Ezra 8:15 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

To the river that runneth to Ahava Or the river of Ahava, as it is called, Ezra 8:21; Ezra 8:31. By comparing of these places, it seems that Ahava was the name both of the river and of the town or place by which it ran. Either this was that river of Assyria, which other writers call Adiava, or Diava, which ran along the Adiabene, upon which Ptolemy places the city of Abane, or Aavane; or some other river which ran into the Euphrates. Here, some imagine, was the country which (2Ki 17:24) is called Ava, from whence the king of Assyria translated the people called Avites into Palestine, and in their room settled some of the captive Israelites. It was a common thing for those who travelled from Babylon to Jerusalem, in order to avoid the scorching heat of the desert of Arabia, to shape their course northward at first, and then turning westward, to pass through Syria into Palestine. But Ezra had a further reason for his taking this route; for, as he intended to get together as many Israelites as he could, to carry along with him to Jerusalem, he took his course this way, and made a halt in the country of Ava, or Ahava, from whence he might send emissaries, to a place afterward mentioned, to invite such Jews as were there to come and join him. See Calmet's Dict. on the word Ahava. And found there none of the sons of Levi To wit, who were simple Levites, and not priests; and therefore the Levites mentioned Ezra 7:7, by anticipation, were not yet come to him.