The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 196

to thC' Aiosnian arms, Rtid been l11id in ruin~ gnted." It is quite in accordnnce with Aa- to punish th<>m for offering resistance. Six syrinn ideas thnt the conquered .oountriea ~ueh cities nre m<>ntione,1-Ce.lneh, probably should be called "kingdoms of the idols " Niffer. iu Lower Mesopotamia; Carchemish, (literally,. "no gods"). The Assyrian on tho ris:;ht bRnk of the Euphratee in Lat. moMrchs rei:tnrded tileir own gods ail alone HG 0 30' nenrly; Hamailt, the "great Ha- re111ly deserving of the name, and mnde war math" of Amos (vi. 2), in Crelesyria on the very much with the object of proving tile Orontes; Arpad, perhaps Tcl-Erfad, near superiority of their deities over those of their Aleppo ; Damascus, anrl Samaria. Calneh neighbours, Hence. theu practice of oe,rry- was one of the cities of Nimt0d (Gen. x. 10), ing off the idols from the v11rioua cities nnd, according to the LXX., was "the which they conquered, or else of inscribing pince where the tower was built." It may on them " the praises of Asshur/' And h,we heen taken by Tig1Rth-Pil08Cr in one whose graven images ; rather, and : their ot his expeditio:i~ into Babylonia. Amos graven imaallll. Did excel. In preciousness ( \'i. 2) speaks of it o.s ilesola.te in his day. of mat.erial or. in workmnnship,- or both. Carchemish (Assyrian Gargnmis) was a chief 'rile Assyrinns went· near to identifying. the city of the Hittites, and has been called idols with the gods themselves. Those of "their nnrthcru capital.'' Long confounded J' eruse.Iem and of Sama,ria . . .The ehief Sa- by grographcrs with Circesinm at the junc- maritan idols were the golden' calves at Dan tion of the Khabour with the Euphrates, it and Bethel; but, ,in _addition to. these, has recent!)· been proved to have occupied a "images and groves were set up· in -every high far more northern position, and is now gene- hill and under every green tree" (2"Xin:gs rally identified with ihe ruins discovered by xvii. 10), images: of Baal, and Ashtoretb, Mr. Geor!!'e Smith at Jer.tbis or Jerablus. and perha.ps Beltis, .a-nd., Chemosh,,. and It was ronq uered by Sargon in B.C. 717, when Moloch. Even in Judah and.in.Jerusa.~em M its people were led captive, and scattered itself there were idols, , A he.z "me.de mol~n over the Assyrian empire, wilile Assyri11n iniages for Ba.a.lim" (2 C,'hron. xxviii. 2), colonists were brought to people the city in Tile brazen serpent· was worshipped' as an 1heir place ; Carchernish being formally idol at Jerusalem until Hezeldab •destroyed ,mnexcJ to Assyria, and pla.eed und"r au it; and proba.bly, even after the creformation Assyrian goTernor" (G. Smith, • Assyria,' of Hezekiah (2 Kings xvili, 4), ~Il.Y: Jews p. 97). Ra.mafr. was originally a CRna.a.nite retained J?rivately the images which he re- city (Gen. x. l!S). Dr the time of David it quir<'d tilem to de$troy (2 Chron. •xxxi. 1). had l>eeome the se:,t of an independent Isaiah had already declared, speaking' bf momm·hy (2 Sam. Tiii. 9, 10), and so con- Judah rather than of Israel; "Their land·'is tinned until its reduction by the Assyrinns. full of idols·; they worship the work of their We find it leagued with the Hittites, the own hands, that. whi9!i, thei.J:' own, fingers 1-yria.ns of DamascUB, and the Israelites have made" ( eh. ii. 8), _ .., , •. O.,,"'llinst Assyria about 11.c. 850 (' Ancient Ver.11.-She.ll I. not . , . so do to J'eru.sa- Monarchies,' vol. ii. pp. 361-363). About lem and her idols 1' The speaker •ighqres B.O. 720 it was taken by Sargon, who be- the fact of any difference in kind; between headed its king, and probably reduced it to the religion of Judrea an!i that of the ·neigh- rains (ibid .. p. 411; comp. Amosvi. 2). The bouring countries. He speaks 1as if 'he knew name remains in tile 10oderu Hamah, where nothing- of any religion without idols. No many curious inscriptions ha ,·e been recently doubt Assyrian idead on the subject of the dug up. Arpad was attacked by Tiglatll- religion of the Jews were at this time, e!s Pileser in the early part of his reign. and they were even later (2 Kings xviii 22), redu~ed to subjection. It revolted in con:- exceedingly vague and incorrect. . . ,' jUDction witil Hamath from Sargon, and was Ver. 12.-Wherefore; ratiler, but. The severely pllilished (' Ancient l\Iouarchies,' final result shall be such as "the Assyrian•· l. •· c.). Is not Sa.mnia. as Dame.sous 1 This little expected. When the Lord bath ·per- mention of Se.maria among tl,e subjugateii formed his whole work. The "work'" as- e.nd ruined cities 11w.y undoubtedly be pro- signed to Assyria was the destrnetion: of the phetic ; hut the connection with Carchemish, kingdom of Israel, and a share in the trial, Hamath, and Arpad-all of tilem towns re- punishment, and discipline of Judah .. T4e dnN•,d by Sargon within the years 11.c. 720- la~t task seems to have been the humiliation 717-p<>ints rather to the verse being of Man11Ssch, which brought about his ril- l,istorical, and would seem to indicate tha.t pentance (2 Cbron. xxxiii, 11,-I::l). Soon the dale of the entire prophecy--Ters. 5-19 after thili the troubles began which led to -i.B eubs,oquent to tLe capture of the cities, her destruction. I will puiiillh. •The 1,uddl)n and oo uot earlier tilun B.C. 716. • change from the third to the first person 'is Ver. 10.-As my hand hath found the harsh and abnormal, but riot without paral- ki.ngdo111B of the idols. " Found " here lels in other p~estiges of btiiah (seo eh. meaD.11 "reached," "pUDiBhlld," "subju- iii. 1-4; v. s, 41 eto.). 'l'he· fruit of ~e  011; L 1-84,) THE BOOK or 'l'trn PROPHE:'1' ISAIAH. 187