Bryant G. Wood<\/b><\/p>\n
King Jehoash of Israel and King Ben-Hadad III of Aram (Syria) were contemporaries and mentioned together in the Bible. Their appearance together in another ancient inscription demonstrates the historical accuracy of the Biblical references<\/i>.<\/p>\n
In the second half of the ninth century BC Israel was subject to Hazael, king of Aram (2 Kgs 13:3, 22; Wood 2000). Aram was the kingdom north of Israel, centered around Damascus in southern Syria. During the reign of Hazael\u2019s son Ben-Hadad III, however, Israel was able to throw off the yoke of oppression. The name of Ben-Hadad III appears three times in the Bible in verses 13, 24 and 25 of 2 Kings chapter 13. He ruled at the time of Amaziah, king of Judah (796 to 767 BC), and Jehoash, king of Israel (798 to 782 BC). 2 Kings 13:3 relates that Israel was subject to Aram during the days of Hazael and Ben-Hadad. 2 Kings 13:24 records the death of Hazael and the taking of the throne by Ben-Hadad around 800 BC. 2 Kings 13:25 tells of Jehoash\u2019s victories over Ben-Hadad in the early eighth century BC.<\/p>\n
Ben-Hadad III<\/b><\/p>\n
Ben-Hadad III ruled for an unknown number of years in the early eighth century BC. His name means \u201cson of (the god) Hadad.\u201d We know of this king from three sources\u2014The Zakkur Stela, an inscription from the reign of the Assyrian king Adad-nirari III, and the Bible. The order of the events described in these sources is not known for certain, but scholars suggest they occurred in the order we have listed them (Pitard 1994: 221\u201322).<\/p>\n
The Zakkur Stela<\/b><\/p>\n
The Zakkur Stela was a memorial inscription set up by Zakkur, king of Hamath and Luash, adjacent city-states north of Aram in central Syria. It was discovered in 1904 in Afis, 25 mi southwest of Aleppo, Syria. Afis was undoubtedly the site of a shrine to Ilu-Wer, the Akkadian weather god, to whom the stela was dedicated. The inscription describes an attack on Hadrach, probably the capital of Luash, by a coalition of kings led by Ben-Hadad. Zakkur was able to turn back the attack with the help of his god Ba\u2019al-shemain (Rosenthal 1969:655\u201356). This record demonstrates the decline of Ben-Hadad\u2019s power on his northern frontier.<\/p>\n
In addition to the mention of the Biblical figure Ben-Hadad III, <\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 13:3 (Summer 2000) p. 90<\/p>\n
the Zakkur Stela is also interesting in that two of the places mentioned in the document are also recorded in the Bible\u2014Hamath and Hadrach. The city-state of Hamath is referred to many times in the Old Testament in connection with Aram. Solomon\u2019s kingdom extended as far as Hamath (2 Chr 8:4). Excavations at Hamath have produced evidence for a prosperous kingdom in Old Testament times. Hadrach is mentioned but once in the Bible, in Zechariah 9:1. Writing in post-exilic times, Zechariah declared, \u201cThe word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrach.\u201d The location of Hadrach is unknown.<\/p>\n
The Tell er-Rimah Stela<\/b><\/p>\n
A stela from the reign of Adad-nirari III, king of Assyria (810 to 783 BC), was found in excavations at Tell er-Rimah in 1967. Tell er-Rimah was a small fortified Assyrian provincial center 65 km (40 mi) west of Nineveh in modern Iraq. The stela records the taking of 2,000 talents of silver, 1,000 talents of copper, 2,000 talents of iron, 3,000 multi-colored garments, and an unspecified number of plain linen garments from Mari, king of Damascus (Page 1968: 143). Since a talent was ca. 30 kg (66 lb), these represent impressive amounts of booty! Although the document is undated, scholars believe the campaign recorded here took place in 796 BC during the reign of Ben-Hadad III (Pitard 1992: 664).<\/p>\n
The Calah Slab and Saba\u2019s inscriptions also refer to an attack against Mari king of Damascus by Adad-nirari III (Oppenheim 1969: 281\u201382). These most likely refer to the same campaign as the Tell er-Rimah Stela (Pitard 1987: 161\u201365). Mari is the Aramaic word for \u201cmy lord.\u201d The title was used by Ben-Hadad\u2019s predecessor Hazael, and apparently by Ben-Hadad III as well. It seems that the Assyrians mistook this title for the name of the king.<\/p>\n
The Assyrian campaign of 796 BC further weakened Aram and likely brought her under the vassalage of Assyria. This perhaps paved the way for Israel to assert her independence.<\/p>\n
Jehoash, King of Israel<\/b><\/p>\n
Jehoash and Ben-Hadad III<\/b><\/p>\n
The events of the 16-year reign of Jehoash are summarized in 2 Kings 13:10\u201325 and 14:8\u201316. His father was Jehoahaz (814\u2013798 BC) and his grandfather was the infamous Jehu (841\u2013814 BC). Jehoash followed in the footsteps of his predecessors in that,<\/p>\n
he did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit; he continued in them (2 Kgs 13:11).<\/p>\n
It was during the reign of Jehoash that the prophet Elisha died. As he lay dying Jehoahaz visited him and \u201cwept over him\u201d (2 Kgs 13:14). Elisha told Jehoash to shoot an arrow out the window and then proclaimed, \u201cThe Lord\u2019s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram! You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.\u201d Elisha then told Jehoash to strike the ground with the arrows. He struck it three times and stopped. At this, Elisha became angry and said,<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times\u201d (2 Kgs 13:17\u201319).<\/p>\n
The Tell er-Rimah Stela, 1.3 m (4.3 ft) high and 0.69 m (2.25 ft) wide. Adad-nirari III, slightly less than life-size, holds a mace in his left hand and around his head are divine symbols. Inscribed on the king\u2019s skirt is a 21 line inscription, of which nine lines were deliberately erased in antiquity. In the extant portion, Jehoash the Samaritan (Jehoash king of Israel, ruling from Samaria) and Mari (my lord) king of Damascus (probably Ben-Hadad III, king of Aram ruling from Damascus) are mentioned.<\/b><\/p>\n
Scripture records the fulfillment of Elisha\u2019s prophecy:<\/p>\n
Jehoash son of Jehoahaz recaptured from Ben-Hadad son of Hazael the towns he had taken in battle from his father Jehoahaz. Three times Jehoash defeated him, and so he recovered the Israelite towns (2 Kgs 13:25).<\/p>\n
Thus Israel regained her autonomy after many decades of subjugation to the kings of Aram.<\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 13:3 (Summer 2000) p. 91<\/p>\n
Jehoahaz and Amaziah<\/b><\/p>\n
Jehoahaz not only had to deal with enemies on his northern border, but he also had to contend with the aggressiveness of the king of Judah to the south. Amaziah challenged Jehoahaz, \u201cCome, meet me face to face\u201d (2 Kgs 14:8). Jehoahaz answered,<\/p>\n
A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, Give your daughter to my son in marriage. Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle underfoot. You have indeed defeated Edom and now you are arrogant. Glory in your victory, but stay at home! Why ask for trouble and cause your own downfall and that of Judah also? (2 Kgs 14:9\u201310).<\/p>\n
Amaziah ignored Jehoahaz\u2019s warning and the two of them faced off at Beth Shemesh in Judah. The Judahites were routed and Amaziah was captured. Jehoahaz went on to Jerusalem and destroyed 600 ft of the city wall. In addition,<\/p>\n
He took all the gold and silver and all the articles found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace. He also took hostages and returned to Samaria (2 Kgs 14:14).<\/p>\n
Jehoash and the Assyrians<\/b><\/p>\n
Jehoash had the upper hand over Ben-Hadad III and Amaziah. He did not fare as well against the Assyrians. Although the Bible says nothing about a contact with Assyria during the reign of Jehoash, the Tell er-Rimah stele states, \u201cHe [Adad-nirari III] received the tribute of Ia\u2019asu [Jehoash] the Samaritan\u201d (Page 1968: 143). Whether this was propagandistic boasting on the part of the Assyrians or actually happened, we cannot say. The significance of the reference, however, is not in its historical value, but the fact that the name Jehoash appears in a contemporary document. This reference to Jehoash outside the Bible, as with numerous other references to the kings of Israel and Judah, confirms the historical reliability of the Biblical record.<\/p>\n
Bibliography<\/b><\/p>\n
Oppenheim, A.L.<\/b><\/p>\n
1969 Babylonian and Assyrian Historical Texts. Pp. 265\u2013317 in Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament<\/i>, ed. J.B. Pritchard. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.<\/p>\n
Page, S.<\/b><\/p>\n
1968 A Stela of Adad-nirari III and Nergal Eres from Tell al Rimah. Iraq 30:<\/i> 139\u201353.<\/p>\n
Pitard, W.T.<\/b><\/p>\n
1987 Ancient Damascus<\/i>. Winona Lake In: Eisenbrauns.<\/p>\n
1992 Ben-Hadad. Pp. 663\u201365 in The Anchor Bible Dictionary<\/i>, vol. 1, ed. D.N. Freedman. New York: Doubleday.<\/p>\n
1994 Arameans. Pp. 207\u201330 in Peoples of the Old Testament<\/i> World, ed. A.J. Hoerth G.L. Mattingly and E.M. Yamouchi. Grand Rapids MI: Baker.<\/p>\n
Rosenthal, F.<\/b><\/p>\n
1969 Canaanite and Aramaic Inscriptions. Pp. 653\u201362 in Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament<\/i>, ed. J.B. Pritchard. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.<\/p>\n
Wood, B.G.<\/b><\/p>\n
2000 The Tel Dan Stela and the Kings of Aram and Israel. Bible and Spade<\/i> 13: 59\u201363.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bryant G. Wood King Jehoash of Israel and King Ben-Hadad III of Aram (Syria) were contemporaries and mentioned together in the Bible. Their appearance together in another ancient inscription demonstrates the historical accuracy of the Biblical references. In the second half of the ninth century BC Israel was subject to Hazael, king of Aram (2 … Continue reading “BEN-HADAD
\nIII, KING OF ARAM, AND JEHOASH, KING OF ISRAEL”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15295\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}