Gozan

The name of a river. (2 Kings 17. 6.)

Go´zan, a river of Media, to the country watered by which Tiglathpileser first, and after wards Shalmaneser, transported the captive Israelites (1Ch 5:26; 2Ki 17:6). It is now almost universally admitted that the Gozan is no other than the present Ozan, or, with the prefix, Kizzil-Ozan (Golden River), which is the principal river of that part of Persia that answers to the ancient Media. This river rises eight or nine miles south-west of Sennah, in Kurdistan. It runs along the north-west frontier of Iraq, and passes under the Kafulan Koh, or, Mountain of Tigris, where it is met by the Karanku. These two rivers combined force a passage through the great range of Caucasan, and, during their course, form a junction with the Sharood. The collective waters, under the designation of Sifeed Rood or White River, so named from the foam occasioned by the rapidity of its current, flow in a meandering course through Ghilan to the Caspian Sea.

Now the Ozan, a river of Media and the adjacent district, Isa 37:12, to which Tiglath-pileser and afterwards Shalmanezer sent the captive Israelites, 2Ki 17:6 ; 1Ch 5:26 . The Kizzil-ozan, or Golden River, is in the northwest part of Persia, and flows northeast, with large curves, into the Caspian Sea.\par

Go’zan. Gozan seems in the Authorized Version of 1Ch 5:26 to be the name of a river, but in 2Ki 17:6 and 2Ki 18:11, it is evidently applied, not to a river, but a country.

Gozan was the tract to which the Israelites were carried away captive by Pul, Tiglathpileser and Shalmaneser, or possibly Sargon. It is probably identical with the Gauzanitis of Ptolemy, and it may be regarded as represented by the Mygdonia of other writers. It was the tract watered by the Habor, the modern Khabour, the great Mesopotamian affluent of the Euphrates.

(Heb. Gozan’, גּוֹזָןaccording to Gesenius, quarry; according to Furst, ford; Sept. Γωζάν [v.r. Γωζάρ and Χωζάρ), the tract to which the Israelites were carried away captive by Pul, Tiglath-Pileser, and Shalmaeneser, or possibly Sargon (2Ki 17:6; 1Ch 5:26). It is also mentioned as a region of Central Asia, subject to the Assyrians (2Ki 19:12; Isa 37:12), situated on the Habor (2Ki 17:6; 2Ki 18:11). Ptolemy, in his description of Medias, mentions a town called Gauzania (Geogr. 6:2, 10), situated between the Zagros mountains and the Caspian Sea. Bochart (Opp. 1:194) and others (so Rosenmüller, Bibl. Geogr. I, 2:102) have attempted to identify this town with Gozan. Rennell further states that the river Gozan (1Ch 5:26) is the modern Kizl Ozon, which rises near Sinna, in the eastern part of the Zagros chain, and, after a winding course, joins the Sefid-rud, which flows into the Caspian (Geography of Herodotus, 1:521, 2d ed.; see also Ritter, Erdkundt 8:615; Ker Porter, Travels, 1:267; Kinnier, Memoir on the Persian Empire, page 121; Morier’s Second Journey, 1:267). This theory, however, places Gozan too far east for the requirements of the Scripture narrative. Dr. Grant supposes that the word Gozan signifies "pasture," and is the same as the moderna Gozan, the name given by the Nestorians to all the highlands of Assyria which afford pasturage to their flocks. He thinks that the ancient province of Gozan embraced the mountainous region east of the Tigris, through which the Khabuar and the Zab flow (Vestorian Christians, page 125 sq.). A close examination of the notices in Scripture, and a comparison of them with the Geography of Ptolemy and modern researches, enable us to fix, with a high degree of probability, the true position of Gozan. It appears from 2Ki 17:6 (also 2Ki 18:11), that Gozan was in Assyria, which is there distinguished from Media; and that Habor was a "river of Gozan." There can be little doubt that the Habor is identical with the Khabur of Mesopotamia. SEE HABOR.

Gozan must, therefore, have been in Mesopotamia. The words of 2Ki 19:12 appear to confirm this view, for there Gaozan and Haran are grouped together, and we know that Haran is in Mesopotamia. The conjunction of Gozan with Haran or Harran in Isaiah (Isa 37:12) is in entire agreement with the position here assigned to the former. As Gozan was the district on the Khabor, so Haran was that upon the Bilik, the next affluent of the Euphrates. SEE CHARRAN.

The Assynrian kings, having conquered the one, would naturally go on to the other. In 1Ch 5:26, Gozan is, by an erroneous rendering in the A.V., called a siver, and is distinguished from Habor. The true explanation seems to be, that in this passage Habor is the name of a district, probably that watered by the lower Khabur; while the upper part of the same river, flowing through the province of Gozan, is called נְהִר גּוֹזָן, the river of Gozan. Gozan seems to be mmentioned on the cuneiform. inscriptions (q.v.). Ptolemy states that Gauzantis (Γαυζανιτῖς) was one of the provinces of Mesopotamia adjoining Chalcitis (Geograph. 5:18, 4). The same province Strabo calls Mygdonia. (16:1, 27), which may probably be, as suggested by Rawlinson, another form of the same name (Ancient Monarchies, 1:245), מ; being prefixed and rendered into δ. As we find Haahe, Habor, and Haran grouped together in Mesopotamia; as we find beside them a province called Gauzanitis; and as in Scripture Gozan is always mentioned in connection with the above places, we may safely conclude that Gozan and Gauzanitis are identical. Gauzanitis lay along the southern declivities of Mons Malius, and extended over the region watered by the upper Khabur and Jerujer rivers to the ranges of Sinjar and Hamma. The greater part of it is an undulating plain, having a poor soil and scanty vegetation (Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, page 275). On the other hand, Mr. Layard describes the tract iminediately along the Khabur as one of remarkable fertility (ib. page 227) SEE CAPTIVITY.

Gozan (go’zan), quarry (?). A district to which the Israelites were carried captive. 2Ki 17:6; 2Ki 18:11; 2Ki 19:12; 1Ch 5:26; Isa 37:12. Gozan must not be considered as a river; rather the river mentioned in 1Ch 5:26 ran through it; it was probably the region called Gauzanitis by Ptolemy, and Mygdonia by other writers.

[Go’zan]

Region in Mesopotamia, to which some of the Israelites were carried captive. The ’river Gozan’ may signify the river at Gozan, and this is identified by most with the river Habor, now Khabour. A district about 37° N, 41° E. 2Ki 17:6; 2Ki 18:11; 2Ki 19:12; 1Ch 5:26; Isa 37:12.

GOZAN.—One of the places to which Israelites were deported by the king of Assyria on the capture of Samaria (2Ki 17:6; 2Ki 18:11, 1Ch 5:26; mentioned also in 2Ki 19:12, Isa 37:12). Gozan was the district termed Guzanu by the Assyrians and Gauzanitis by Ptolemy, and it was situated on the Khâbûr.

L. W. King.

gō´zan (גּוזן, gōzān; Γωζάν, Gōzán, Codex Vaticanus, Gōzár in 2Ki 17:6, Chōzár in 1Ch 5:26): A place in Assyria to which Israelites were deported on the fall of Samaria (2Ki 17:6; 2Ki 18:11; 1Ch 5:26). It is also mentioned in a letter of Sennacherib to Hezekiah (2Ki 19:12; Isa 37:12). The district is that named Guzana by the Assyrians, and Gauzanitis by Ptolemy, West of Nisibis, with which, in the Assyrian geographical list (WAI, II, 53, l. 43), it is mentioned as the name of a city (âlu Guzana; âlu Nasibina). It became an Assyrian province, and rebelled in 759 bc, but was again reduced to subjection. See HABOR; HALAH.