[ahtimeline-event-heading]
Omri was northern Israel’s most powerful king. Having established his new capitol at Samaria, he cement an alliance with Ittobaal, king of the Phoenicians, by marrying his son, Ahab, to Jezebel, the daughter of Ittobaal. This made a lot of sense politically. As long as Israel and Phoenicia were united, they were able to counterbalance the rising power of the Aramaeans in Damascus.
But this alliance brought with it other consequences not so readily perceived. Jezebel brought the cult of the Tyrian Baal to Samaria, a cult vigorously opposed by Elijah and Elisha, who saw the corrupting influence it could have on the nation. The conflict came to a head over a seemingly minor incident. Ahab wished to build a new palace in Jezreel but the land he selected for the palace belonged to Naboth who wasn’t interested in selling. While Ahab went about sulking, Jezebel devised a false story about Naboth and then had him killed. This earned a rebuke from the prophet Elijah,
“Have you killed and also taken possession?” (1 Ki. 21:19 ESV)
Elijah prophesied that Ahab’s blood would be spilled on the land he had taken from Naboth. And that was the end of the matter. The story resumes in 2 Kings where we find Joram, Ahab’s son, residing in the palace at Jezreel built by Ahab on Naboth’s land. He received a visit from Ahaziah, the king of Judah. The two kings had formed an alliance against the Aramaeans, a powerful foe based in Damascus. As they visited together, the watchman reported the rapid approach of a company of chariots and horsemen led by Jehu, the son of Nimshi. Ahaziah and Joram decided to mount their chariots and go out to meet him in the road.
And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” He answered, “What peace can there be, so long as the whorings and the sorceries of your mother Jezebel are so many?”
Then Joram reined about and fled, saying to Ahaziah, “Treachery, O Ahaziah!”
And Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and shot Joram between the shoulders, so that the arrow pierced his heart, and he sank in his chariot.
Jehu said to Bidkar his aide, “Take him up and throw him on the plot of ground belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. (2 Ki. 9:22-24 ESV)
Jehu killed Amaziah and Joram, bringing to an end Omride dynasty. Meanwhile in Aram, another palace coup took place. Hazael, the “son of a nobody”, as he is described in one Assyrian text, murdered his master, Ben Hadad II, and assumed kingship in Aram. The rise to kingship of Jehu and Hazael would inaugurate a period of bloody war and reprisals that would leave their two nations decimated.
The Stele
Archaeologists excavating at the northern Israelite city of Dan discovered a relic of the war between Hazael and Jehu. It was a broken fragments of a stele erected by Hazael in Dan to commemorate his victory over northern Israel. The stele is inscribed in Aramaic, at a time when Aramaic is displacing Akkadian as the lingua franca of the ancient near east. I
boasts of killing two kings whose names are not fully preserved. It is generally thought that they should be identified with Joram and Ahaziah. It would seem that Hazael, having wounded Joram, claimed credit for having killed both of them.
1. [ ]…[…] and cut […]
2. […] my father went up [against him when h]e fought at […]
3. and my father lay down, he went to his [ancestors (viz. became sick and died)]. And the king of I[s-]
4. rael entered previously in my father’s land, [and] Hadad made me king,
5. And Hadad went in front of me, [and] I departed from the seven […-]
6. s of my kingdom, and I slew [seve]nty kin[gs], who harnessed th[ousands of cha-]
7. riots and thousands of horsemen (or: horses). [I killed Jeho]ram son [of Ahab]
8. king of Israel, and [I] killed [Ahaz]iahu son of [Jehoram kin-]
9. g of the House of David, and I set [their towns into ruins and turned ]
10. their land into [desolation ]
11. other [… and Jehu ru-]
12. led over Is[rael and I laid]
13. siege upon [ ]
The House of David
The discovery of the stele had major repercussions for the study of the history of the Ancient Near East. Before the discovery of this stele, it had become commonplace among historians to dismiss David as the mythical founder of a dynasty. David was like King Arthur of Camelot. This stele laid that theory to rest. The reference to the house of David suddenly made David into a real person, and the founder of a real dynasty.
The discovery of this stele raises an interesting thought experiment. What if it had not been found? I suspect very few scholars today would accept the historicity of David. This is a good example of the fragmentary and incomplete nature of the archaeological record. We should be suspicious of arguments based on the absence of evidence in the archaeological record.
The Rise of Aram
The Aramaeans dominated Israel and Judah for several decades. Whereas in the days of Ahab, Israel had been able to field 2000 chariots in the battle against the Assyrians, Hazael reduced Israel to the status of a vassal. Jehoahaz (815-802 BC), the son of Jehu, was allowed no more than a bodyguard of ten chariots and fifty horsemen.
References
Bright, J. (1981). A history of Israel. Philadelphia, Westminster Press.
[ahtimeline-event-heading]
Omri was northern Israel’s most powerful king. Having established his new capitol at Samaria, he cement an alliance with Ittobaal, king of the Phoenicians, by marrying his son, Ahab, to Jezebel, the daughter of Ittobaal. This made a lot of sense politically. As long as Israel and Phoenicia were united, they were able to counterbalance the rising power of the Aramaeans in Damascus.
But this alliance brought with it other consequences not so readily perceived. Jezebel brought the cult of the Tyrian Baal to Samaria, a cult vigorously opposed by Elijah and Elisha, who saw the corrupting influence it could have on the nation. The conflict came to a head over a seemingly minor incident. Ahab wished to build a new palace in Jezreel but the land he selected for the palace belonged to Naboth who wasn’t interested in selling. While Ahab went about sulking, Jezebel devised a false story about Naboth and then had him killed. This earned a rebuke from the prophet Elijah,
“Have you killed and also taken possession?” (1 Ki. 21:19 ESV)
Elijah prophesied that Ahab’s blood would be spilled on the land he had taken from Naboth. And that was the end of the matter. The story resumes in 2 Kings where we find Joram, Ahab’s son, residing in the palace at Jezreel built by Ahab on Naboth’s land. He received a visit from Ahaziah, the king of Judah. The two kings had formed an alliance against the Aramaeans, a powerful foe based in Damascus. As they visited together, the watchman reported the rapid approach of a company of chariots and horsemen led by Jehu, the son of Nimshi. Ahaziah and Joram decided to mount their chariots and go out to meet him in the road.
And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” He answered, “What peace can there be, so long as the whorings and the sorceries of your mother Jezebel are so many?”
Then Joram reined about and fled, saying to Ahaziah, “Treachery, O Ahaziah!”
And Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and shot Joram between the shoulders, so that the arrow pierced his heart, and he sank in his chariot.
Jehu said to Bidkar his aide, “Take him up and throw him on the plot of ground belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. (2 Ki. 9:22-24 ESV)
Jehu killed Amaziah and Joram, bringing to an end Omride dynasty. Meanwhile in Aram, another palace coup took place. Hazael, the “son of a nobody”, as he is described in one Assyrian text, murdered his master, Ben Hadad II, and assumed kingship in Aram. The rise to kingship of Jehu and Hazael would inaugurate a period of bloody war and reprisals that would leave their two nations decimated.
The Stele
Archaeologists excavating at the northern Israelite city of Dan discovered a relic of the war between Hazael and Jehu. It was a broken fragments of a stele erected by Hazael in Dan to commemorate his victory over northern Israel. The stele is inscribed in Aramaic, at a time when Aramaic is displacing Akkadian as the lingua franca of the ancient near east. I
boasts of killing two kings whose names are not fully preserved. It is generally thought that they should be identified with Joram and Ahaziah. It would seem that Hazael, having wounded Joram, claimed credit for having killed both of them.
1. [ ]…[…] and cut […]
2. […] my father went up [against him when h]e fought at […]
3. and my father lay down, he went to his [ancestors (viz. became sick and died)]. And the king of I[s-]
4. rael entered previously in my father’s land, [and] Hadad made me king,
5. And Hadad went in front of me, [and] I departed from the seven […-]
6. s of my kingdom, and I slew [seve]nty kin[gs], who harnessed th[ousands of cha-]
7. riots and thousands of horsemen (or: horses). [I killed Jeho]ram son [of Ahab]
8. king of Israel, and [I] killed [Ahaz]iahu son of [Jehoram kin-]
9. g of the House of David, and I set [their towns into ruins and turned ]
10. their land into [desolation ]
11. other [… and Jehu ru-]
12. led over Is[rael and I laid]
13. siege upon [ ]
The House of David
The discovery of the stele had major repercussions for the study of the history of the Ancient Near East. Before the discovery of this stele, it had become commonplace among historians to dismiss David as the mythical founder of a dynasty. David was like King Arthur of Camelot. This stele laid that theory to rest. The reference to the house of David suddenly made David into a real person, and the founder of a real dynasty.
The discovery of this stele raises an interesting thought experiment. What if it had not been found? I suspect very few scholars today would accept the historicity of David. This is a good example of the fragmentary and incomplete nature of the archaeological record. We should be suspicious of arguments based on the absence of evidence in the archaeological record.
The Rise of Aram
The Aramaeans dominated Israel and Judah for several decades. Whereas in the days of Ahab, Israel had been able to field 2000 chariots in the battle against the Assyrians, Hazael reduced Israel to the status of a vassal. Jehoahaz (815-802 BC), the son of Jehu, was allowed no more than a bodyguard of ten chariots and fifty horsemen.
References
Bright, J. (1981). A history of Israel. Philadelphia, Westminster Press.