barker, the name of an idol, supposed to be an evil demon of the Zabians. It was set up in Samaria by the Avites (2Ki 17:31), probably in the form of a dog.

The Avites' idol introduced into Samaria by the Assyrian colonists planted there (2Ki 17:31). Botta represents a bitch suckling a puppy on a slab at the entrance of a temple at Khorsabad. A colossal figure of a dog was formerly between Berytus and Tripoli. So the rabbis derive N. from nabach, "to bark"; a dogheaded human figure, like the Egyptian Anubis.

An idol of the Avvites (2Ki 17:31). But the Heb. text is corrupt, and no identification of this deity is possible.

Nib'haz

Idol introduced into Samaria by the Avites. 2Ki 17:31.

Nib'haz

(the barker), a deity of the Avites, introduced by them into Samaria in the time of Shalmaneser.

2Ki 17:31

The rabbins derived the name from a Hebrew root nabach, "to bark," and hence assigned to it the figure of a dog, or a dog-headed man. The Egyptians worshipped the dog. Some indications of this worship have been found in Syria, a colossal figure of a dog having formerly stood at a point between Berytus and Tripolis.