Sambation, Sanbation, Sabbation: In rabbinical literature the river across which the ten tribes were transported by Shalmaneser, King of Assyria, and about which so many legends subsequently accumulated that it was considered by some scholars to be altogether mythical.The name of the river occurs in the Targum of pseudo-Jonathan to Ex. xxxiv. 10: "I will remove them from there and place them beyond the River Sambation." R. Judah b. Simon said: "The tribes of Judah and Benjamin were not exiled to the same place as the ten tribes; for the latter were transported beyond the River Sambation," etc. (Gen. R. lxxiii.). The same statement is found in Num. R. xvi. and Yalk., Gen. 984. There is no indication whatever in these passages as to the origin of the name, nor as to any supernatural phenomenon in connection with the river. The only inference to be drawn from them is that the Sambation or Sabbation was a river of Media. It was therefore identified by Nahmanides, in his commentary on Deut. xxxii. 26, with the Gozan of the Bible (II Kings xvii. 6 and elsewhere).