Isaiah 37:12

Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar? GOZAN - in Mesopotamia, on the Chabour (; ). Gozan is the name of the district, Chabour of the river. HARAN - more to the west. Abraham removed to it from Ur (), the Carroe of the Romans. REZEPH - further west, in Syria. EDEN - there is an ancient village, Adna, north of Bagdad. Some think Eden to be the name of a region (of Mesopotamia or its vicinity) in which was Paradise; Paradise was not Eden itself (, 'a g...

12._Gozan. _This place is mentioned in 2 Kings 17:6. We may infer that it was a town in Media, though some think that it was situated elsewhere; but it is enough that, with regard to Jerusalem, it lay in an easterly direction. _Haran _is often mentioned in Scripture. Pliny places this town in Arabia; but it is more generally believed to have been in Mesopotamia, and this is confirmed by the journeyings of Abraham, who came to it along with his father, after having left his native country Chaldaea. (Acts 7:24; Genesis 11:31.) It is called Charrae, in the plural number, by heathen historians, who also mention that Crassus and his son were killed there....

Verse Isaiah 37:12. AS _GOZAN, AND HARAN_] חרן _Charan_: but הרן _Haran_ is the reading of _four_ of _Kennicott's_ MSS. and _one_ of _De_ _Rossi's_....

MY FATHERS - My predecessors on the throne. GOZAN - This was a region or country in the northern part of Mesopotamia, and on the river Chaboras. There was a river of the name of Gozan in Media, which ran through the province, and gave it its name. The river fell probably into the Chaboras. This region is known to have been under the dominion of Assyria, for Shalmaneser, when he had subdued the ten tribes, carried them away beyond the Euphrates to a country bordering on the river Gozan 2 Kings 17:6. According to Gesenius, the river which is referred to, is the Chaboras itself. He translates the passage in 2 Kings 17:6, thus: ‘And placed them in Chaleitis (Halah), and on the Chabor (Habor), a river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes

EXPOSITION This chapter is the sequel of the preceding, and is so closely connected with it that the two really constitute but one narrative. Isaiah 37:22 of Isaiah 36:1. is more closely connected with Isaiah 37:1, than with the position of the narrative to which it is attached. ISAIAH 37:1 WHEN KING HEZEKIAH HEARD IT; rather, _heard them_;_ i.e._ the "words of Rabshakeh," which his officials reported to him. HE RENT HIS CLOTHES. He did as they had done (Isaiah 36:22

HAVE THE GODS OF THE NATIONS DELIVERED THEM WHICH MY FATHERS HAVE DESTROYED,.... They have not. But what then? is the God of Israel to be put upon a level with such dunghill gods? so Sennacherib reckoned him, as Rabshakeh before, in his name, Isaiah 36:18: AS GOZAN, AND HARAN, AND REZEPH, AND THE CHILDREN OF EDEN, WHICH WERE IN TELASSAR. Gozan was the same, it may be, with the Gausanitis of Ptolemy z which he makes mention of in his description of Mesopotamia; and the rather, since Haran or Chapman was a city of Mesopotamia, Genesis 11:31 called by Ptolemy by the name of Carrae a; and who also, in the same place, makes mention of Rezeph, under the name of Rhescipha; though he likewise speaks of another place in Palmyrene in Syria, called Rhaesapha b, which some think to be the place her

CHAPTER 37 Hezekiah in the House of the Lord and Sennacherib's Second Attempt 1. _Hezekiah's humiliation and Isaiah sent for (Isaiah 37:1)_ 2. _The message from the prophet (Isaiah 37:6)_ 3. _Rabshakeh's letter (Isaiah 37:8)_ 4. _Hezekiah's prayer (Isaiah 37:14)_ 5. _The prayer answered (Isaiah 37:21)_ 6. _The army of Sennacherib judged (Isaiah 37:36)_ 7. The judgment upon Sennacherib ...

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

GOZAN, &C. These places are all in Mesopotamia. and Bezeph. The Hebrew pointing connects this with the next clause. CHILDREN. sons....

Sennacherib's letter to Hezekiah. It is in substance a repetition of the chief argument of the Rabshakeh, with the unimportant modification that Hezekiah is here regarded as deceived by his God, while the Rabshakeh chose to represent him as a deceiver of his people....