13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?'"
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The king of Hamath - (See the note at Isaiah 36:19).
Hena and Ivah - Hena is mentioned in 2-Kings 18:34; 2-Kings 19:13. It was evidently in Mesopotamia, and was probably the same which was afterward called Ana, situated near a ford of the Euphrates. The situation of Ivah is not certainly known. It was under the Assyrian dominion, and was one of the places from which colonists were brought to Samaria 2-Kings 17:24, 2-Kings 17:31. Michaelis supposes that it was between Berytus and Tripoli, but was under the dominion of the Assyrians.
Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim,.... The same, as some think, with the gods or idols of those places; see Gill on Isaiah 36:19; though it may be the princes that ruled over those cities are meant, who were either slain, or become tributary to the king of Assyria. It is added,
Henah and Ivah: which some take to be the names of the gods or kings of Sepharvaim; but rather, since Sepharvaim is of the dual number, it was a double city, the river Euphrates passing between them; and these, as Musculus conjectures, were the names of them; or it may be, these were distinct cities from that, but what or where they were is not certain. Ptolemy makes mention of a place called Ingine, near Gausanitis or Gozan, supposed to be Henah; though others rather think it to be Ange, which he places in Arabia (i), which I think is not so probable. Ivah perhaps is the same with Avah, in 2-Kings 17:24. The Targum does not take them for names or places, but translates them,
"hath he not removed them, and carried them captive?''
and so Jarchi's note is,
"the king of Assyria hath moved and overthrown them, and destroyed them, and removed them out of their place;''
referring to the other cities.
(i) Geograph. l. 6. c. 7.
Hena . . . Ivah--in Babylonia. From Ava colonists had been brought to Samaria (2-Kings 17:24).
*More commentary available at chapter level.