2 Kings 17:30

30. Succoth-benoth These words mean, in Hebrew, tents of daughters; and most expositors explain them of the tents in which the Babylonian women prostituted themselves in honour of Mylitta, the Assyrian Venus. Herodotus. But the context shows that Succoth-benoth is the name of an idol, as are Nergal and Ashima; and Furst thinks its etymology must not be sought in Hebrew. Sir H. Rawlinson considers it a modified form of the name of Zir-banit, who was worshipped at Babylon, and is represented in the inscriptions as the wife of Bel-Merodach. “From a passage in the great inscription of Nebuchadnezzar, where the goddess is, as usual, associated with Merodach, it is evident that Zir must be a proper name, and that banit, ‘genitrix,’ is the mere feminine of bann, which, is one of the standard epithets of Merodach. The name, as written in the passage referred to, is Zir Umbanitrya, or ‘Zir, the mother who bore me;’ and it is almost certain, that in this title we must look for the original form of the Succoth-benoth of Scripture, the goddess worshipped by the Babylonian colonists in Samaria.” RAWLINSON’S Herodotus, vol. i, p. 513.

Nergal This idol is thus described by G. Rawlinson: ( Ancient Monarchies, vol. i, p. 136:) “His name is evidently compounded of the two Hamitic roots nir, ‘a man,’ and gula, ‘great;’ so that he is ‘the great man,’ or ‘the great hero.’ He is the special god of war and of hunting, more particularly of the latter. His titles are, ‘the king of battle,’ ‘the champion of the gods,’ ‘the storm ruler,’ ‘the strong begetter,’ ‘the tutelar god of Babylonia;’ and ‘the god of the chase.’ The city peculiarly dedicated to Nergal was Cutha, which is constantly called his city in the inscriptions.”

Ashima Of this idol little is known, and its name is of uncertain etymology. The rabbies assert that it was worshipped under the form of a bare goat, that is, a goat without wool, but this opinion seems to rest on no certain evidence. Possibly Ashima ( אשׂימא ) is identical with Eshmon, ( אשׁמן ,) the Phenician Esculapius, or god of medicine.