Albert Barnes Commentary 2 Kings 19:12

Albert Barnes Commentary

2 Kings 19:12

1798–1870
Presbyterian
Albert Barnes
Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes Commentary

2 Kings 19:12

1798–1870
Presbyterian
SCRIPTURE

"Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden that were in Telassar?" — 2 Kings 19:12 (ASV)

Haran - Harran, the Carrhae of the Greeks and Romans (Genesis 11:31), was among the earliest conquests of the Assyrians. It was subject to them from the 12th century. Its conquest would have naturally followed that of Gozan (Gauzanitis, 2 Kings 17:6), which lay between it and Assyria proper.

Rezeph - This is probably the Rozappa of the Assyrian inscriptions, a city in the neighborhood of Haran.

The children of Eden - Or, “the Beni-Eden,” who appear from the Assyrian inscriptions to have inhabited the country on the east bank of the Euphrates, near the modern Balis. Here they had a city called Beth-Adina, which was taken by the Assyrians around 880 B.C. This is probably the “Eden” of the marginal reference.

Thelasar - Also known as Telassar, this was probably a city on the Euphrates near Beth-Adina, named after the god Asshur. The name would signify “the Hill of Asshur.”