e,ccording to the Assyrian chronology. Assyria was at this time pressing especially upon the Syrian states, the Hamathites, Hittites, Syrians of Damascus, and Phcenicians. Shalmaneser contended successively with the Benhadad who preceded Hazael on the Damascene throne, and with Hazael himself; his reign, according to the Assyrian reckoning, extended from n.c. 860 to B.c. 825. 1 His attacks, and those of his successor, Shamaa-Vul (B.C, 825-810), may have advantaged the Israelites by weakening the Damascene kingdom, which was at this time their principal adversary (see eh. x. 32, 33; xii. 17, 18; xiii. 17-25). !,,,, The advance of Assyria, though not uncheckered by defeats, continued, without serious interruption, until, in the reign of Men.ahem (B.C. 770-760), an actnal invasion of the northern kingdom took place under a monarch called Pul (eh. xv. 19; 1 Chron. v. 26), who put the land to a tribute of a thousand talents of silver. The native monuments make no mention of this Pul, for he can scarcely be Tiglath-pileser, who took the name and reigned as Pulu (Pul or Porns) in Babylon for two years (B.C. 729-728) before his decease in B.C. 727; since Pulis distinguished from Tiglath-pileser both in Kings {eh. xv. 19, 29) and in Chronicles (1 Chron. v. 26), and moreover Tiglath-pileser's first year was B.O. 745. It seems most probable that the Pul who attacked Menahem was a pretender to the throne of Assyria, contemporary with Asshur-dayan III. (B.C. 771-753), in whose time we hear of several revolts, and midway in whose reign three copies of the Eponym Canon. draw a line, the usual sign of the commencement of a new reign.2 Pul may have been acknowledged as King of Assyria by a portion of the nation from B.C. 763, where the line is drawn, to B.C. 758, when peace is sa.id to have been restored to the land; and during this interval may have made the expedition mentioned in eh. xv. 19. Of the expedition of Tiglath-pileser against Pekah King of Israel, which resulted in the conquest of the trans-J ordanic territory, and the captivity of the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (1 Chron. v. 26; comp. eh. xv. 19), the Assyrian annals contain a fragmentary account, as well as of the war between the same monarch and Rezin King of Damascus, mentioned in eh. xvi. 9. Tiglath-pileser appears in his inscriptions as a great and warlike monarch, who re-established the military supremacy of Assyria over Western Asia after a period of depression. He seems to have ascended the throne in the year B.O. 745, and to have reigned from that date until B.O. 727-a space of eighteen years. In the earlier part of his reign he seems to have invaded Judiea, probably from the Philistine plain, and to have been engaged for some time in a war with a king of Judah whom he calls Azariah, but who must apparently have been either Jotham or Ahaz. This war, which is not mentioned in Scripture, had no important result; but in a little time it was followed by another whioh greatly increased the influence of Assyria in the Palestinian region. Ahaz now certainly occupied the Judwan throne, while that of Samaria.was held 1 1 Epon1111 Canon,' pp, 59, 60 ! Ibid., pp. 48, 63. X IN'l'HODUC'l'lON ·To
by Pekah, and that of Damascus by Rezin. Thil northern kings were anxious to form e. Syrian confederacy against Assyrian aggression, e.nd invited .A.haz to join them; but, that monarch declining, they resolved to pnt him down, and give his 1..-ingdom to a creature 0£ their own, a certain Ben-Tabeal (Isa. vii. 6), who is thought to have been a Damascene. 1 Under these circumstances, .A.haz invoked the aid of 'l'iglath-pileser against their common enemies (eh. xvi. 7), and a war followed, which lasted apparently three years (B.c. 734-732). Tiglath-pileser's first efforts were against Rezin. .A.ft.er several battles in the open field, wherein the Assyrian arms were successful, he forced the Syrian king to take refuge within. the walls 0£ Dama.sons, which he then besieged and took.2 Rezin fell intci his hands, and vras slain ( eh. xvi. 9) ; several 0£ his generals were impaled on crosses; the country was ravaged; the unarmed inhabitants seized, and the mass of them carried away as captives.8 The war was then carried from the Damascene territory into that of Samaria, which was entered .upon the north and upon the east, and treated much as the Damascene had .been. The ca1Jtivity of Israel commenced. Assyria extended .her. territory from the Lebanon and the Hamathites' country, to the hills .0£ Galilee.and the coast of the Dead Sea. Judrea., under .A.haz, became her tributary,' as did Moab, Edom, and .A.mmon.6 In Samaria a new ·king was set ilp in .the person of Hoshea, who murdered Pekah, with the· connivance of the .Assyrian monarch.8 The .Assyrian records agree with Scripture in making a Shalmaneser (Shalmaneser IV.) the successor of Tiglath-pileser,7 though they do not represent Shalmaneser (as Scripture has generally been supposed to do) •as the conqueror of Samaria. They give to this king a reign of five years only, from B.C. 727 to B.c. 723, a.nd represent him <tS a warlike monarch, engaged. in a series of military expeditions; but the notices of him which have come down to us are extremely scanty and fragmentary, and throw little light on the biblical narrative. We-learn, however, from-Phcenician sources;'! that Shalmaneser's wars were at any rate in the neighbourhood of Palestine, since we are told that he overran all Phcenicia, took Sidon, the continental Tyre, and .A.li:ko, and even at~3icked th!l island Tyre .with ,a: fleet manned chiefly by Phoonician sailors._ .. His enterprises seem to ·have- been cut short by a domestic revolution, headed by. the great Sargon, .who :drove· Shalma- ueser from the throne, probably put him to.death, and: mutilated his annals. 1 Ewald, • History of Israel,' vol. iv. p.158, . .. . . . ,.. , , ... ' G. Smit ii, • Eponym Canon,' p: 121. . • Ibid.; comp. eh. xvi. 9. . : • .. • Ch. xvi. 8; comp. eh. 'xvili 7 and 'Eponym Canon,' p. 124, where Ahaz seems to 'be mentioned as a tributary under the name of ".Jehoabaz." .J '· • 'Eponym Canon,' p. 12!, lines 60, 61. •. ~n eh. xv. <JO, the murder of Pekah ~ assigned toHoshea; but in the annals,ofTiglatb~ pileser (' Eponym Canon,' p. 123, line 17) that monarch ap1iei.rs to barn repreao~4l,d it a, l\i1 own act. He certainly made Hoshea king. • ' 15ee the 'Eponyru Canon,' p. G5. • Menanil. }<;ph. ap. Joseph.• Ant. Jut.I.,' iL a, THE SECOND BOOK OF 'l'HE KINGS. xi