mentions it in an inscription as joining with Hamath in an act of rebellion, which he chastised. It was probably the capture and destruction of these two cities on this occasion which caused them to be mentioned together here (and in 2Ki 19:13, and again in Isa 10:9). Sennacherib adduces late examples of the inability of the nations’ gods to protect their cities. On the other cities mentioned in this verse, see 2Ki 17:24 notes.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Emath, Emesa. --- Arphad, or Arad, an island and city on the continent, (Calmet) near Tyre. --- Of Ana, &c. , "of," is not expressed in the Vulgate, (Haydock) and it may be explained as if Ana and Ava were idols of Sepharvaim. (Menochius) --- But they are commonly supposed to be cities. (Haydock) --- Ana is probably a city (Du Hamel) built on both sides of the Euphrates, four days’ journey from Bagdat. Isaias does not specify these cities in the parallel passage, but they are found in the letter addressed to Ezechias, Isaias xxxvii. 13. --- Samaria, or the inhabitants who had come from distant parts, and had perhaps revolted. We do not however find the Sennacherib had conquered them, nor does the pretend that all these conquests were made by himself. (Calmet) --- He gives part of the honour to his ancestors, chap. xix. 12., and 2 Paralipomenon xxxii. 13. But he asserts that all the gods of the respective countries of Samaria, &c., had yielded to his superior force. (Haydock) --- Strange infatuation in a man who looked upon the idols as gods! They are in effect nothing, 1 Corinthians viii. 4. But as their votaries were of a different persuasion, ought they not to have acted and spoken consistently? Yet Suetonius (Caius, c. 5.) informs us, that "on the day when Germanicus died, the temples were stoned, the altars of the gods overturned, the domestic lares thrown out by some into the open air;" all to express their grief and indignation at the gods, for not preserving his life. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Hamath and Arpad; of which see Jer 49:23.

Sepharvaim; of which see 2Ki 17:21.

Hena and Ivah; the names, either,

1. Of idol gods. But why should only these two be named, and not the gods of the other places here mentioned? Or rather,

2. Of cities or countries, as is manifest from 2Ki 19:13, where those words are repeated among other places, whose kings are there mentioned, and where they are rendered, of Hena and Ivah, as they should be here also, the words in the Hebrew being the very same.

Have they delivered Samaria? i.e.

1. Either the gods here mentioned, which, together with other idols, were worshipped in Samaria. Or,

2. Their gods; which is easily understood from the foregoing words.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

34. On Hamath, Sepharvaim, and Ivah, see notes on 2Ki_17:24. From the frequent association of Arpad with Hamath (2Ki_19:13; Isa_10:9; Isa_36:19; Isa_37:13; Jer_49:23) it is probable that it was not far from that city, and is, perhaps, identical with Arfad in Northern Syria. The site of Hena has not been identified with certainty. It is usually supposed to have been in Mesopotamia. Some find it in a town on the Euphrates called Anah, and the Assyrian inscriptions mention a town called Anat, on an island in the Euphrates.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? Hamath and Arpad had been recently conquered (about B.C. 720) by Sargon (see the "Epouym Canon," pp. 126-128). Of the latter city but little is known, net even its site. We find it generally connected with Damascus (Jer_49:23; "Eponym Canon," pp. 68, 126) and Hamath, (2Ki_19:13; Isa_10:9 Isa_36:19 Isa_37:13; Jer_49:23; "Eponym Canon," p. 126) and may conjecture that it lay between them, either in Coele-Syria or in the Anti-Libanus. (On Hamath, see the commentary upon 2Ki_14:25; and for its special god, Ashima, see that on 2Ki_17:30) Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hens, and Ivah? . (On the cities and gods of Sepharvaim and Ivah (or Ava), see the comment on 2Ki_17:24, 2Ki_17:31) "Hena," mentioned always with Sepharvaim and Ivah (2Ki_19:13; Isa_38:13) is probably Allah on the Euphrates, about seventy miles above Hit (Ivah). Nothing is known of its gods. Probably Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah had rebelled in conjunction, and been reconquered at no distant date. Sargon mentions in his annals that he besieged and took Sepharvaim (Sippara) in his twelfth year (B.C. 710). Have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand? There is probably some compression of the original narrative here. The meaning is, "Have they delivered their several cities, or has the god of Samaria delivered his city out of my hand?" No god had hitherto delivered any city which the Assyrians had attacked.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He exiled them and twisted them. The King of Ashur, destroyed them and exiled them.

Did they save Shomron. And the inhabitants of Shomron worshiped the gods of the Aromeans, who were their neighbors.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.