(10) They took it--i.e., the Assyrians took it. This reading is preferable to that of the LXX., Syriac, and Vulg. ("he took it"), as it was Sargon, not Shalman-eser, who took the city. Schrader is too positive in calling this "a certainly false pronunciation" of the Hebrew verb. (Comp. Note on 2Kings 17:5.) 2Kings 17:6, to which he refers as "decisive" for the singular here also, says that "the king of Assyria" (not Shalmaneser) took Samaria.

Verse 10. - And at the end of three years they took it. The expression, "at the end of three years," does not show that the three years were complete. On the contrary, as the siege Began in Hezekiah's fourth year, probably in the spring, and was over in his sixth, say, by the autumn, the entire duration was not more than two years and a half. The plural verb, יִלְכְּדֻהָ, "they took it," is remarkable, since it would have seemed more natural to write יִלְכְּדָהּ, "he took it" - and so the LXX., the Vulgate, and the Syriac - but the writer seems to have known that Shalmaneser did not take it, but died during the siege, the capture falling into the first year of Sargon (see the 'Eponym Canon,' pp. 65, 66). Even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is the ninth year of Hoshea King of Israel (see the comment on ver. 9), Samaria was taken (comp. 2 Kings 17:6).

18:9-16 The descent Sennacherib made upon Judah, was a great calamity to that kingdom, by which God would try the faith of Hezekiah, and chastise the people. The secret dislike, the hypocrisy, and lukewarmness of numbers, require correction; such trials purify the faith and hope of the upright, and bring them to simple dependence on God.And at the end of three years they took it,.... That is, at the first end of them, at the beginning, in which sense the phrase is taken in Deuteronomy 15:1, even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken: see 2 Kings 17:6.