And the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Asnappar brought over,.... The river Euphrates:and set in the cities of Samaria; placed there in the room of the Israelites carried captive; this Asnappar was, according to Jarchi and others Sennacherib; but, with Grotius, Shalmaneser; rather he was Esarhaddon, the son of the former, and grandson of the latter; so Dr.
Prideaux ; though he might be only some commander of the Assyrian monarch, who carried them over by his orders:and the rest that are on this side the river; the river Euphrates:and at such a time; which may respect the date of the letter, which, no doubt, was expressed, though not here given; or this, as some think, was the same with our &c.
something following, unto King Artaxerxes greeting, or something like that; though David de Pomis takes it to be the general name of the people beyond the river. Kimchi Sepher Shorash. fol. 166. 2. & Vajikra Rabba in ib.
T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 94. 1. Connexion, &c. vol. 1. p. 30. Tzemach David, fol. 63.