Глава 17

1–6. The fall of the kingdom of Israel and the captivity of their inhabitants to Assyria. 7–23. Internal causes of the death of the kingdom of Israel. 24–41. New settlers within the former kingdom of Israel. 2 Kings 17:1. In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah reigned over Israel in Samaria and reigned for nine years. 2 Kings 17:2. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel who were before him. The date of the accession of the last Israeli king of the kingdom of Hoshea “in the 12th year of Ahaz king of Judah” (v. 1) is confirmed (2 Kings 18:9,10), where the 4th and 6th years of the reign of Hezekiah king of Judah, the son of Ahaz (Ahaz reigned for 16 years), are equal to the 7th and 9th years of the reign of Hoshea Israeli. On the contrary, the date (2 Kings 15:30), according to which Hoshea reigned in the 20th year of Jotham, the father of Ahaz, must be recognized as absolutely erroneous, both because Jotham reigned for only 16 years (2 Kings 15:33), and even more so because of the clear evidence that Hoshea’s predecessor Pekah fought not with Jotham, but with his son Ahaz ( 2 Kings 16:5 et seq.; Isa.7:1 et seq.), therefore, Hoshea, the murderer and successor, could in no way co-reign with Ahaz’s father Jotham; an error in the alphanumeric designation of chronological dates, according to the general opinion of researchers of the Old Testament text, is quite possible. It was noted above (comments on 2 Kings 15:30) that the killing of Pekah, defeated by Tiglath-Pilezer, and the elevation of Hosea to the throne was probably the work of the Israeli court party favored by Assyria. The reign of Hosea, as they saw, should be dated back to 733 BC. In the nature of Hosea’s reign, the sacred writer notes a peculiarity: “he did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not like the kings of Israel who were before him” (v. 2, cf. (2 Kings 3:2)). What was the lesser degree of Hosea's wickedness, of course, in relation to religious cult, the text does not say. According to the rabbis (Seder Olam, cap. XXII), Hosea did not allow the construction of new golden calves in Bethel, after the previous ones were captured by the Assyrians (Hos. 10:6; compare, however, in Prof. Brodovich, “The Book of the Prophet Hosea,” p. 352), and also did not prevent the subjects of his kingdom from going to worship Jehovah in Jerusalem, for example, when Hezekiah invited the Israelites to Jerusalem for the Passover holiday (2 Chronicles 30:1–11,31:1). But if this assumption has some probability, then, however, one cannot think (as Tenius believes) that Hosea completely abolished the cult of the calves, since through this the centuries-old mediastinum between the two Jewish kingdoms would collapse, about which the biblical text could not remain silent; in fact, this cult probably survived the kingdom of Israel itself (see P. Krasin, State cult of the (ten-tribe) kingdom of Israel, pp. 227–229). One might rather think that Hosea was an opponent of pure paganism, which spread in Israel under his immediate predecessors. One way or another, priest. the writer found data in the sources (“Chronicles of the Kings of Israel”) that prompted him to present Hosea in a more favorable light than his predecessors 9 . 2 Kings 17:3. Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came out against him, and Hoshea became subject to him and gave him tribute. 2 Kings 17:4. And the king of Assyria noticed the treason in Hosea, because he sent ambassadors to Zoar king of Egypt, and did not deliver tribute to the king of Assyria every year, and the king of Assyria took him into custody, and put him in a prison house. Appointed king with the knowledge of Tiglath-Pilezer and, of course, with the obligation to pay tribute to the Assyrian king, Hosea apparently decided to take advantage of the change on the Assyrian throne that followed in 727: Tiglath-Pilezer III was replaced by Shalmaneser IV 10 (Assyrian Sulmanu - asir), who reigned, according to the so-called “list of eponyms,” with 727 to 722 BC. From the Assyrian documents about Shalmaneser IV, it is only known that in the last 3 years of his reign he undertook aggressive campaigns to the west (the exact name of the countries where these campaigns were sent is unknown, since the tiles at these points were damaged). With this we can compare the testimony of the Phoenician historian Menander cited by Josephus (Ant. 9:14, 2) that the Assyrian king Shalmaneser first launched a war against all of Phenicia, then made peace, and then after some time subjected Tire to a five-year siege (perhaps Is. 23 speaks prophetically about this siege). Comparing these extra-biblical evidence with (2 Kings 17:3-6), some biblical scholars (Ewald et al.) suggest that Hosea’s refusal to pay tribute to Shalmaneser is due to the coalition of West Asian states formed at that time, including Phenicia with Tire at the head, with the support of Egypt against the rule of Assyria; however, other researchers (Knobel, Shopade, Smith) attribute the formation of the mentioned coalition and the siege of Tyre (according to Menander and Josephus) to a later time - to the reign of Sennacherib in Assyria and several years after the fall of Samaria and the kingdom of Israel. Without insisting on the first assumption, we must, however, say that the very fact of Hosea evading tributary status to Assyria and turning to Egypt for help closely resembles the proposed coalition against Assyria. The name of the king of Egypt, to whom Hosea sent gifts in the hope of his help (v. 4), in Hebrew Co or according to another reading Sebe; the latter is close to Manetho's Ζεβεχος; Vulgata: Sua; LXX: σιγωρ; glory -Russian : "Seagor." The most general assumption is that it is the name of Sabakon, an Egyptian. Shabak, the first pharaoh of the XXV Egyptian dynasty (according to Manetho, reigned for 12 years: 728–717). Many inhabitants of the kingdom of Israel fled to Egypt, seeking protection (Isa. 11:11). Thus, just as during the very separation of the Kingdom of Israel from Judah, the future king of Israel Jeroboam I sought and found refuge in Egypt (1 Kings 11:40), so at the end of its end the Kingdom of Israel sought support in the same Egypt; but this time in vain: Sabacon did not dare this time to enter into a fight with the world conqueror because of the kingdom of Israel (only after in 720, when Sargan suppressed the uprising of the Syrian states in 720 and began to threaten the Egyptian possessions, Sabacon fought with him at Gaza and was defeated) 11. The kingdom of Israel was left to itself, and Shalmaneser, who immediately appeared within its borders, apparently first of all punished the treacherous vassal of his king Hosea, imprisoned him and, perhaps, sent him to Assyria (in 2 Kings 18:10 Hosea appears, however, to have reigned until the fall of the kingdom of Israel and its capital), and then besieged Samaria. 2 Kings 17:5. And the king of Assyria went into all the land, and came to Samaria, and kept it under siege for three years. The inaccessible natural position of Samaria and the strong fortification of this city (cf. note on 1 Kings 16:24) made it possible for this capital of the kingdom of Israel to hold out for about 3 years (incomplete, according to 2 Kings 18:9-10, the siege began in the 7th year of the reign of Hoshea, ended in the 9th year); namely, according to the general opinion in biblical scholarship, from 724 to 722. 2 Kings 17:6. In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and deported the Israelites to Assyria, and settled them in Halah and in Habor, by the river Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. Shalmaneser did not have to finish the siege of Samaria and the conquest of the kingdom of Israel: in 722 he died (perhaps a violent death: his successor began a new dynasty), and his work was completed in the same 722 by his successor on the Assyrian throne, Sargon (cf. Is. 20:1), according to Assyrian. Sarrukin 12, reigned from 722 to 705; in the biblical tradition, the predecessor, who led the siege of Samaria for so long, naturally overshadowed the actual conqueror of Samaria, who resettled part of the Israeli population within the borders of Assyria. In his triumphal inscription (see Schrader Keilinschr. i.d. Alt. Test. 2, s. 271 ft.) Sargon says that he plundered the city (Samaria) and captured and resettled 27,280 of its inhabitants to Assyria. Of course, this is a small figure compared to the entire Israeli population. One must think, however, that similar mass migrations of the Israelis, begun by Tiglath-pileser in relation to the northern parts of the kingdom of Israel (2 Kings 15:29), were carried out by Sargon (maybe also Shalmaneser) several times, so that the country, although not completely deserted, its population was extremely sparse: the state and even national existence of the kingdom of Israel ceased. The death of Samaria and the entire kingdom of Israel was an exact fulfillment of terrible prophecies (Hos. 5:9,11:6,14:1; Isa.28:1–4,40:6–8, etc.). The separate existence of the Kingdom of Israel from the Kingdom of Judah lasted about 2.5 centuries (according to the usual view, almost 257 years: from 980 to 722; according to I. Flavius, “Jewish Antiquities,” 9:14, 1, 240 years 7 months 7 days; in I. Spassky, “Study of Biblical Chronology,” pp. 125–243). Of the points where the Assyrians resettled masses of Israeli captives, of course, only some of the most densely populated points are named: Halah, Habor, Gozan, the cities of Media (v. 6) Halakh (LXX: ῾Αλαε, Vulg.: Hala). The LXX considers Halah a river (ποταμοῖς Τωοσάν), but according to the wedge-shaped documents it is the area north of Nineveh and south of Lake Van, known to the Greeks as Χολκίτις (cf. Schrader, op. cit. s. 275 ff.). Khabor is a river Χαβῶρας of the Greeks, flows into the Euphrates, flows out of Mount Maznya near the city of Nizibia, its main tributary is Mygdonius; The Euphrates flows into the Euphrates at Circassia, now Kabur, Gozan (cf. 2 Kings 19:12; Isa.37:12). Eusebius and Blessed Jerome was mistaken (Onomast. 66) for a river, in fact it is an area that probably lay between the rivers Habor and Saokor (Ξαοκόρας), Ptolemy called Τανσανίτις, in the wedge-shaped inscriptions of Gutsan, near Nizibia (between the Tigris and Euphrates), now Catan (See Orthodox Palestine. Collection. Issue 37, pp. 152–153; Prof. Gulyaeva, p. 345). Median cities. LXX: ὅρη Μήδων, slav.: “in the borders of Media”, among which were, for example, those mentioned in the book of Tobit (Tov.1:14,6:10,9:2, etc.). The Ragi of Media are, apparently, the northeastern border of the territory of settlement of the captive Israelites 13. But they, no doubt, quickly scattered to other countries, not excluding European ones (Is. 11:11). Thus, the terrible word of God through the lawgiver came true over half of God’s chosen people (Lev.26:38). Attempts to find traces of the scattered 10 tribes of Israel are almost as numerous and as fruitless as the search for the position of paradise; there is no country where their scientific inquisitiveness or curiosity does not place them (cf. for example, Mr. Kolechitsky’s article on this subject in the “Wanderer” for 1901). 2 Kings 17:7. When the children of Israel began to sin before the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and began to honor other gods, 2 Kings 17:8. and they began to do according to the customs of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from before the children of Israel, and according to the customs of the kings of Israel, as they had done; 2 Kings 17:9. And the children of Israel began to do things that displeased the Lord their God, and they built themselves high places in all their cities, from the watchtower to the fortified city, 2 Kings 17:10. and they set up statues and images of Ashtoreth on every high hill and under every shady tree, 2 Kings 17:11. and there they began to burn incense on all the high places, like the nations whom the Lord had driven out from before them, and they did evil deeds that angered the Lord, 2 Kings 17:12. and they served idols, about which the Lord told them: “Do not do this”; 2 Kings 17:13. Then the Lord, through all His prophets, through every seer, warned Israel and Judah, saying: Return from your wicked ways and keep My commandments, My statutes, according to all the teaching that I commanded your fathers and which I taught you through My servants the prophets. 2 Kings 17:14. But they did not listen and hardened their neck, as was the neck of their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God; 2 Kings 17:15. and they despised His statutes, and His covenant which He made with their fathers, and His revelations with which He warned them, and went after vanity and became futile, and after the nations around, about which the Lord commanded them not to do as they did, 2 Kings 17:16. and they forsook all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made themselves cast images of two bulls, and built an oak grove, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal, 2 Kings 17:17. and they led their sons and daughters through the fire, and told fortunes, and cast magic, and devoted themselves to doing what was evil in the eyes of the Lord and to anger Him. 2 Kings 17:18. And the Lord was greatly angry with the Israelites, and cast them out from before Him. There was no one left except one tribe of Judah. 2 Kings 17:19. And Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord his God, but acted according to the customs of the Israelites, as they did. 2 Kings 17:20. And the Lord turned away from all the descendants of Israel, and humbled them, and gave them into the hands of robbers, and finally cast them out from before Him. 2 Kings 17:21. The Israelites broke away from the house of David and made Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, king; and Jeroboam turned away the Israelites from the Lord, and drew them into great sin. 2 Kings 17:22. And the children of Israel did according to all the sins that Jeroboam committed, and did not depart from them, 2 Kings 17:23. until the Lord had cast out Israel from before him, as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets. And Israel was transported from their land to Assyria, where they are to this day. Before finishing the history of the northern kingdom of Israel, St. the writer takes a retrospective look at the entire history of this kingdom, examines it from a religious-pragmatic point of view, gives a philosophy of this entire history - talks about the reasons for the destruction of the people and the kingdom of Israel. The main reason for this destruction is Israel’s sin against Jehovah, who had been a blessing to Israel from the moment of its exodus from Egypt (v. 7; cf. Ex. 19:4–6; Hos. 13:4–6); the sacred writer more specifically defines: 1) as idolatry (vv. 8–12), including the service of the body (vv. 16–21); 2) as the extreme hardening of the hearts of the people to the broadcasts and warnings of the prophets of God (verses 13–14, 23); 3) as deep moral corruption and depravity of the people (verses 15–17), a vivid image of which we find in modern prophets, for example, in the prophet Hosea (Hosea 4:2,6:9,7:1,8–9,8:8–9,10:6). 2 Kings 17:24. And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, and from Kutah, and from Abba, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and began to live in its cities. According to the custom of all conquerors of antiquity, the king of Assyria, in the opinion of some, based on (1 Ezra 4:2), Asardan or Esargaddon, the son of Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:37), who ruled, according to Assyrian data, from 681 to 668, resettled instead of the inhabitants removed from the country of Israel - immigrants from different cities and provinces Assyrian. One must think that this migration occurred more than once (1 Ezra 4:2); part of the new population of Samaria arrived here already under Assarhaddon, this third successor of Shalmaneser. But the beginning of this colonization of the deserted country most likely dates back to the first time after the Assyrian captivity, that is, to the reign of Sargon. Geographical location of those mentioned in Art. 24 regions of the Assyrian kingdom, except for Babylon and Hamath, are not entirely reliably known. Babylon here, of course, probably as a whole region (as in Ps. 135:1), and not just a city. Kuta (LXX: Χοοθα, Vulg.: Cutha, slav.: Khufa, in cuneiform: Kutu) - according to I. Flavius (“Jewish Antiquities”, 9:14, 3) lies in Persia (τὸ Χονθαίων ᾿έθνος, οἴ πρότερον ενδοτέρω τῆς περσιδος καὶ τὴς Μηδίας ῆσαν ). Now they are identified either with the northeastern part of Khuzistan (ancient Susiana), or with greater right with Kut or Tell Ibrahim to the northeast of Babylon, in Babylonian Iraq in the vicinity of Nahr-Malk (Onomast. 972, Palest. Collection. Issue 37, p. 326). Apparently, migrants from Kuta constituted a predominant number in the mass of migrants: the name Kutim, Kuteans, was the name given by the Jewish tradition to the Samaritans, formed from the mixing of the Israelis who remained in their homeland with the Assyrian colonists, and this name became quite common in rabbinic and Talmudic writing (I. Flavius says: “in Hebrew the Huthites are called (“kutim”), in Greek they are called by the name of the Samaritans") 14. Abba (maybe identical with “Ibva”, 2 Kings 18:34); LXX: Αίά, Vulgata: Avah, slav.: “Aia”, identified with the river Agave or Auy, (1 Ezra 8:15,21,31); and is brought closer to the present Hito by a tributary of the Euphrates, east of Damascus (Onomasticon, 39). The position of Abba-Ibba in Syria is indicated by a comparison with Hamath (cf. 1 Kings 8:65; 2 Kings 14:25); Syrian city on Ordag. Likewise, the city of Sepharvaim probably lay in Syria (cf. 2 Kings 18:34,19:13; Isa.36:19,37:13); LXX: Ξετιφαροναιμ, Vulg.: Sepharvaim, slav.: “Sepfaruim”), conquered, perhaps, by Shalmaneser IV (according to the Babylonian chronicle - Sabarain). There are suitable records of all these migrations of Assyrian colonists to the devastated country of Israel in the inscriptions of Sargon (Schiader, Keilinschrife and A. T. 2 A. s. 276 ff). The new inhabitants of the former kingdom of Israel, resettled from different areas of Syria and Mesopotamia, probably spoke the same Aramaic dialect, which was then very close to Hebrew (2 Kings 18:26), and therefore could easily and quickly assimilate both among themselves and with the Israelis. The center of the colonies was Samaria and the entire surrounding region. 2 Kings 17:25. And just as at the beginning of their residence there they did not honor the Lord, the Lord sent lions against them, which killed them. 2 Kings 17:26. And they told the king of Assyria, and said: The nations whom you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the God of that land, and therefore He sends lions against them, and behold, they kill them, because they do not know the law of the God of that land. 2 Kings 17:27. And the king of Assyria commanded and said: Send there one of the priests whom you drove out from there; let him go and live there, and he will teach them the law of the God of that land. 2 Kings 17:28. And one of the priests who had been driven out of Samaria came and lived in Bethel and taught them how to honor the Lord. The deserted country met the new colonists unfavorably: wild animals, lions, multiplied in it, which even in the Law of Moses was represented as a special allowance of God (Lev.26:22; Exod.23:29). Thus, from their pagan point of view, it was precisely in the conviction that each country has its own god (1 Kings 20:23) that the pagan immigrants from Assyria understood this disaster, and in this thought they asked the Assyrian king to send to them a teacher of the law of the God of the land of Israel (verse 26). The priest sent for this purpose by the king of Assyria (according to I. Flavius, several priests were sent) was obviously one of the priests of the cult of calves introduced by Jeroboam I, as shown by the very fact of his settlement in Bethel (v. 28), the center of the said cult (1 Kings 12:29); He taught the new inhabitants to worship Jehovah, of course, according to the book of the law. 2 Kings 17:29. Moreover, each nation made its own gods and placed them in the churches of the high places that the Samaritans had built - each nation in their own cities where they live. 2 Kings 17:30. The Babylonians made Sukkot-Benoth, the Cuthians made Nergal, the Hamathites made Ashimah, 2 Kings 17:31. The Avvians made Nivhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvaimites burned their sons in fire to Adramelech and Anamelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. Just as in its ethnographic composition the new population of the territory of the former kingdom of Israel represented a combination of Jewish and alien elements, so in religion, in the worship of God of the new population, there was a duality: along with Jehovah (for a long time under the image of the calf - until the time of Josiah, 2 Kings 23:15) the different tribes that became part of it, each revered their own tribal god: the Babylonians - Sukkot-Benoth, the Gutians - Nergal, the Emathians - Ashim, the Abvians - Nivkhaz and Tartaka, and the Separvaimites will burn their children (i.e., a cult similar to Molochov) to their gods Adramelech and Anamelech. The nature of the cult of each of these deities is little known. Literally translating Sukkot-benof: “tents of daughters,” they saw (Selden, Münterg, Prof. Gulyaev) in this name an indication of the cult of the Babylonian Astarte, in which maidens sacrificed their virginity (last Jer. 42–43). But the reading of LXX: Σωκχώθ Βενίθ (famous: “Socth Venith”) gave grounds to Assyriologists (Jensen Schradef) to see in the second component of the name the Assyrian banitu as an epithet of the same Babylonian Astarte or Istar. (“Istar-banit” or “Tsarpanit”). Other Assyriologists consider this name to be an epithet of the god Merodach or Marduk and convey it as “the highest judge of the universe” (cf. Onomast. 204). Nergal, according to some, means “whirling light” (from the Hebrew ner - “light”, and galal - “to twirl”); under this name, the Persians and some other peoples allegedly idolized fire, which was constantly maintained in oil wells (Prof. Gulyaev, p. 350). According to Assyriologists (fr. Delitzseh), Nergal (LXX: Εργελ, Vulg.: Nergel, slav.: “Gigel”), called in wedge-shaped inscriptions the god of Kuta, among the Assyrians was the god of lions and was depicted in the form of a lion, and in its astronomical significance corresponded to Mars (Onomast. 748. Cf. Palmova, Idolatry among the ancient Jews, 353–355); According to the rabbis, Nergal was revered in the form of a rooster. The Emathite deity Ashima is not mentioned in the wedge-shaped inscriptions; name Ashima, LXX: Ασιμάθ, Vulg.: Asima, slav.: “Asimath” (Onomast. 160); brought closer to the Phoenician deity Esmun (8th planet), to the Persian Asuman, to the Zend Asmano, next. considered a planetary deity; on the other hand, following the rabbis, they consider the goat to be the emblem of Ashima and in the cult they see similarities with the Egyptian Mendes and the Greek Pan (Palmov, 365–367). Nivkhaz. (LXX: ῾εβλασερ, Vulg.: Nebahaz, slav.: “Avlazer” (Onomas. 743)) - the deity of the Abbes, is sometimes close to the Egyptian Anubis (it is assumed, like the latter, an idol with a dog’s head, as the rabbis said), sometimes he is considered an evil demon. Tartakh supposedly had a similar meaning as an underground evil deity. LXX: Θαρτάκ, slav.: “Farfak”; according to the rabbis, he was depicted as a donkey (Onomasticon, 507). Adramelech and Anamelech (Onomasticon, 25) are solar deities. Adramelech - an Akkadian deity, called the terrible lord of fire in wedge-shaped monuments, personified the destructive power of the sun, Anamelech - the beneficent; the second component of “melech”, like the fiery cult of human sacrifices, recalls Moloch, the pan-Semitic deity (cf. Palmov, 845–350). 2 Kings 17:32. Meanwhile, they also honored the Lord, and made them priests of the high places from among themselves, and they served among them in the churches of the high places. 2 Kings 17:33. They honored the Lord, and they served their gods according to the custom of the peoples from which they had evicted them. 2 Kings 17:34. To this day they act according to their former customs: they do not fear the Lord and do not walk according to the statutes and according to the rites, and according to the law and according to the commandments that the Lord commanded the sons of Jacob, to whom He gave the name Israel. 2 Kings 17:35. The Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them, saying: Do not honor other gods, and do not worship them, and do not serve them, and do not sacrifice to them, 2 Kings 17:36. but the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, honor Him and worship Him, and offer sacrifices to Him, 2 Kings 17:37. And the statutes, and the institutions, and the law, and the commandments, which He wrote to you, try to fulfill all the days, and do not honor other gods; 2 Kings 17:38. And do not forget the covenant that I made with you, and do not honor other gods, 2 Kings 17:39. Only honor the Lord your God, and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies. 2 Kings 17:40. But they did not listen, but acted according to their former customs. 2 Kings 17:41. These nations honored the Lord, but they also served their idols. And their children and their children's children do even to this day just as their fathers did. The mixed, or dual-faith, nature of the religion of the Samaritans, which remained so until the time of the saints, is described in detail. writer, i.e. until half of the 6th century BC, cf. bliss Theodorite, in question. 49. According to I. Flavius (Ant. Jude 9:13, 1), on the contrary, Hosea throughout the 9 years of his reign was distinguished by vile behavior in general and a contemptuous attitude towards the Eternal in particular. This Shalmaneser probably goes by the name of Shalman, Heb. Shalmam, from the prophet Hosea (Hosea 10:14 “Salman destroyed Beth Arbel”), according to the most likely explanation of this place. See prof. Brodovich, cit. op. With. 372–374 See Ebersa's article "So" in Handworterbuch des biblischen Alterthums, v. Ep. Riehm, Bd. ll (A, 2, 1894). s 1528 On Shalmaneser and Sargon, see Schrader's articles in the same Handworterbuch d. biblischen Alterthums, Riehm'a, Bd. II. s. s. 1350–1351 and 1387–1392 The traveler Ker-Porter found, on one of the hills between Babylon and Gamadan (probably ancient Ecbatana), a sculpture depicting 10 captives, of which one is trampled by an outstanding figure with his foot. By assumption, this is Sargan and 10 Israelites, as representatives of 10 tribes, led by their king, trampled under foot by Sargan. (Philippson. Jsraelit. Bibel ll, s 663). About Ragas and Ecbatanas, see prof. N. M. Drozdova about the origin of the book of Tobit. Kyiv 1901, p. 131, etc. Detailed and completely scientific information about the Samaritans in Russian can be read in the essays about them by Prof. V. P. Rybinsky “Proceedings of the Kiev Theological Academy” 1895 You might be interested in: