Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 16:9
And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried [the people of] it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.
9. the king of Assyria went up against Damascus ] In the Assyrian records it appears that Tiglath-pileser went first against Damascus in b. c. 733, but not being successful came again next year and then reduced the city. (Schrader, p. 152.) Cf. Amo 1:3-5.
the people of it captive ] See above on 2Ki 15:29.
to Kir ] The LXX. does not represent these words, and we have no certain data to guide us to the locality intended. Isaiah, who lived close amid all these events, places Elam and Kir in close conjunction (2Ki 22:6). Elam was in lower Mesopotamia, Kir was therefore most likely in the same district. Rawlinson suggests that it is a variant for Kish or Cush (Susiana) which was just on the south of Elam.
and slew Rezin ] Thus making himself entire master of Syria. Hence, as we see immediately, Tiglath-pileser appears to have stayed some time in Damascus.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The submission of Judah, which Ahaz proffered, would be of the utmost importance in connection with any projects that might be entertained of Egyptian conquests. Naturally, Damascus was the first object of attack. It was the head of the confederacy, and it lay nearest to an army descending upon Lower Syria, as all Asiatic armies would descend, from the north. It appears from an inscription of Tiglath-pilesers, that Rezin met him in the field, was defeated, and slain. An attack upon Pekah followed. Now probably it was that the entire trans-Jordanic region was overrun: and that the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, were carried into captivity 1Ch 5:26. Megiddo and Dor appear also to have been occupied, and the Arabs of the south chastised. Tiglathpileser then returned to Damascus, where a son of Rezin had assumed the crown; he besieged and took the city, and punished Rezins son with death. Tiglath-pileser appears by one of his inscriptions to have held a court at Damascus, to which it is probable that the tributary kings of the neighborhood were summoned to pay their tributes and do homage for their kingdoms. Among the tributes brought to him at this time, those of Judaea, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Gaza, Ascalon, and Tyre, are mentioned.
Kir – Kir is mentioned by Amos Amo 9:7 as the country from which the Syrians came. It is joined by Isaiah Isa 22:6 with Elam or Elymais. Its position can only be conjectured. Perhaps the word designates a region adjoining Elymais, in the extreme southeastern limits of Assyria.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 9. The king of Assyria hearkened unto him] It is said, 2Ch 28:20, that Tilgath-pilneser distressed him, but strengthened him not. Though he came against the Syrians, and took Damascus, and slew Rezin, yet he did not help Ahaz against the Philistines, nor did he lend him any forces to assist against Israel; and he distressed him by taking the royal treasures, and the treasures of the temple, and did him little service for so great a sacrifice. He helped him a little, but distressed him on the whole.
It appears that, about this time, Pekah king of Israel nearly ruined Judea: it is said, 2Ch 28:6, that he slew one hundred thousand valiant men in one day; and that he carried away captive to Samaria two hundred thousand women and children, and much spoil; but, at the instance of the prophet Oded, these were all sent back, fed and clothed, 2Ch 28:8-16.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Against Damascus, the metropolis of the Syrians, and the head of that kingdom, Isa 7:8; as was prophesied, Amo 1:5.
Kir; not Kir of Moab, Isa 15:1, but a part of Media, which then was subject to the king of Assyria.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him,…. Complied with his request:
for the king of Syria went up against Damascus, and took it; the metropolis of the kingdom of Syria, and so made a powerful diversion in favour of the king of Judah:
and carried the people of it captive to Kir; not Cyrene, as the Vulgate Latin version, a country belonging to Egypt, which the king of Assyria had no power over; but a place in upper Media, as Josephus p relates, which belonged to the Assyrian king; see Isa 22:6, compared with
2Ki 21:2, of this captivity Amos had prophesied some time before, Am 1:5
and slew Rezin; the king of Syria, which also was foretold in the same prophecy.
p Antiqu. l. 9. c. 12. sect. 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Tiglath-pileser then marched against Damascus, took the city, slew Rezin, and led the inhabitants away to Kir, as Amos had prophesied (Amo 1:3-5). , Kir, from which, according to Amo 9:7, the Aramaeans had emigrated to Syria, is no doubt a district by the river Kur ( , ), which taking its rise in Armenia, unites with the Araxes and flows into the Caspian Sea, although from the length of the river Kur it is impossible to define precisely the locality in which they were placed; and the statement of Josephus ( Ant. ix. 13, 3), that the Damascenes were transported , is somewhat indefinite, and moreover has hardly been derived from early historical sources (see M. v. Niebuhr, Gesch. Assurs, p. 158). Nothing is said here concerning Tiglath-pileser’s invasion of the kingdom of Israel, because this has already been mentioned at 2Ki 15:29 in the history of Pekah.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(9) Went up against Damascus, and took it.We learn from the inscriptions that Damascus stood a two years siege. (The Eponym-list makes Tiglath Pileser march against Damascus for two successive years, namely 733 and 732 B.C. )
Carried the people of it captive to Kir.(Comp. Amo. 1:5; Amo. 9:7.) The name Kir is not found in the fragmentary remains of the annals of Tiglath Pileser. Schrader (p. 261 seq.) gives a mutilated inscription, apparently relating to the fall of Damascus.
And slew Rezin.Sir H. Rawlinson found this fact recorded on a tablet of Tiglath Pilesers, since unfortunately lost. In the inscription just referred to Tiglath says: I entered the gate of his city; his chief officers alive [I took, and] on stakes I caused to lift them up (i.e., impaled them).
Kir was the aboriginal home of the Arameans, according to Amo. 9:7. It is mentioned along with Elam in Isa. 22:6. It has been generally identified with the district by the river Cyrus (the modern Georgia). But, besides the linguistic objection pointed out by Delitzsch (Qir cannot be equivalent to Kr), it appears that the Assyrian empire never extended to the Cyrus. We must, therefore, consider Kir to be a part of Mesopotamia. (Cheyne.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. Went up against Damascus Which was the “head,” or capital of Syria. See Isa 7:8.
Took it Captured the city.
Kir This place is mentioned again at Isa 22:6; Amo 1:5; Amo 9:7; but it does not appear from any of these notices whether it was a city or a district, and its locality is unknown. Some think a trace of the name still lingers in the river Kur, which rises in the mountains of Caucasus and flows into the Caspian Sea. But this seems too far north, and it is doubtful whether that region ever belonged to Assyria.
Slew Rezin This defeat crushed for centuries the prosperity and independence of Damascus, and utterly destroyed the kingdom of Syria. A mutilated inscription now in the British Museum contains a notice of the defeat and death of this last of the Syrian kings; and among the sculptures lately discovered at Nineveh is one that is thought to be a representation of the final siege of Damascus and the captivity of its inhabitants.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 16:9. Went up against Damascus In the time of Abraham, Damascus was in being; for it is certain, that one whom he had made free and appointed steward of his house was of Damascus, Gen 15:2 at the time that he pursued Chedorlaomer, and the five confederate kings as far as Hoba, which lies northward of Damascus; Gen 14:15. The Scripture says nothing more of this city till the time of David, when Hadad, who, according to Josephus, was the first that took upon him the title of king of Damascus, sending troops to the assistance of king Hadad-ezer, king of Zabah, was himself defeated by David, and his country subdued. Towards the end of Solomon’s reign, Rezin recovered the kingdom of Damascus, and shook off the Jewish yoke; 1Ki 11:23; 1Ki 11:43. Some time after this, Asa king of Judah implored the help of Ben-hadad king of Damascus against Baasha king of Israel, 1Ki 15:18.; and from his time the kings of Damascus were generally called Ben-hadad, till, in this last controversy with them, Ahaz called in the assistance of the king of Assyria, who killed their king, and carried his subjects into captivity, according to the prediction of Isaiah, chap. 7: and Amos, chap. 7: See Calmet.
Captive to Kir i.e. Media, as appears in Josephus. Media therefore was yet subject to Assyria, which destroys the credit of the Ctesian kings of Media, who, as he reports, having revolted from and beaten Sardanapalus, had now reigned a long time, Arbaces being the first of them; whereas Herodotus makes Dejoces the first. See chap. 2Ki 17:6.
REFLECTIONS.1st, Ahaz, the son of pious Jotham, degenerated greatly from the steps of his holy ancestors. The idolatry of Israel pleased him better than the pure worship of Judah; and Molech is preferred to the glorious Jehovah. He sacrifices on the high places, which his fathers, though they left them, had never used; and, as if unsatisfied with lesser abominations, made his own son pass between, or through, the fires of lustration, to the honour of his hateful idols. Note; (1.) They who provoke God to give them up, lose every natural affection, and turn monsters instead of men. (2.) The desperate wickedness of the heart of man, when left to itself, who can know?
2nd, The sin of Ahaz soon brought him into deep distress, Isa 7:2. His country was ravaged, Elath lost, and his capital besieged by the confederate forces of Syria and Israel. Yet, far from having recourse to God, or depending on his promises, Isa 7:4-16 he rather trusted in an arm of flesh; and, to engage the king of Assyria to make a diversion in his favour, robbed the house of God of the dedicated treasures, impoverished his own, and professed himself the vassal of an idolatrous Assyrian, rather than be the servant of the King of kings, who was so much better able to deliver him. The project succeeded: the king of Syria was slain, his capital taken, and his people led captive to Kir, as foretold Amo 1:5. Note; (1.) God is the last resource that a sinner will fly to. (2.) They who cast off God’s government make themselves quickly the worst of slaves. (3.) When men by their wickedness involve themselves in trouble, they will scarcely stop at any fraud or injustice to extricate themselves from it.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Ki 16:9 And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried [the people of] it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.
Ver. 9. And carried the people of it captive to Kir. ] According to Amo 1:5 . This Kir some will have to be that Cyrene mentioned in Act 2:10 ; others, Syromedia, which was so called from these Syrians translated thither, and Kir, that is a wall, because walled about, as it were, by the mountain Zagrus.
And slew Rezin.
a Lib. vii., Antiq., cap. 6.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
am 3264, bc 740
went up: 2Ch 28:5, Foretold, Amo 1:3-5
Damascus: Heb. Dammesek
Kir: Josephus informs us that this place was in Upper Media; and it is clear that it must be understood of some city or country in the dominions of the king of Assyria. It is highly probable that it was the country on the banks of the river , Cyrus, or Kyrus, now called Kur, or Kura; and we find cities called Cyropolis, Cyrena, and Carine, mentioned by writers as lying in these parts, and a part of Media, called Syromedia, as it is thought, from the Syrians who were carried captive thither. Isa 22:6, Amo 9:7
slew Rezin: Isa 7:16, Isa 9:11
Reciprocal: 2Ki 19:17 – the kings Isa 8:4 – the riches of Damascus Isa 10:9 – Samaria Isa 17:1 – Damascus is Isa 17:3 – fortress Isa 37:18 – the kings Amo 1:5 – the people Amo 3:12 – in Damascus in a couch
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
A bar is used to defend a house or other place against an un-friendly Intruder. To break the bar of Damascus would therefore mean to overcome the defence of the city and expose it to an enemy. Him that holdeth the scepter means the king, and he was to be cut off from the house of Eden. Smiths Bible Dictionary renders this phrase Beth-Eden,” and says it means house of pleasure, and that it was probably a country residence of the kings of Damascus. The captivity unto Kir was fulfilled and the account of it Is in 2 Kings 16: 9.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
2Ki 16:9. And carried the people of it captive to Kir Not Kir of Moab, (Isa 15:1,) but a part of Media, which was then subject to the king of Assyria. It is remarkable, that this taking of Damascus, and carrying the inhabitants of it captive to this place, nay, and the slaying of Rezin the king, was expressly foretold by Amos some time before it happened. See the margin.