12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar?
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Gozan. This place is mentioned in 2 Kings 17:6, and 18:11. We may infer that it was a town in Media, though some think that it was situated elsewhere; but it is enough that, with regard to Jerusalem, it lay in an easterly direction. Haran is often mentioned in Scripture. Pliny places this town in Arabia; but it is more generally believed to have been in Mesopotamia, and this is confirmed by the journeyings of Abraham, who came to it along with his father, after having left his native country Chaldaea. (Acts 7:24; Genesis 11:31.) It is called Charrae, in the plural number, by heathen historians, who also mention that Crassus and his son were killed there.
My fathers - My predecessors on the throne.
Gozan - This was a region or country in the northern part of Mesopotamia, and on the river Chaboras. There was a river of the name of Gozan in Media, which ran through the province, and gave it its name. The river fell probably into the Chaboras. This region is known to have been under the dominion of Assyria, for Shalmaneser, when he had subdued the ten tribes, carried them away beyond the Euphrates to a country bordering on the river Gozan 2-Kings 17:6. According to Gesenius, the river which is referred to, is the Chaboras itself. He translates the passage in 2-Kings 17:6, thus: 'And placed them in Chaleitis (Halah), and on the Chabor (Habor), a river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.' According to this, the river was the Chaboras, the Chabor of Ezekiel, and the region was situated on the Chaboras. This river falls into the Euphrates from the east. Ptolemy calls the region lying between the Chaboras and Laocoras by the name of Gauzanitis, which is doubtless the same as the Hebrew Gozan. Gozan is usually mentioned in connection with cities of Mesopotamia 2-Kings 19:12; 1-Chronicles 5:26.
And Haran - This was a city of Mesopotamia, to which Abraham went after he left Ur of the Chaldees. His father died here; and from this place he was called to go into the land of promise (Genesis 11:31-32; compare the notes at Acts 7:4). It is now called Harran, and is situated in latitude 36 degree 52 minutes north; longitude 39 degrees 5 minutes east, in a flat and sandy plain, and is only populated by a few wandering Arabs, who select it as the place of residence on account of the delicious waters it contains. It belonged by conquest to the Assyrian Empire.
And Rezeph - According to Abulfeda, there were many towns of this name. One, however, was more celebrated than the others, and is probably the one here referred to. It was situated about a day's journey west of the Euphrates, and is mentioned by Ptolemy by the name of Ῥησαφα Rēsapha (Resapha).
And the children of Eden - Eden was evidently a country well known in the time of Isaiah, and was, doubtless, the tract within which man was placed when he was created. The garden or Paradise was in Eden, and was not properly itself called Eden Genesis 2:8. It is probable that Eden was a region or tract of country of considerable extent. Its situation has been a subject of anxious inquiry. It is not proper here to go into an examination of this subject. It is evident from the passage before us that it was either in Mesopotamia, or in the neighborhood of that country, since it is mentioned in connection with cities and towns of that region. It is mentioned by Amos (787 b.c.), as a country then well known, and as a part of Syria, not far from Damascus:
I will break also the bar of Damascus,
And cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven,
And him that holdeth the scepter from the house of Eden,
And the people of Syria shall go into captivity to Kir,
Saith the Lord.
Amos 1:5.
In Isaiah 51:8, Eden is referred to as a country well known, and as distinguished for its fertility:
For Yahweh shall comfort Zion;
He will comfort all her waste places,
And he will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert like the garden of Yahweh.
Thus also in Ezekiel 27:23, we find Eden mentioned in connection with Haran and Canneh. Canneh was probably the same as Calneh Genesis 10:10, the Calno of Isaiah Isaiah 10:9, and was, doubtless, situated in Mesopotamia, since it is joined with cities that are known to have been there (compare also Ezekiel 31:9, Ezekiel 31:16, Ezekiel 31:18). All these passages demonstrate that there was such a country, and prove also that it was either in Mesopotamia, or in a country adjacent to Mesopotamia. It is not, however, possible now to designate its exact boundaries.
In Telassar - This place is nowhere else mentioned in the Scriptures. Nothing, therefore, is known of its situation. The connection demands that it should be in Mesopotamia. The names of ancient places were so often lost or changed that it is often impossible to fix their exact locality.
As Gozan, and Haran - חרן Charan: but הרן Haran is the reading of four of Kennicott's MSS. and one of De Rossi's.
Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, [as] (i) Gozan, and (k) Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden who [were] in Telassar?
(i) Which was a city of the Medes.
(k) Called also Charre a city in Mesopotamia, from which Abraham came after his fathers death.
Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed,.... They have not. But what then? is the God of Israel to be put upon a level with such dunghill gods? so Sennacherib reckoned him, as Rabshakeh before, in his name, Isaiah 36:18,
as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden, which were in Telassar. Gozan was the same, it may be, with the Gausanitis of Ptolemy (z) which he makes mention of in his description of Mesopotamia; and the rather, since Haran or Chapman was a city of Mesopotamia, Genesis 11:31 called by Ptolemy by the name of Carrae (a); and who also, in the same place, makes mention of Rezeph, under the name of Rhescipha; though he likewise speaks of another place in Palmyrene in Syria, called Rhaesapha (b), which some think to be the place here intended. Eden was also in Mesopotamia, in the eastern part of which was the garden of Eden; and this Telassar, inhabited by the children of Eden, was a city in that country, which is by Ptolemy (c) called Thelda; though Hillerus (d) is of opinion that the city Thalatha is meant, which is placed (e) near the river Tigris, a river of paradise. A very learned (f) men is of opinion, that the Eden, Isaiah here speaks of, belongs either to Syria of Damascus, and to the Lebanon and Paneas from whence Jordan arose; or to Syro-Phoenicia, and the Mediterranean sea, which the name Thalassar shows, as if it was the Syrians being used to derive not a few of their words from the Greeks: and certain it is, that there is now a village called Eden on Mount Lebanon, which Thevenot (g) mentions; and another, near Damascus, Mr. Maundrell (h) speaks of; see Amos 1:5 and Tyre in Phoenicia is called Eden, Ezekiel 28:13.
(z) Geograph, l. 5. c. 18. (a) Ibid. (b) Ibid. c. 15. (c) lbid. c. 18. (d) Onomast. Sacr. p. 945. (e) Geograph. l. 5. c. 20. (f) Nichol. Abrami Pharus Vet. Test. l. 2. c. 16. p. 57. (g) Travels, part 1. B. 2. ch. 60. p. 221. (h) Journey from Aleppo, p. 119, 120. Ed. 7th.
Gozan--in Mesopotamia, on the Chabour (2-Kings 17:6; 2-Kings 18:11). Gozan is the name of the district, Chabour of the river.
Haran--more to the west. Abraham removed to it from Ur (Genesis 11:31); the Carroe of the Romans.
Rezeph--farther west, in Syria.
Eden--There is an ancient village, Adna, north of Baghdad. Some think Eden to be the name of a region (of Mesopotamia or its vicinity) in which was Paradise; Paradise was not Eden itself (Genesis 2:8). "A garden in Eden."
Telassar--now Tel-afer, west of Mosul [LAYARD]. Tel means a "hill" in Arabic and Assyrian names.
*More commentary available at chapter level.