Isaiah 36:19

Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? HAMATH AND ARPHAD - (note .) SEPHARVAIM - literally, the two scribes. The came as Sipphara, on the east of Euphrates, above Babylon, near the modern Mosaib. Berosus ('Fragm. Hist. Gr.,' 2: 501; 4: 280) mentions Sippara as the place where Xithrus (Noah) buried the records of the antediluvian world at the time of the deluge, whence his posterity afterward recovered them. The dual form refers to there being two Sipparas, one on either side of the river. The inscriptions call it Tsipar sha shamas, 'Sippara of the sun. 'Adrammelech and Anamelech, the gods of Sepharvaim' (), answer to the male, or active and the female, or passive powers of t...

19._Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? _It is supposed that _Hamath _was Antioch in Syria, that _Arpad _was that city from which colonies were brought to Damascus, and that _Sepharvaim _was a city situated in the country of Damascus. If this be true, Rabshakeh mentions the ancient names of cities, from which many nations had formerly come, and which afterwards lost not only their celebrity, but likewise their distinctive names, and aims at producing in them greater alarm, by reminding them of so great revolutions. However that may be, he mentions chiefly the neighboring cities, the destruction of which might affect them more deeply on account of their being better known to the Jews. And I have no doubt that these places belonged to Syria and Israel; as if he had said, “Look at these two kingdoms subdued, which were presided over by their gods as their guardians. Will your God resist...

Verse Isaiah 36:19. _WHERE ARE THE GODS_] Many MSS. add the conjunction here also: _And_, or _But, where_ are _the gods_, c. For other matters relative to this chapter, 2 Kings 18:13, c. _OF SEPHARVAIM_] The other copy, 2 Kings 18:34, adds, of "Henah and Ivah." _HAVE THEY DELIVERED_] וכי _vechi_. The copulative is not expressed here by the _Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate_, and _three_ MSS. nor is it in any other copy. Ib. Houbigant reads הכי _hachi_, with the interrogative particle; a probable conjecture, which the ancient Versions above quoted seem to favour....

WHERE ARE THE GODS OF HAMATH ... - In regard to these places, see the notes at Isaiah 10:9. WHERE ARE THE GODS OF SEPHARVAIM? - Sepharvaim was probably in Mesopotamia. Ptolemy mentions a city there of the name of Sipphara, as the most southern city of Mesopotamia, which is probably the same. It is evident that it was in the vicinity of Hamath and Arphad, and these are known to have been in Mesopotamia. When Shalmaneser carried Israel away captive from Samaria, he sent colonies of people into Palestine in their stead, among whom were the Sepharvaim 2 Kings 17:24, 2 Kings 17:31. And have they delivered Samari

PART II. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF EVENTS IN THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH (CH. 36-39.). SECTION I. SENNACHERIB'S ATTEMPTS TO REDUCE JUDAEA, AND HIS OVERTHROW (Isaiah 36:1; Isaiah 37:1.). EXPOSITION IF the Book of Isaiah be regarded as the result of a gradual accretion (see the General Introduction), whether that accretion is to be ascribed to the action of the prophet himself or to that of later editors, we may equally consi

WHERE ARE THE GODS OF HAMATH AND ARPHAD?.... What is become of them? where are they to be found? where's their power to protect and defend the people they presided over? thus they might be justly derided, but not so the God at Israel; these places are mentioned in Isaiah 10:9. Hamath was a city in Syria, thought by some to be the same afterwards called Antiochia and Epiphania, from Antiochus Epiphanes: Arphad is joined with it in Jeremiah 49:23 as a city of Syria; perhaps originally founded and inhabited by the Arvadite, mentioned with the Hamathite, in Genesis 10:18: WHERE ARE THE GODS OF SEPHARVAIM? another place in Syria, the city Sipphore; not the Sipphara of Ptolemy n, in Mesopotamia

THE HISTORICAL PARENTHESIS (36-39) The center of the book of Isaiah is a brief but deeply interesting historical account of events during the reign of King Hezekiah. His name is mentioned not less than thirty-one times in these Chapter s. His great works in reformation and otherwise are recorded in 2 Kings 18:4, 2 Chronicles 29:1; 2Ch 30:5-22, 2 Kings 20:20. From Proverbs 25:1 we learn that he was a great lover of the Word of God, for he had it copied, perhaps by many scribes. He was 25 years old when he ascended the throne and reigned 29 years, 727-699 B.C. No doubt he was one of the greatest kings of Judah. T

ISAIAH 36-39. This section has been extracted from 2 Kings 18:13 to 2 Kings 20:19, and the Song of Hezekiah has been added. For an exposition see the notes on 2 K.; here we have simply to deal with the Song of Hezekiah. ISAIAH 38:10. THANKSGIVING FOR DELIVERANCE FROM IMMINENT DEATH. This is now generally regarded as a post-exilic psalm. Its absence in the parallel narratine in Kings is significant. Apparently it was inserted here by an editor who thought it suitable to Hezekiah's circumstances. If, as seems likely, it has been influenced by the Book of Job, it must be post-exilic. The title cannot, any more than the Psalm titles, weigh against internal evidence. Hezekiah's writing after his recov

WHERE: or, Why, where. Some codices, with two early printed editions, read "Where then"....

The Rabshakeh's appeal to the people....