John Gill Commentary 2 Kings 17:31

"and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burnt their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim." — 2 Kings 17:31 (ASV)

And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak The former of which is represented by the Jews in the shape of a dog, deriving the word from "nabach", to bark, as if it was the same with the Anubis Latrator of Virgil ^F2 , an Egyptian deity; though that is said ^F3 to have its name from NO(e) (b) , which in the Egyptian language signifies "gold", the statutes of it being made of gold; and the latter in the form of an ass, for what reason I cannot say.

But the first word, according to Hillerus ^F4 , signifies, "the remote one seeth", that is, the sun, which beholds all things; and Tartak is a chain, and may denote the fixed stars chained as it were in their places; or the satellites of the planets, chained to their orbs:

and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and to Anammelech the gods of Sepharvaim ; which were the same with Moloch; which may be concluded, partly from the worship paid them, and partly from the signification of their names; both end with "melech", king, which Moloch also signifies; the first may be interpreted the mighty king, and the latter the king that answers in an oracular way; from the first, one of the sons of Sennacherib king of Assyria had his name, (Isaiah 37:36) ,

though the Jews, according to their fancy, represent the one in the likeness of a mule, and the other in the likeness of a horse; and some make the one to be a peacock, and the other a pheasant ^F5 ; the Septuagint version puts the article before them in the feminine gender, excepting the two last, taking them for she deities, or leaving the word (eikona) , "images", to be understood.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F2: Aeneid. l. 6. So Ovid. Metamorph. l. 9. Fab. 12. ver. 689.
• F3: Jablonski apud Michael. Obs. Sacr. Exercit. 4. p. 66, 67.
• F4: Ut supra, (Onomast. Sacr.) p. 606.
• F5: Vid. Kimchium in loc.