Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 17:30
And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
30. Succoth-benoth ] This name of the deity of the Babylonians is probably (according to Rawlinson Herod. bk. i. p. 630) meant to represent the Chaldan goddess Zir-banit, the wife of Merodach ( i.e. Bel) who was specially worshipped in Babylon.
Nergal ] The Assyrian or Babylonian god who answers to the classic Mars, the god of war. It is an argument for Cuthah being the place near Babylon between the Euphrates and the Tigris (see note on verse 24) that the city which stood there is found to have been specially devoted to Nergal, whose image we are here told was set up in Samaria by the men of Cuth.
Ashima ] Jewish tradition explains this name as signifying a short-haired goat. Hence it has been thought that the divinity so called was a sort of oriental Pan, a god of shepherds and of the woods. But others think that in the name there is a trace of the Phnician god Esmn, who answers to sculapius, the deity that presided over medicine.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Succoth-benoth probably represents a Babylonian goddess called Zir-banit, the wife of Merodach. She and her husband were, next to Bel and Beltis, the favorite divinities of the Babylonians.
Nergal, etymologically the great man, or the great hero, was the Babylonian god of war and hunting. His name forms an element in the Babylonian royal appellation, Nergal-shar-ezar or Neriglissar. The Assyrian inscriptions connect Nergal in a very special way with Cutha, of which he was evidently the tutelary deity.
Ashima is ingeniously conjectured to be the same as Esmun, the AEsculapius of the Cabiri or great gods of the Phoenicians.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 30. The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth] This, literally, signifies the tabernacles of the daughters or young women, and most evidently refers to those public prostitutions of young virgins at the temple of Melitta or Venus among the Babylonians. See at the end of the chapter. 2Kg 17:31. From benoth it is probable that the word Venus came, the B being changed into V, as is frequently the case, and the th into s, benoth, Venos. The rabbins say that her emblem was a hen with her chickens; see Jarchi on the place.
The men of Cuth made Nergal] This is supposed to have been the solar orb or light. According to the rabbins, his emblem was a cock. See at the end of the chapter. 2Kg 17:31.
The men of Hamath made Ashima] Perhaps the fire; from asham, to make atonement or to purify. Jarchi says this was in the form of a goat. See below. 2Kg 17:41.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
30. Succoth-benoththat is,the “tents” or “booths of the daughters,” similarto those in which the Babylonian damsels celebrated impure rites (Am2:8).
NergalThe Jewishwriters say this idol was in the form of a cock, and it is certainthat a cock is often associated with a priest on the Assyrianmonuments [LAYARD]. Butmodern critics, looking to the astrological character of Assyrianidolatry, generally consider Nergal as the planet Mars, the god ofwar. The name of this idol formed part of the appellation of two ofthe king of Babylon’s princes (Jer39:3).
Ashimaan idol underthe form of an entirely bald he-goat.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth,…. That is, those that came from Babylon made and served an idol of this name, which, according to the Jewish writers u, were the figures of an hen and chickens; but others suppose them to be the Pleiades, or seven stars, the stars being had in great veneration by the Babylonians; though others rather think those Succothbenoth, “tabernacles”, or “booths of the daughters”, as the words may be rendered, have respect to the apartments in the temple of Venus, or Mylitta with the Babylonians and Assyrians, in which women once in their lives prostituted themselves to whomsoever asked them, in honour of Venus; of which filthy practice of theirs Herodotus w makes mention; and Valerius Maximus speaks x of a temple of Sicca Venus, which is near in sound to this, where the like impurities were committed:
and the men of Cuth made Nergal; which, according to the Jews, was in the likeness of a cock; but others, because the first part of the word signifies a lamp, suppose fire is meant, worshipped by the Persians, from whom it is thought these men came; but rather the word signifies, as Hillerus y observes, the fountain of light, and denotes the sun, worshipped by the Babylonians, Cuth being a province of theirs; from hence one of the princes of Babylon had part of his name, Jer 39:3
and the men of Hamath made Ashima; which, the Jews say, was in the form of a goat, without any wool on it, or an ape z; but according to Hillerus a, with the Arabs, Ashima is the name of a lion, a symbol of the sun, under which form it might be worshipped; unless Ashima is the same with Shamaim, the heavens, worshipped by the Heathens; we read of the Ashemath of Samaria, by which they swore, Am 8:14, though that was before these men came thither.
u T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 63. 2. w Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 199. x L. 2. c. 6. sect. 15. y Onomastic. Sacr. p. 601. z David de Pomis Lexic. fol. 17. 2. a Onomast. Sacr. p. 609.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(30) Succoth-benoth.The Hebrew spelling of this name has probably suffered in transmission. The Babylonian goddess Zirbnit or Zarpanitum (seed-maker) the consort of Merodach, appears to be meant.
Nergal.The name of the god represented by the colossal lions which guarded the doorways of Assyrian palaces. These colossi were called nirgali; and a syllabary informs us that Nergal was the god of Kutha.
Ashima.Nothing is known of this idol. Schrader (in Riehm) pronounces against identification with the Phnician Esmun. Lanes lexicon gives an Arabic word, usmatu, or al-usmatu, the lion, which may be cognate with Ashima.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
30. Succoth-benoth These words mean, in Hebrew, tents of daughters; and most expositors explain them of the tents in which the Babylonian women prostituted themselves in honour of Mylitta, the Assyrian Venus. Herodotus. But the context shows that Succoth-benoth is the name of an idol, as are Nergal and Ashima; and Furst thinks its etymology must not be sought in Hebrew. Sir H. Rawlinson considers it a modified form of the name of Zir-banit, who was worshipped at Babylon, and is represented in the inscriptions as the wife of Bel-Merodach. “From a passage in the great inscription of Nebuchadnezzar, where the goddess is, as usual, associated with Merodach, it is evident that Zir must be a proper name, and that banit, ‘genitrix,’ is the mere feminine of bann, which, is one of the standard epithets of Merodach. The name, as written in the passage referred to, is Zir Umbanitrya, or ‘Zir, the mother who bore me;’ and it is almost certain, that in this title we must look for the original form of the Succoth-benoth of Scripture, the goddess worshipped by the Babylonian colonists in Samaria.” RAWLINSON’S Herodotus, vol. i, p. 513.
Nergal This idol is thus described by G. Rawlinson: ( Ancient Monarchies, vol. i, p. 136:) “His name is evidently compounded of the two Hamitic roots nir, ‘a man,’ and gula, ‘great;’ so that he is ‘the great man,’ or ‘the great hero.’ He is the special god of war and of hunting, more particularly of the latter. His titles are, ‘the king of battle,’ ‘the champion of the gods,’ ‘the storm ruler,’ ‘the strong begetter,’ ‘the tutelar god of Babylonia;’ and ‘the god of the chase.’ The city peculiarly dedicated to Nergal was Cutha, which is constantly called his city in the inscriptions.”
Ashima Of this idol little is known, and its name is of uncertain etymology. The rabbies assert that it was worshipped under the form of a bare goat, that is, a goat without wool, but this opinion seems to rest on no certain evidence. Possibly Ashima ( ) is identical with Eshmon, ( ,) the Phenician Esculapius, or god of medicine.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 17:30. The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, &c. We have here an account of the idols, which were consecrated by the different nations transplanted by the king of Assyria to Samaria. It is difficult, however, (and has afforded a large field for conjecture,) to give any satisfactory account concerning them: the reader will find in Selden, Vossius, and Jurieu, much upon the subject. Succoth-benoth may be literally translated, the tabernacles of the daughters, or young women. Herodotus, lib. 1: cap. 199 gives us a particular account of their detestable service; but it is too bad to mention. See Bar 6:43. This abomination, implied by Succoth-benoth, the men of Babylon brought with them into the country of Samaria; and both the name of the idol Melitta, and the execrable service performed to her honour, shew that by Melitta was originally intended the same as the Venus of the Greeks and Romans. See the beginning of Lucretius’s first book, De Rerum Nat. Mr. Selden imagines that some traces of the Succoth-benoth, may be found in Sicca-Veneria, the name of a city in Numidia, not far from the borders of Africa Propria. See Univ. Hist. vol. 17: p. 295., and Parkhurst’s Lexicon on the word .
The men of Cuth made Nergal Cuth was a province of Assyria, which, according to some, lies upon the Araxis; but others rather think it to be the same with Cush, which is said by Moses to be encompassed with the river Gihon, and must therefore be the same with the country which the Greeks call Susiana, and which to this day is called by the inhabitants Chusesta. Their idol Nergal seems to have been the sun, as the causer of the diurnal and annual revolutions of the planets; for it is naturally derived from ner, light, and gal; to revolve. The Rabbis say, that the idol was represented in the shape of a cock, and probably they tell us the truth; for this seems a very proper emblem. Among the latter heathens, we find the cock was sacred to Apollo, or the Sun, (see Pierii Hieroglyph. p. 223.) “Because,” says Heliodorus, speaking of the time when cocks crow, “by a natural sensation of the sun’s revolution to us, they are incited to salute the god.” AEthiop. lib. 1: And perhaps under this name Nergal they meant to worship the sun, not only for the diurnal return of its light upon the earth, but also for its annual return or revolution. We may observe that the emblem, a cock, is affected by the latter as well as by the former, and is frequently crowing both day and night when the days begin to lengthen. See Calmet, and Parkhurst’s Lexicon.
The men of Hamath made Ashima There are several cities and countries which go under the name of Hamath; but what we take to be here meant is that province of Syria which lies upon the Orontes, wherein there was a city of the same name; which when Shalmaneser had taken, he removed the inhabitants from thence into Samaria. Their idol Ashima signifies the atoner or expiator, from asham. The word is in a Chaldee form; and seems to be the same as ashmath shomron, the sin of Samaria, mentioned Amo 8:14 where ashmath is rendered by the LXX propitiation: It is known to every one who has the least acquaintance with the mythology of the heathens, how strongly and universally they retained the tradition of an atonement or expiation for sin, although, they expected it from a false object and false means. We find it expressed in very clear terms among the Romans; even so late as the time of Horace, lib. 1: ode 2.;
Cui dabit partes scelus expiandi Jupiter?
And whom, to expiate the horrid guilt, Will Jove appoint?
The answer is, “Apollo,” the god of light. Some think that as Asuman, or Suman, in the Persian language, signifies heaven, the Syrians might from hence derive the name of this God; who they suppose was represented by a large stone pillar, terminating in a conic or pyramidical figure, whereby they denoted fire. See Parkhurst on the word asham, Calmet, and Tennison on Idolatry.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Ki 17:30 And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
Ver. 30. Succothbenoth. ] This idol was made in the form of a hen hurking her chickens. Most of these names of heathenish deities are Syriac and Chaldee. Nergol significth a woodcock, or a rooster (roostcock); Asima, a goat or wolf; Nibhaz, a dog; Tartak, an ass. Adrammelech and Anammelech were idols made in the shape of a horse and a mule. See here Rom 1:23 verified, and bless God who hath taught us better. Gildas saith that our forefathers were gross idolaters, and that their gods were portenta diabolica, poene numero Aegyptiaca vincentia, devilish fray-bugs (bogies), as many in number almost as those of Egypt.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
and. Note the Figure of speech Polysyndeton (App-6) emphasizing the five nations brought into Palestine. Compare 2Ki 17:24. Each brought its own gods. Thus (according to the language of the O.T.) Samaria committed adultery (idolatry) with five husbands (compare Isa 54:5 with Isa 23:17. Jer 22:20. Hos 2:10-12). Repeated individually in Joh 4:18. No wonder the woman worshipped she knew not what (Joh 4:22).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Babylon: 2Ki 17:24
Succoth benoth: Succoth benoth, literally “the tents of the daughters.”
Cuth: Cuth is probably the Cush watered by the Gihon, or Araxes, now Aras – Gen 2:13, the ancient country of the Scythians, where we meet with the Quitians, Coethians, or Coete, and Cytheans, and the cities of Cotatis, Cetemane, Cythanum, Cyta, Cethena, etc.
Nergal: Supposed to denote the solar orb; the emblem of which, according to the Rabbins, was a cock.
Ashima: Jarchi says this idol was of the form of a goat.
Reciprocal: Gen 10:18 – Hamathite Deu 13:6 – which thou 2Ki 18:34 – have they delivered Ezr 4:9 – the Dinaites Isa 37:9 – Ethiopia Isa 37:13 – Ivah Jer 2:28 – to the number Jer 39:3 – Nergalsharezer Amo 6:2 – Hamath
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ki 17:30. The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, &c. In this and the following verse are the names of the gods or goddesses which each nation of these new-comers to Samaria and its vicinity set up. The learned are not agreed as to the signification of several of these names, nor is it worth while to spend time in endeavouring to determine it. The reader whose curiosity leads him to wish for information on the subject, may consult Selden, Vossius, and Jurieu. Concerning two or three of them we may observe as follows: The first name signifies, The tabernacles of the daughters, or young women, and, if it be the name of an idol, it was doubtless the same with the imaginary goddess termed Venus by the Greeks and Romans. The Jewish rabbins tell us, she was worshipped under the emblem of a hen and chickens. There is reason to believe, that in these succoth, or tents, young women exposed themselves to prostitution in honour of the Babylonish goddess Melitta. Nergal, worshipped by the Cuthites, or Persians, was probably the fire, or the sun, being derived from , ner, light, and , galal, to revolve. The Jewish doctors say his idol was represented in the shape of a cock. Adrammelech and Anammelech were only different names for Moloch, as is evident from their burning their children to these idols in the fire. See the Universal History and Calmet. Alas! how vain were these idolaters in their imaginations! It is justly observed by Henry, that our very ignorance concerning these idols teaches us the accomplishment of Gods word by Jeremiah, (Jer 10:11,) that these false gods should all perish. They are all buried in oblivion, while the name of the true God shall continue for ever!
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
17:30 And the men of Babylon made {q} Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
(q) Meaning that every country served the idol that was most esteemed in the place to which they came.