And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
The King of Assyria brought men from Babylon ... The places vacated by the captive Israelites he ordered to be occupied by several colonies of his own subjects from Babylon an other provinces.
From Cuthah - or Tiggaba, a city about fifteen miles northeast from Babylon, now Ibrahim, specially dedicated to Nergal, deified Nimrod (Rawlinson's 'Herodotus,' 1:, p. 632; also 2:, p. 587), and uniformly designated his city in the ancient inscriptions (see the notes at 2 Kings 17:30); Josephus places Cuthah in Persia ('Antiquities,' b. 9:, ch. 14:; see also 'Journal of Royal Asiatic Society,' vol. 10:, 15, 23, note.
And from Ava - or Ahava (Ezra 8:15; Ezra 8:21), now Hit, situated on the Euphrates, in the northern extremity of Babylon (see Rawlinson's 'Herodotus,' 1:, p. 602).
And from Hamath - the chief city of Upper Syria which, on the conquest and death of Rezin, fell into the hands of the Assyrian conqueror (2 Kings 18:34; 2 Kings 19:13).
And from Sepharvaim. The name has a dual termination, because there were two places so called, on either side of the Euphrates. It is now Sippara, at Sura, near Mosaib, about twenty miles directly above Babylon (see the notes at 2 Kings 19:13) (Rawlinson, 'Bampton Lectures,' pp. 406, 407; and 'Ancient Monarchies,' 1:, pp. 20, 27, 172).
And placed them in the cities of Samaria ... It must not be supposed that the Israelites were universally removed to a man. A remnant was left, chiefly, however, of the poor and lower classes, with whom these foreign colonists mingled, so that the prevailing character of society about Samaria was pagan, not Israelite; for the Assyrian colonists became masters of the land, and forming partial intermarriages with the remnant Jews, the inhabitants became a mongrel race, no longer a people of Ephraim (Isaiah 7:6), who, imperfectly instructed in the creed of the Jews, acquired also a mongrel doctrine. Being too few to replenish the land, lions, by which the land had been infested (Judges 14:5; 1 Samuel 17:34; 1 Kings 13:24; 1 Kings 20:36; Song of Solomon 4:8), multiplied, and committed frequent ravages upon them. Recognizing in these attacks a judgment from the God of the land, whom they had not worshipped, they petitioned the Assyrian court to send them some Jewish priests, who might instruct them in the right way of serving Him. The king, in compliance with their request, sent them one of the exiled priests of Israel, who established his headquarters at Beth-el, and taught them how they should fear the Lord. It is not said that he took a copy of the Pentateuch with him, out of which he might teach them. Oral teaching was much better fitted for the superstitious people than instruction out of a written book. He could teach them more effectually by word of mouth. Believing that he would adopt the best and simplest method for them, it is unlikely that he took the written law with him, and so gave origin to the Samaritan copy of the Pentateuch (Davidson's 'Criticism'). Besides, it is evident from his being one of the exiled priests, and from his settlement at Beth-el, that he was not a Levite, but one of the calf-worshipping priests, and, consequently, that his instructions would be neither sound nor efficient.