Melachim Bais 17:31

31 And the Avim made Nivchaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvim burned their banim in eish to Adramelech and Anammelech, the g-ds of Sepharvayim.

Melachim Bais 17:31 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 17:31

And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak
The former of which is represented by the Jews in the shape of a dog, deriving the word from "nabach", to bark, as if it was the same with the Anubis Latrator of Virgil F2, an Egyptian deity; though that is said F3 to have its name from NO(e) (b) , which in the Egyptian language signifies "gold", the statutes of it being made of gold; and the latter in the form of an ass, for what reason I cannot say; but the first word, according to Hillerus F4, signifies, "the remote one seeth", that is, the sun, which beholds all things; and Tartak is a chain, and may denote the fixed stars chained as it were in their places; or the satellites of the planets, chained to their orbs:

and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and to
Anammelech the gods of Sepharvaim;
which were the same with Moloch; which may be concluded, partly from the worship paid them, and partly from the signification of their names; both end with "melech", king, which Moloch also signifies; the first may be interpreted the mighty king, and the latter the king that answers in an oracular way; from the first, one of the sons of Sennacherib king of Assyria had his name, ( Isaiah 37:36 ) , though the Jews, according to their fancy, represent the one in the likeness of a mule, and the other in the likeness of a horse; and some make the one to be a peacock, and the other a pheasant {e}; the Septuagint version puts the article before them in the feminine gender, excepting the two last, taking them for she deities, or leaving the word (eikona) , "images", to be understood.


FOOTNOTES:

F2 Aeneid. l. 6. So Ovid. Metamorph. l. 9. Fab. 12. ver. 689.
F3 Jablonski apud Michael. Obs. Sacr. Exercit. 4. p. 66, 67.
F4 Ut supra, (Onomast. Sacr.) p. 606.
F5 Vid. Kimchium in loc.

Melachim Bais 17:31 In-Context

29 Howbeit every goy (nation) made g-ds of their own, and set them up in the batim (houses) of the high places which the Shomronim had made, every goy in their towns wherein they dwelt.
30 And the men of Babylon made [the g-d] Sukkot Benot, and the men of Kutah made Nergal, and the men of Chamat made Ashima,
31 And the Avim made Nivchaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvim burned their banim in eish to Adramelech and Anammelech, the g-ds of Sepharvayim.
32 So they feared Hashem, and made for themselves of the lowest of them kohanim of the [idolatrous] high places, which were officiating for them in beis habamot.
33 They feared Hashem, and served their own g-ds, after the mishpat (manner) of the Goyim from which places as exiles they had been carried away.
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