Difference between revisions of "Kir"

<p> "A wall", or "place fortified with a wall".) </p> <p> '''1.''' An Armenian region subject to Assyria, Kurgistan or [[Georgia]] between the Black and Caspian seas (&nbsp;Isaiah 22:6). The river Kur (Cyrus) in it falls into the Caspian Sea. From [[Kir]] the [[Syrians]] migrated originally; and to it they were removed from [[Damascus]] by Tiglath Pileser (&nbsp;2 Kings 16:9). [[Esarhaddon]] had subdued [[Armenia]] (according to [[Assyrian]] inscriptions: Rawlinson, Herodotos i. 481), warring with it as the harbourer of his father Sennacherib's two parricidal murderers (&nbsp;Amos 1:5; &nbsp;Amos 9:7). Keil thinks Kir to be Kurena along the river Mardus in Media, or else Karine a town in Media, on the ground that the remote parts of Armenia were beyond the Assyrian empire (&nbsp;2 Kings 19:37); but Esarhaddon subdued it. The Septuagint,Vulgate, and [[Targum]] rendering "Cyrene" favor Keil. </p> <p> '''2.''' KIR [[Haresh, Heres, Hareseth, Haraseth]]  or of MOAB. From '''''Harith''''' "a hill" Arabic), or '''''Heres''''' "baked clay," namely, the walls being of brick (?). Moab's two strongholds were [[Ar]] (mother) of Moab, the metropolis, and Kit of [[Moab]] (&nbsp;2 Kings 3:25) on the most elevated hill in the country (&nbsp;Isaiah 16:7; &nbsp;Isaiah 16:11; &nbsp;Isaiah 15:1; &nbsp;2 Kings 3:25; &nbsp;Jeremiah 48:31; &nbsp;Jeremiah 48:36). Here the [[Moabite]] king made his last stand against confederate Israel, Judah, and Edom, (See [[Dibon]] .) Here he sacrificed his son and so created "indignation against Israel," because they had reduced him to such an awful extremity; the Israelites' own superstitious fears were excited and they withdrew from the expedition; then followed Mesha's victorious campaign recorded on the Dibon stone. </p> <p> Now ''Kerak'' , capital of Moat, on the top of a hill 3,000 feet above the [[Dead]] Sea, surrounded on all sides by deep ravines, and these by hills from whence the [[Israelite]] slingers hurled when they could not take the place; entered by a tunnel through the solid rock for 100 feet distance; a deep. rock hewn moat separates the massive citadel from the town. [[Kiriah]] is the archaic term; [[Ir]] and Ar the more recent terms for a city. Kereth the Phoenician form appears in Carthage, Cirta. In the Bible we have [[Kerioth]] (i.e. "the cities"), Kartah, [[Kartan]] (&nbsp;Joshua 21:32; &nbsp;Joshua 15:25; &nbsp;Jeremiah 48:23-24; &nbsp;Jeremiah 48:41; &nbsp;Amos 2:2). </p>

<p> ''''' kûr ''''' , ''''' kir ''''' ( קיר , <i> ''''' kı̄r ''''' </i> ): </p> 1. Meaning: <p> The meaning of Kir is "inclosure" or "walled place," and it is therefore doubtful whether it is a place-name in the true sense of the word. In &nbsp;2 Kings 16:9 it is mentioned as the place whither Tiglath-pileser [[Iv]] carried the Syrian (Aramean) captives which he deported from Damascus after he had taken that city. In &nbsp;Amos 1:5 the prophet announces that the people of Syria (Aram) shall go into captivity unto Kir, and in &nbsp; Amos 9:7 it is again referred to as the place whence the Lord had brought the Syrians (Arameans) as Israel had been brought out of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor. </p> 2. How Rendered in the Septuagint: <p> Except in one manuscript (Septuagint, Codex Alexandrinus), where it appears as the [[Libyan]] Cyrene (&nbsp;2 Kings 16:9 ), it is never rendered in the [[Septuagint]] as a place-name. Thus the place whence the Syrians were brought (&nbsp;Amos 9:7 ) is not Kir, but "the deep" or "the ditch" Septuagint ἐκ βόθρου , <i> ''''' ek ''''' </i> <i> ''''' bóthrou ''''' </i> , "pit"), probably a translation of some variant rather than of the word "Kit" itself. [[Comparing]] the Assyrian-Babylonian <i> ''''' kîru ''''' </i> (for <i> ''''' qı̂ru ''''' </i> ), "wall," "inclosure," "interior," or the like, Kir might have the general meaning of a place parted off for the reception of exiled captives. Parallels would be <i> ''''' Ḳir ''''' </i> <i> ''''' Moab ''''' </i> , "the enclosure of Moab," <i> ''''' Ḳir ''''' </i> <i> ''''' Ḥeres ''''' </i> or <i> ''''' Ḳir ''''' </i> <i> ''''' Ḥareseth ''''' </i> , "the enclosure of brick" Septuagint <i> ''''' hoi ''''' </i> <i> ''''' lı́thoi ''''' </i> <i> ''''' toú ''''' </i> <i> ''''' toı̄chou ''''' </i> ). It seems probable that there was more than one place to which the [[Assyrians]] transported captives or exiles, and if their practice was to place them as far as they could from their native land, one would expect, for Palestinian exiles, a site or sites on the eastern side of the Tigris and Euphrates. </p> 3. An Emendation of &nbsp;Isaiah 22:5 : <p> In &nbsp;Isaiah 22:5 occurs the phrase, "a breaking down of the walls, and a crying to the mountains" ( <i> ''''' meḳarḳar ''''' </i> <i> ''''' ḳı̄r ''''' </i> <i> ''''' we ''''' </i> - <i> ''''' shōa‛ ''''' </i> <i> ''''' 'el ''''' </i> <i> ''''' hā ''''' </i> - <i> ''''' hār ''''' </i> - "a surrounding of the wall," etc., would be better), and the mention of <i> ''''' ḳı̄r ''''' </i> and <i> ''''' shōa‛ ''''' </i> here has caused Fried. Delitzsch to suggest that we have to read, instead of <i> ''''' ḳı̄r ''''' </i> , <i> ''''' ḳōa' ''''' </i> , combined with <i> ''''' shōa' ''''' </i> , as in &nbsp;Ezekiel 23:23 . Following this, but retaining <i> ''''' ḳı̄r ''''' </i> , Cheyne translates "Kir undermineth, and [[Shoa]] is at the mount," but others accept Delitzsch's emendation, Winckler conjecturing that the rendering should be "Who stirreth up Koa' and Shoa' against the mountain" ( <i> Alttest. Untersuchungen </i> , 177). In the next verse (&nbsp;Isaiah 22:6 ) Kir is mentioned with Elam - a position which a city for western exiles would require. </p> 4. [[Soldiers]] of Kir in Assyrian Army: <p> The mention of Elam as taking the quiver, and Kir as uncovering the shield, apparently against "the valley of the vision" (in or close to Jerusalem), implies that soldiers from these two places, though one might expect them to be hostile to the Assyrians in general, were to be found in their armies, probably as mercenaries. See Fried. Delitzsch, <i> [[Wo]] lag das </i> <i> Paradies? </i> 233; Schrader, <i> Cot </i> , 425. </p>

<p> (Heb. id., '''''קַיר''''' '','' a ''Wall Or Fortress,'' as often; Sept. always as an appellative, '''''Τεῖχος''''' , '''''Πόλις''''' , '''''Βόθρος''''' , etc., but v. r. '''''Χαῤῥάν''''' , '''''Κυρηνή''''' '','' etc.), a people and country subject to the Assyrian empire, mentioned in connection with Elam (&nbsp;Isaiah 22:6), to which the conquered [[Damascenes]] were transplanted (&nbsp;2 Kings 16:9; Amos i, 5), and whence the Aramaeans in the east of Syria at some time or other migrated (&nbsp;Amos 9:7). This is supposed by major Rennel to be the same country which still bears the name of [[Kurdistan]] or Koordistan ''(Geogr. Of Herodot.'' p. 391). There are, however, objections to this view which do not apply so strongly to the notion of Rosenmuller and others, that it was a tract on the river [[Cyrus]] (Pliny, ''Hist. Nat. 6:'' 10; Ptolemy, 5:12) ''( '''''Κῦρος''''' '' and '''''Κύῤῥος''''' , in [[Zend]] ''Koro),'' which rises in the mountains between the [[Euxine]] and Caspian Seas, and runs into the latter after being joined by the Araxes (Busching, ''Magaz.'' 10:420; compare Michaelis, Spicil. ii, 121; Suppl. 2191; Gesenius, Thesaurus, p. 1210); still called Kur (Bonomi, Niveveh, p. 47, 71). Gurjistan, or Grusia (Grusiana), commonly called Georgia, seems also to have derived its name from this river Kur, which flows through it. Others compare Curena or Curna of [[Ptolemy]] ( '''''Κουρήνα''''' or '''''Κοῦρνα''''' , 6:2, 10, Chald. '''''קרני''''' ), a city in the south of Media, on the river Mardus (Bochart, ''Phaleg, 4:'' 32); Vitringa the city ''Carine,'' also in Media ( '''''Καρίνη''''' , Ptolemy, 6:2, 15), now called Kerend (Ritter, Erdk. 9:391). Some region in Media is perhaps most suitable from the fact that Armenia, whose northern boundaries are washed by the river Cyrus, was probably not a part of [[Assyria]] at the time referred to (see Knobcl, Prophet. ii, 108), Keil (Comment. on Kings, ad loc.) thinks the [[Medes]] must be meant, erroneously imagining that the inhabitants of Kir are spoken of in Isaiah as good bowmen. The Sept. (Vat. MS. at 2 Kings), the Vulg., and Chald. (at 2 Kings and Amos), and [[Symmachus]] (at Amos ix), render Cyrene! </p> <p> For Kit of Moab (&nbsp;Isaiah 15:1), (See [[Kir-Moab]]) </p>