Isaiah Chapter 37 verse 12 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 12. - My fathers. The Assyrian monarchs call all those who have preceded them upon the throne their "fathers," without intending to claim any blood-relation-ship. Sargon, Sennacherib's father, though a usurper and the first king of a new dynasty, frequently speaks of "the kings his fathers" ('Records of the Past,' ch. 7. pp. 39, 51, etc.). Gozan... Haran ... Rezeph... Telassar. "Gozan" is, beyond all doubt, the region known to the Greeks as Gauzanitis, which was the eastern portion of Upper Mesopotamia, or the country about the sources of the Khabour river. The Assyrian conquest of this tract is indicated by the settlement of the Israelites in the region (2 Kings 17:6; 2 Kings 18:11; 1 Chronicles 5:26). "Harsh" is the well-known "city of Nahor" (Genesis 24:10), called in Acts 7:2 "Charran," and by the Greeks and Romans, Carrhae. It has now recovered its old designation, and is known as Hurrah. "Rezeph" was in the neighborhood of Haran, and is mentioned as belonging to Assyria as early as B.C. 775 ('Eponym Canon,' p. 82). It had probably revolted and been reduced at a later date. "Telassar," "the Hill of Asshur," is not mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions, but was probably the Assyrian name of a town on or near the Euphrates, in the country of the Bent-Eden, which was not far from Carche-mish (see 'Records of the Past,' ch. 3. pp. 90-92). The children of Eden. The Assyrian inscriptions mention a "Bit-Adini" (comp. Amos 1:5), and a chief who is called "the son of Adini;" both belonging to the Middle Euphrates region. The "children of Eden" (Beni-Eden) were probably the people of the tract about Bit-Adini.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(12) Gozan . . .--The induction drawn from the enumeration of conquered nations is continued. Strictly speaking, Sargon, the father of Sennacherib, was the founder of a new dynasty; but the "fathers" are, as commonly in the formulae of Eastern kings, the predecessors of the reigning king. The position of Gozan is defined by 2Kings 17:6 as being on the Habor, or Khab-r, which flows into the Tigris from the east, above Mosul. Haran is probably identical with Abraham's resting-place (Genesis 11:31), and the Charran of Josephus and St. Stephen's speech (Acts 7:4). "Rezeph" is identified with the Rhesepher of Ptolemy (Isaiah 5:13; Isaiah 5:6) below Thapeacus, between the 'Euphrates and Tadmor (= Palmyra). Telassar is probably an altered form of Tel-Assur (the hill of Assur), and was probably a new name given to a conquered city, after the manner in which Shalmaneser records that he gave names to cities that he had taken belonging to Akhuni, the son of Adini (Records of the Past, iii. 87, v. 30). In the patronymic we may trace the sons of Eden of this verse. In Amos 1:5 we have a Beth-Eden named as connected with Damascus; and in Ezekiel 27:23 an "Eden" connected with Haran and Asshur, as carrying on traffic with Tyre. The latter is probably identical with that named by Sennacherib. . . .