Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Kings 17:24

"And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof." — 2 Kings 17:24 (ASV)

RE-PEOPLING OF THE LAND WITH ALIENS; THEIR WORSHIP DESCRIBED.

The king of Assyria. —Sargon (Sargîna), who actually records that in his first year (721 B.C.) he settled a body of conquered Babylonians in the land of Hatti or Syria. In another passage he speaks of locating certain Arab tribes, including those of Thamûd and Ephah, in the land of Beth-Omri; and in a third passage of his annals he says that he “removed the rest” of these Arab tribes, “and caused them to dwell in the city of Samerina” (Samaria).

This notice belongs to Sargon’s seventh year (715 B.C.). Kuthah and Sepharvaim were also towns in Babylonia. The former is called Kutie in the cuneiform inscriptions. It had a temple of Nergal and Laz, the ruins of which have been discovered at Tell-Ibrâhîm, north-east of Babylon.

Sepharvaim, in the cuneiform Sipar and Sippar, means “the two Sipars,” probably in allusion to the fact that the town was divided between the two deities Samas (the sun) and Anunitum, and bore the names of Sippar sa Samas (“Sippara of the Sun”) and Sippar sa Anunitum (“Sippara of Anunit”). Rassam discovered ruins of Èparra, the great sun-temple, at Abu Habba, south-west of Bagdad, on the east bank of the Euphrates.

Ava (Hebrew, Avvâ) may be the same as Ivah (Hebrew Iwwah) (2 Kings 18:34; 2 Kings 19:13).

Hamath. —Sargon has recorded his reduction, in 720 B.C., of Itu-bi-’di (or Yau-bi-’di), king of Hamath, and also his settling of colonists in Hamathite territory. It is, therefore, quite likely that he had, as usual, deported the conquered Hamathites and, in fact, settled some of them in Samaria, as this verse relates.

Placed them. —Hebrew, made them dwell, the very phrase used by Sargon himself in describing these arrangements (usesib). At a later period, Esarhaddon reinforced these colonists (Ezra 4:2).