Isaiah 10:9
9 Is not Calno [Kalneh] as
Carchemish [Karkamiysh]? is not Hamath [Chamath] as Arpad ['Arpad]? is not
Samaria [Shomarown] as Damascus [Dammeseq]? KJV-Interlinear
9 "Is not
Calno like Carchemish, Or Hamath like Arpad, Or Samaria like Damascus? NASB
This is a list of six
powerful cities that were conquered by Assyria, and the king of Assyria is
making a comparison of each of them, in that they all fell to his
invasion. They all were easily
conquered. They were all great in their own
right, but still could not stand before Assyria. The obvious conclusion in the mind of the
Assyrian king is that Assyria was greater than any and all of these great
cities.
Calno was a city in the
land of Shinar, the city built by Nimrod, called in Gen 10:10, Calneh, and at
one time the capital of his empire, and the probable location of the Tower of
Babel. Amos 6:2 speaks of the desolation
of that city.
Carchemish was a city on
the Euphrates, belonging to Assyria. It was taken by Necho, king of Egypt, and
re-taken by Nebuchadnezzar in the fourth year of Jehoiachin, king of Judah; 2
Kings 23:29.
Hamath was a city of
Syria. It is referred to in Gen 10:18, as the seat of one of the tribes of
Canaan. It is mentioned as the northern limit of Canaan, Num 13:21; Josh 13:5;
Judg 3:3. The Assyrians took the city about 753 B.C., 2 Kings 17:24.
Arpad is a city not far
from Hamath, and is called by the Greeks Epiphania; 2 Kings 18:34.
Samaria is the capital
city of Israel, or Ephraim.
Damascus is the capital
of Syria;
All of these cities had
reputations of greatness of one type or another, and the whole point of this
boasting, is that they all succumbed to Assyria, despite their greatness,
despite their heritage.
Assyria presumes himself
as greater than all of these cities and related nations, greater than all of
their kings. That his own princes are
greater than their kings, and then of course, the king of Assyria is greater
than his own promoted princes as kings, making him the king of kings or kings.
The boasting is beyond
arrogant.
