Less than a century after Solomon's death, Assyria, a nation of northern Mesopotamia became an empire. Assyrian expansion into the region of Palestine (ca. 855-625 BC) had enormous impact on the Hebrew kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
Assyria lay north of the region of Babylonia along the banks of the Tigris River (Gen. 2:14) in northern Mesopotamia. The name Assyria (Hb., Ashshur) is from Asshur, its first capital, founded about 2000 BC. The foundation of other Assyrian cities, notably Calah and Nineveh, appears in Genesis 10:11-12.
Replica of the black obelisk of Shalmaneser III, kin of Assyria from 858 to 824 BC. The obelisk was discovered at Nimrud.
The history of Assyria is well documented in royal Assyrian annals, building inscriptions, king lists, correspondence, and other archaeological evidence. By 1900 BC these cities were vigorously trading as far away as Cappadocia in eastern Asia Minor. An expanded Assyria warred with the famous King Hammurabi of Babylon shortly before breaking up into smaller city-states about 1700 BC.
Beginning about 1300 BC, a reunited Assyria made rapid territorial advances and soon became an international power. Expanding westward, Tiglath-pileser I (1115-1077 BC) became the first Assyrian monarch to march his army to the shores of the Mediterranean. With his murder, however, Assyria entered a 166-year period of decline.
Assyria awoke from its dark ages under Adad-nirari II (911-891 BC), who reestablished the nation as a power to be reckoned with in Mesopotamia. His grandson, Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BC) moved Assyria toward the status of an empire. Ashurnasirpal II used a well-deserved reputation for cruelty to extort tribute and taxes from states within the reach of his army in predatory campaigns. He also rebuilt the city of Calah as the new military and administrative capital. Carved stone panels in Ashurnasirpal's palace there show violent scenes of the king's vicious campaigns against unsubmissive enemies.
Unusual pottery vessel from Assyrian trading colony period.
Ashurnasirpal's son Shalmaneser III (858-824 BC) continued a policy of Assyrian expansion through his annual campaigns in all directions. These were no longer mere predatory raids. Rather, they demonstrated a systematic economic exploitation of subject states. As always, failure to submit to Assyria brought vicious military action. The results, however, were not always a complete victory for Assyria. In such a context Assyria first encountered the Hebrew kingdoms of the Bible. In 853 BC at Qarqar in north Syria, Shalmaneser fought a coalition of 12 kings including Hadad-ezer (Ben-Hadad; 1 Kings 20:26,34) of Aram-Damascus and Ahab of Israel. This confrontation is not mentioned in the Bible, but it may have taken place during a three-year period of peace between Israel and Aram-Damascus (1 Kings 22:1). In his official inscriptions Shalmaneser claims victory, but the battle was inconclusive. In 841 BC he finally defeated Hazael of Damascus and on Mount Carmel received tribute from Tyre, Sidon, and King Jehu of Israel. A scene carved in relief on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser, unearthed at Calah, shows Jehu groveling before Shalmaneser, the only known depiction of an Israelite king.
Recarved fragment of Assyrian soldiers shooting at a town.
With the death of Shalmaneser, Assyria entered another period of decline during which she was occupied with the nearby kingdom of Urartu. For the next century only one Assyrian king seriously affected affairs in Palestine. Adad-nirari III (810-783 BC) entered Damascus, taking extensive tribute from Ben-hadad III. He is probably the “savior” of 2 Kings 13:5, who allowed Israel to escape domination by Aram-Damascus. Nevertheless, Adad-nirari also collected tribute from Jehoash of Israel.
Assyrian preoccupation with Urartu ended with the reign of Tiglath-pileser III (744-727 BC). The true founder of the Assyrian Empire, he made changes in the administration of conquered territories. Nations close to the Assyrian homeland were incorporated as provinces. Others were left with native rule but subject to an Assyrian overseer. Tiglath-pileser also instituted a policy of mass deportations to reduce local nationalistic feelings. He took conquered people into exile to live in lands vacated by other conquered exiles (cp. 2 Kings 17:24).
As Tiglath-pileser, also called Pul, arrived on the coast of Phoenicia, Menahem of Israel (2 Kings 15:19) and Rezin of Aram-Damascus brought tribute and became vassals of Assyria. An anti-Assyrian alliance quickly formed. Israel and Aram-Damascus attacked Jerusalem about 735 BC in an attempt to replace King Ahaz of Judah with a man loyal to the anti-Assyrian alliance (2 Kings 16:2-6; Isa. 7:1-6) and thus force Judah's participation. Against the protests of Isaiah (Isa. 7:4,16-17; 8:4-8), Ahaz appealed to Tiglath-pileser for assistance (2 Kings 16:7-9). Tiglath-pileser, in response, campaigned against Philistia (734 BC), reduced Israel to the area immediately around Samaria (2 Kings 15:29; 733 BC), and annexed Aram-Damascus (732 BC), deporting the population. Ahaz, for his part, became an Assyrian vassal (2 Kings 16:10; 2 Chron. 28:16,20-22).
Little is known of the reign of Tiglath-pileser's successor, Shalmaneser V (726-722 BC), except that he besieged Samaria for three years in response to Hoshea's failure to pay tribute (2 Kings 17:3-5). The city finally fell to Shalmaneser (2 Kings 17:6; 18:9-12), who apparently died in the same year. His successor, Sargon II (722-705 BC), took credit in Assyrian royal inscriptions for deporting 27,290 inhabitants of Samaria.
Sargon, king of Assyria, with vizier and royal functionary from Sargon's palace.
Sargon campaigned in the region to counter rebellions in Gaza in 720 BC and Ashdod in 712 (Isa. 20:1). Hezekiah of Judah was tempted to join in the Ashdod rebellion, but Isaiah warned against such action (Isa. 18). Meanwhile, unrest smoldered in other parts of the empire. A rebellious king of Babylon, Merodachbaladan, found support from Elam, Assyria's enemy to the east. Though forced to flee Babylon in 710 BC, Merodach-baladan returned some years later to reclaim the throne. He sent emissaries to Hezekiah in Jerusalem (2 Kings 20:12-19; Isa. 39), apparently as part of preparations for a concerted anti-Assyrian revolt.
From the late Assyrian period a human headed winged-apron sphinx.
News of Sargon's death in battle served as a signal to anti-Assyrian forces. Sennacherib (704-681 BC) ascended the throne in the midst of widespread revolt. Merodach-baladan of Babylon, supported by the Elamites, had inspired the rebellion of all southern Mesopotamia. A number of states in Phoenicia and Palestine were also in rebellion, led by Hezekiah of Judah. After subduing Babylon, Sennacherib turned his attentions westward. In 701 BC, he reasserted control over the city-states of Phoenicia, sacked Joppa and Ashkelon, and invaded Judah where Hezekiah had made considerable military preparations (2 Kings 20:20; 2 Chron. 32:1-8,30; Isa. 22:8b-11). Sennacherib's own account of the invasion provides a remarkable supplement to the biblical version (2 Kings 18:13-19:36). He claims to have destroyed 46 walled cities (2 Kings 18:13) and to have taken 200,150 captives. Sennacherib's conquest of Lachish is shown in graphic detail in carved panels from his palace at Nineveh. During the siege of Lachish, an Assyrian army was sent against Jerusalem where Hezekiah was “made a prisoner … like a bird in a cage.” Three of Sennacherib's dignitaries attempted to negotiate the surrender of Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:17-37), but Hezekiah continued to hold out with the encouragement of Isaiah (2 Kings 19:1-7,20-35). In the end the Assyrian army withdrew, and Hezekiah paid an enormous tribute (2 Kings 18:14-16). The Assyrian account claims a victory over the Egyptian army and mentions Hezekiah's tribute but is rather vague about the end of the campaign. The Bible mentions the approach of the Egyptian army (2 Kings 19:9) and tells of a miraculous defeat of the Assyrians by the angel of the Lord (2 Kings 19:35-36). The fifthcentury BC Greek historian Herodotus relates that the Assyrians suffered defeat because a plague of field mice destroyed their equipment. It is not certain whether these accounts can be combined to infer an outbreak of the plague. Certainly, Sennacherib suffered a major setback, for Hezekiah was the only ruler of the revolt to keep his throne.
Basalt relief orthostats belonging to a doorway. They portray the classes of the Assyrian army. From the neo-Assyrian period during the reign of Tiglathpileser (744-727 BC).
On a more peaceful front, Sennacherib conducted some major building projects in Assyria. The ancient city of Nineveh was rebuilt as the new royal residence and Assyrian capital. War continued, however, with Elam, which also influenced Babylon to rebel again. An enraged Sennacherib razed the sacred city in 689 BC. His murder, at the hands of his own sons (2 Kings 19:37) in 681 BC, was interpreted by Babylonians as divine judgment for destroying their city.
Esarhaddon (681-669 BC) emerged as the new king and immediately began the rebuilding of Babylon, an act which won the allegiance of the local populace. He warred with nomadic tribes to the north and quelled a rebellion in Phoenicia, while Manasseh of Judah remained a loyal vassal. His greatest military adventure, however, was an invasion of Egypt conducted in 671 BC. Pharaoh Taharqa fled south as Memphis fell to the Assyrians, but returned and fomented rebellion two years later. Esarhaddon died in 669 BC on his way back to subjugate Egypt.
After conducting a brief expedition against eastern tribes, Esarhaddon's son, Ashurbanipal (668-627 BC), set out to reconquer Egypt. Assisted by 22 subject kings, including Manasseh of Judah, he invaded in 667 BC. He defeated Pharaoh Taharqa and took the ancient capital of Thebes. Some 1,300 miles from home, Ashurbanipal had no choice but to reinstall the local rulers his father had appointed in Egypt and hope for the best. Plans for revolt began immediately; but Assyrian officers got wind of the plot, captured the rebels, and sent them to Nineveh. Egypt rebelled again in 665 BC. This time Ashurbanipal destroyed Thebes, also called No-Amon (Nah. 3:8, NASB). Phoenician attempts at revolt were also crushed.
Ashurbanipal ruled at Assyria's zenith but also saw the beginning of her swift collapse. Ten years after the destruction of Thebes, Egypt rebelled yet again. Assyria could do nothing because of a war with Elam. In 651 BC Ashurbanipal's brother, the king of Babylon, organized a widespread revolt. After three years of continual battles Babylon was subdued but remained filled with seeds of hatred for Assyria. Action against Arab tribes followed, and the war with Elam continued until a final Assyrian victory in 639 BC. That same year the official annals of Ashurbanipal came to an abrupt end. With Ashurbanipal's death in 627 BC, unrest escalated. By 626, Babylon had fallen into the hands of the Chaldean Nabopolassar. Outlying states, such as Judah under Josiah, were free to rebel without fear. War continued between Assyria and Babylon until, in 614 BC, the old Assyrian capital Asshur was sacked by the Medes. Then, in 612 BC, Calah was destroyed. The combined armies of the Babylonians and the Medes laid siege to Nineveh. After two months the city fell.
An Assyrian general claimed the throne and rallied what was left of the Assyrian army in Haran. An alliance with Egypt brought a few troops to Assyria's aid; but in 610 BC the Babylonians approached, and Haran was abandoned. In 605 BC the last remnants of the battered Assyrian Empire, along with their recent Egyptian allies, were deferred on the Battle of Carchemish. Assyria was no more.
The Gihon Spring in the Kidron Valley. King Hezekiah built a tunnel from the spring to the pool of Siloam which he built to provide water in the event of sieges like that threatened by Assyria's King Sennacherib.
Isaiah 10:5-7
Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger—
the staff in their hands is My wrath.
I will send him against a godless nation;
I will command him to go
against a people destined for My rage,
to take spoils, to plunder,
and to trample them down like clay in the streets.
But this is not what he intends;
this is not what he plans.
It is his intent to destroy
and to cut off many nations.
85 ISRAEL AND JUDAH IN THE DAYS OF JEROBOAM II AND UZZIAH
2 Chronicles 26:6-8
Uzziah went out to wage war against the Philistines, and he tore down the wall of Gath, the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod. Then he built cities in the vicinity of Ashdod and among the Philistines. God helped him against the Philistines, the Arabs that live in Gur-baal, and the Meunites. The Ammonites gave Uzziah tribute money, and his fame spread as far as the entrance of Egypt, for God made him very powerful.
87 THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE UNDER TIGLATH-PILESER III
2 Kings 15:19-20
Pul king of Assyria invaded the land, so Menahem gave Pul 75,000 pounds of silver so that Pul would support him to strengthen his grip on the kingdom. Then Menahem exacted 20 ounces of silver from each of the wealthy men of Israel to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria withdrew and did not stay there in the land.
Isaiah 7:1
This took place during the reign of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah king of Judah: Rezin king of Aram, along with Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, waged war against Jerusalem, but he could not succeed.
89 TlGLATH-PILESER III'S CAMPAIGNS
2 Kings 16:10
King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria. When he saw the altar that was in Damascus, King Ahaz sent a model of the altar and complete plans for its construction to Uriah the priest.
90 THE FALL OF SAMARIA AND DEPORTATION OF ISRAELITES
2 Kings 17:5-7
Then the king of Assyria invaded the whole land, marched up to Samaria, and besieged it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria. He deported the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah and by the Habor, Gozan's river, and in the cities of the Medes. This disaster happened because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God who had brought them out of the land of Egypt from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt and because they had worshiped other gods.
91 ASSYRIAN DISTRICTS AFTER THE FALL OF SAMARIA
2 Kings 17:24
Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in place of the Israelites in the cities of Samaria. The settlers took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.
93 PROPHETS OF THE EIGHTH CENTURY
2 Kings 19:5-7
So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah, who said to them, “Tell your master this, 'The LORD says: Don't be afraid because of the words you have heard, that the king of Assyria's attendants have blasphemed Me with. I am about to put a spirit in him, and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land where I will cause him to fall by the sword.'”
94 EIGHTH-CENTURY BC HEBREW HOME
Houses in the period of the OT usually were built around a central courtyard and entered from the street. They often were two stories high with access to the upper story coming from a staircase or a ladder. The walls of the house consisted of stone foundations with mud bricks placed on the stone layers or courses. They subsequently were plastered. Floors either were paved with small stones or plaster, or they were formed from beaten earth. Large wooden beams laid across the walls composed the supporting structure of the roof. Smaller pieces of wood or reeds were placed in between the beams and then covered with a layer of mud. Rows of columns placed in the house served as supports to the ceiling. Since the roof was flat, people slept on it in the hot seasons and also used it for storage. Sometimes clay or stone pipes that led from the roof to cisterns down below were used to catch rainwater.
The most common type of house was the so-called “four-room” house. This house consisted of a broad room at the rear of the house with three parallel rooms coming out from one side of the broad room. The back room ran the width of the building. Rows of pillars separated the middle parallel room from the other two rooms. This middle room actually was a small, unroofed courtyard and served as the entrance to the house. The courtyard usually contained household items such as silos, cisterns, ovens, and grinding stones and was the place where the cooking was done. The animals could have been kept under a covered section in the courtyard. The other rooms were used for living and storage.
Ovens were constructed with mud bricks and then plastered on the outside. One side of the oven had an air hole. A new oven was created whenever the old one filled up with ashes. By breaking off the top of the old oven and then raising the sides, a new oven was made.
Storage structures were common in the biblical period. Private and public grain silos were round and dug several feet into the ground. The builders usually erected circular mud brick or stone walls around the silo, but sometimes they did nothing to the pit or simply plastered it with mud. Rooms with clay vessels also served as storage space.
While the “four-room” house was the most common plan in Palestine, other arrangements existed. Some homes had a simple plan of a courtyard with one room placed to the side. Other houses had only two or three rooms; still others may have had more than four. The arrangement of the rooms around the open courtyard also varied. The broadroom at the rear of the house seems to be common to all plans.
96 HEZEKIAH'S PREPARATION FOR REVOLT
2 Kings 18:1-4
In the third year of Israel's King Hoshea son of Elah, Hezekiah son of Ahaz became king of Judah. He was 25 years old when he became king; he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi daughter of Zechariah. He did what was right in the LORD'S sight just as his ancestor David had done. He removed the high places and shattered the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake that Moses made, for the Israelites burned incense to it up to that time. He called it Nehushtan.
2 Kings 19:32-33
“Therefore, this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria:
'He will not enter this city
or shoot an arrow there
or come before it with a shield
or build up an assault ramp against it.
He will go back
on the road that he came
and he will not enter this city,
declares the LORD.'”
98 SENNACHERIB'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST JUDAH
Isaiah 36:1
In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria advanced against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
99 ASSYRIAN SUPREMACY IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY
2 Chronicles 33:10-11
The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they didn't listen. So He brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria. They captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.
100 THE RISE OF THE NEO-BABYLONIAN EMPIRE
Jeremiah 46:1-2
The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet about the nations:
Prophecies against Egypt
About Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Neco, Egypt's king, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the fourth year of Judah's King Jehoiakim son of Josiah.
2 Chronicles 35:20-24
After all this that Josiah had prepared for the temple, Neco king of Egypt marched up to fight at Carchemish by the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to confront him. But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, “What is the issue between you and me, king of Judah? I have not come against you today but to the dynasty I am fighting. God told me to hurry. Stop opposing God who is with me; don't make Him destroy you!”
But Josiah did not turn away from him; instead, in order to fight with him he disguised himself. He did not listen to Neco's words from the mouth of God, but went to the Valley of Megiddo to fight. The archers shot King Josiah, and he said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am severely wounded!” So his servants took him out of the war chariot, carried him in his second chariot, and brought him to Jerusalem. Then he died, and they buried him in the tomb of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
102 KINGS OF THE NEO-BABYLONIAN EMPIRE
103 NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S CAMPAIGNS AGAINST JUDAH
Jeremiah 52:4-5
In the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army. They laid siege to the city and built a siege wall all around it. The city was under siege until King Zedekiah's eleventh year.
Jeremiah 42:19
“The LORD has spoken concerning you, remnant of Judah: 'Don't go to Egypt.' Know for certain that I have warned you today!”
