And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes:
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Interpretation
The descent Sennacherib made upon Judah, was a great calamity to that kingdom, by which God would try the faith of Hezekiah, and chastise the people. The secret dislike, the hypocrisy, and lukewarmness of numbers, require correction; such trials purify the faith and hope of the upright, and bring them to simple dependence on God.
Read with
This thought runs through 2 Kings 18:9-12.
Glossary
- Assyria Place
- Biblical region. Modern identification: Nineveh.
- Gozan Place
- A region in Central Asia to which the Israelites were carried away captive ( 2 Kings 17:6 ; 1 Chr. 5:26 ; 2 Kings 19:12 ; Isa. 37:12 ). Modern identification: Tell Halaf.
- Habor Place
- The united stream, or, according to others, with beautiful banks, the name of a river in Assyria, and also of the district through which it flowed ( 1 Chr. 5:26 ). Modern identification: Khabur River.
- Halah Place
- A district of Media to which captive Israelites were transported by the Assyrian kings ( 2 Kings 17:6 ; 18:11 ; 1 Chr. 5:26 ). It lay along the banks of the upper Khabur, from its source to its junction with the Jerujer. Modern identification: Al Abbasiyah.