2 Kings 17:30. Hebrew "the tents of daughters," i.e. in which they prostituted themselves to the Babylonian goddess of love (Herodotus i. 109), or else "small shrines containing images of female deities." But, as the parallelism to Nergal and Ashima require a deity, Succoth Benoth is probably Ζirbanit , called wife of the Babylonian idol Merodach, and "queen" of Babylon. Thus Succoth "tents" would be a Hebrew mistranslation of Zir as if related to Jarat, whereas it means "supreme"; or Succoth is the Hamitic for Zir (Sir H. Rawlinson). The people of Hani (2000 B.C.), according to G. Smith's reading of an inscription, defeated the Babylonians, and carried away the image of Ζirat Βanit or Succoth Benoth.
From the co-author of the classic Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary, Fausset's Bible Dictionary stands as one of the best single-volume Bible encyclopedias ever written for general use. The author's writing style is always clear and concise, and he tackles issues important to the average student of the Bible, not just the Biblical scholars. This makes Fausset an excellent tool for both everyday Bible study and in-depth lesson or sermon preparation.Wikipedia
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