In the ninth year of Hosheathe king of Assyria took Samaria. — Comp. Hosea 10:5 seq.; Micah 1:6; Isaiah 28:1-4. In the great inscription published by Botta, Sargon says: “The city of Samaria I assaulted, I took; 27,280 men dwelling in the midst thereof I carried off; 50 chariots among them I set apart (for myself), and the rest of their wealth I let (my soldiers) take; my prefect over them I appointed, and the tribute of the former king upon them I laid.”
Placed them. — Literally, made them dwell. LXX.,
In Halah. — This place appears to be identical with Halahhu, a name occurring in an Assyrian geographical list between Arrabha (Arrapachitis) and Ratsappa (Rezeph). It probably lay in Mesopotamia, like Rezeph and Gozan. (See Note on 1 Chronicles 5:26.)
In Habor by the river of Gozan. — Rather, on Habor the river of Gozan.
The cities of the Medes.- The LXX. seems to have read “mountains of the Medes.” (Comp. Notes on 1 Chronicles 5:26, where “Hara and the river of Gozan” is probably the result of an inadvertent transposition of “The river of Gozan and Hara.”)