The following synchronisms in Tiglath-pileser's annals, which may be safely trusted, are of supreme importance for the chronology of Israel and Judah: —
738 B.C., Menahem of Israel.
733-2 ,, Pekah of Israel.
732 ,, Ahaz of Judah.
731 (?) ,, Hoshea of Israel.
To this it may be added that Rezin of Damascus, as is stated both in the Bible and in the inscriptions, was the contemporary of all these kings.
If we accept n.c. S54 as the last year of Ahab, B.C. 842 as the first year of Jehu, and B.C. 722 as the date of the destruction of Samaria, we may construct the chronology of Israel as follows :—
842 B.C., 1st year of Jehu, who reigned 28 years.
814 ,, 1st year of Joahaz, ,, 17 ,,
797 ,, 1st year of Joash, ,, 16 ,,
782 ,, Iflth year of Joash and
1st year of Jeroboam II. ,, 41 ,,
742 „ 41st year of „
Zechariah reigned 6 months.
741 ,, Shallum one month.
1st year of Menahem, ,, 10 ,,
732 „ 10th „ „
1st year of Pekah.
731 „ 2nd year of Pekah
730 ,, 1st year of Hoshea „ 9 ,,
722 ,, 9lh year of Hoshea and conquest of Samaria. There is room in this arrangement for only a two- years' reign of I'ekah. Exactly the .same things are related of Pekahiah as of Pekah, and the two names are virtually the same (see above). It is clear that the original text of the 13k. of Kings had only one Pekah (or Pekahiah), who reigned
• Probably she was the princess of the BirVans (for which we may, however, substitute Sab'ft'ans, ndd . not to be con- founded with the Sal)*ieans. Nat*), an Arat)ian tribe which is always mentioned lirst in the inscriptions of Tifrlatli-itileser that speak of the tribute of the Arabians. (Mas'ieans = s;;'C, Temieans = N2>n, Saba'ans= Na;:% Khayappa'ans = nD*>\ etc.)
two years, between ilenahem and Hoshea. The addition of Pekah's twenty years to Pekahiah's two was the work of a later editor, and, as a result, all the synchronisms of Israel and Judah for this period naturally fell into disorder. Instead of there being an iireconcilable antagonism between the Bible and the inscriptions in relation to chronology, the latter rather help us to correct an old error in the text of the Bible (not in the Bible itself as the word of God — only in the text), while they have essentially confirmed the truth of the biblical narrative throughout.
We have still to speak of a policy which Tiglath- pileser was the first to introduce, and which essentially contributed to the strengthening of the Assyrian empire. In forming new provinces, he and his successors adopted the following plan. As the cuneiform inscriptions and the Books of Kings {e.g. 2 K 15-' 17'') relate, all sections of the population were transplanted into distant pro- vinces, and, conversely, the territories thus left empty were settled with other prisoners of war.
Finally, with regard to king Panammu of Sam'al, mentionea above in connexion with the year B.C. 738, the Berlin Museum now possesses several inscriptions from Zinjirli (south of Mar'ash, Assyr. Markasi) belonging to Panam- mu's son Sir-Iiokeb (33^2), which are written in old Phoen. characters, and composed in a dialect which is a mixture of Can. and Aramaic. These inscriptions mention Tiglath-pileser, — the word being spelt in the same way as in the OT, -lo'^a-^jn (it is also on one occasion spelt iD'SorSjr) — calling him ii^'ni'":, and on one occasion ' Lord of the four quarters of the earth ' nic Np-iN 'yai (Assyr. shar-kibrat-irbitti, king of the four quarters of the world). Panammu, son of Bir-zur, died in the camp of Tiglath-pileser at Damascus B.C. 733 or 732, whereupon Bir-Rokeb was appointed king of Sani'al by the Assyr. king. The inscriptions of Zinjirli relate that Bir-zur, the grandfather of Bir-Kokeb, was murdered by a usurper (probably the Asriya'u mentioned in the annals of Tiglath-pileser) from the neighbouring country of Ja'udi ('">«■), whereupon Panammu turned to Tiglath-))ileser for protection. It seems that in previous times another Panammu, son of Karal, had ruled over Ja'udi ('tn')! o"*^ of whose iuscripticins (in somewhat ancient writing) has lately been found. Both these Panammu belonged to the dynasty of Gabbar, which in the time of Shal- maneser ll. was in possession of Sam'al, and whose kings were called 1^3 ■j'ro (kings of Kabbar). The gods of Sam'al and Ja'udi are Iladad-El, Kokeb- Kl (who was also called ,i'a '';3 = Lord of the House), Shemesh, and Keshep — the last-named being a special god of Ja'udi. The name of the usurper Asriya'u (most probably = n<-i;;') points to an Israelitish descent. A usurper of Haraath in the time of Sargon was called sometimes IlCi- bi'di, sometimes la'u-bi'di, which also points to his Isr. origin. The redactors of the Books of Kings appear to have possessed information about this Asriya'u of Ja'udi, since they evidently identified hiin with king Uzziah • of Judah, antl in many places the name n-\r; has been substituted in the text for nvji. Sam'al, too ( = Northland), was not unknown to the Bible, for Nu 24-'* evidently ought to read : 'A vessel (?) shall come from Sam'al ('".sars) and boats from Kittira ((Cyprus) which .shall afflict Asshur (not Assyria, but = Asshurim, Gn 25^, 2 S 2'-'), and shall afflict Eber ; moreover, he himself also ( = ()g of Ba.shan, cf. LXX) shall come to destructicm.' The whole pa.ssage refers to the attacks made by the populations of the Mediter.