Matthew Poole and continuators on Isaiah 20:1

IN the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod , (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him) and fought against Ashdod and took it:

A great Commander in Sennacherib's Army, 2 Kings 18. 17.

An eminent and strong City of the Philistins, Ios. 13. 3. 1 Sam. 5. 1. in the utmost part of the Land of Canaan, towards Egypt.

What King of Assyria this was, is much disputed. It is well known, and confessed, that one and the same Person hath frequently several Names, both in Scripture, as hath been observed again and again, and in other Authors. And therefore this may be either, 1. Salmaneser, who, when he took Samaria, might also by Tartan take this Place; or, 2▪ Sennacherib, who, before he came to Ierusalem, came up against and took all the fenced cities of Iudah, 2 Kings 18. 13. of which Ashdod might be reckoned one, as being in the Tribe of Iudah, Ios. 13. 3. & 15. 47. and taken by Hezekiah from the Philistins, as it seems very probable from that Passage, 2 Kings 18. 8. He smote the Philistins even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city: Or, 3. Esarhadden, Sennacherib's Son, who, by cutting off the first Letter, is called Sarchedon, Tobit 1. 21. and thence possibly, by abbreviation, Sargon: Who might do this thing in Hezekiah's time, some years after his Father's Death, and his coming to the Empire, although it be not recorded in Scripture: For no man doubts that there were many great Actions in those Times, which are wholly omitted in the Sacred Writings.

Marginal references: 2 Kin. 18. 17.