Isaiah 37:12

12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my predecessors destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?

Isaiah 37:12 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 37:12

Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers
have destroyed
They have not. But what then? is the God of Israel to be put upon a level with such dunghill gods? so Sennacherib reckoned him, as Rabshakeh before, in his name, ( Isaiah 36:18-20 ) : as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden, which were
in Telassar.
Gozan was the same, it may be, with the Gausanitis of Ptolemy F26 which he makes mention of in his description of Mesopotamia; and the rather, since Haran or Chapman was a city of Mesopotamia, ( Genesis 11:31 ) ( Acts 7:2 Acts 7:4 ) called by Ptolemy by the name of Carrae F1; and who also, in the same place, makes mention of Rezeph, under the name of Rhescipha; though he likewise speaks of another place in Palmyrene in Syria, called Rhaesapha F2, which some think to be the place here intended. Eden was also in Mesopotamia, in the eastern part of which was the garden of Eden; and this Telassar, inhabited by the children of Eden, was a city in that country, which is by Ptolemy F3 called Thelda; though Hillerus F4 is of opinion that the city Thalatha is meant, which is placed F5 near the river Tigris, a river of paradise. A very learned F6 men is of opinion, that the Eden, Isaiah here speaks of, belongs either to Syria of Damascus, and to the Lebanon and Paneas from whence Jordan arose; or to Syro-Phoenicia, and the Mediterranean sea, which the name Thalassar shows, as if it was (yalassa) , the Syrians being used to derive not a few of their words from the Greeks: and certain it is, that there is now a village called Eden on Mount Lebanon, which Thevenot F7 mentions; and another, near Damascus, Mr. Maundrell F8 speaks of; see ( Amos 1:5 ) and Tyre in Phoenicia is called Eden, ( Ezekiel 28:13 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F26 Geograph, l. 5. c. 18.
F1 Ibid.
F2 Ibid. c. 15.
F3 lbid. c. 18.
F4 Onomast. Sacr. p. 945.
F5 Geograph. l. 5. c. 20.
F6 Nichol. Abrami Pharus Vet. Test. l. 2. c. 16. p. 57.
F7 Travels, part 1. B. 2. ch. 60. p. 221.
F8 Journey from Aleppo, p. 119, 120. Ed. 7th.

Isaiah 37:12 In-Context

10 "Thus shall you speak to King Hezekiah of Judah: Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
11 See, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered?
12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my predecessors destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?
13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?"
14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; then Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.