The Kingdoms of Israel and Judah: The History and Legacy of the Sovereign Israelite Kingdoms in Antiquity by Charles River Editors

Author:Charles River Editors
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Charles River Editors
Published: 2024-12-21T00:00:00+00:00

Israel and the Assyrians

The Israelites would face much bigger problems than those posed by the Egyptians in the 9th century BCE. In fact, the Egyptians would eventually be Judah’s ally against a much more formidable and brutal threat to the north: the Assyrians. In terms of the Biblical sources, the Assyrians would assume the mantle of the Israelites’ primary enemy for much of 2 Kings, subduing the northern kingdom and pressuring the southern kingdom to turn to Egypt for help. Ultimately, the northern kingdom of Israel proved to be far too small and weak to fend off the might of Assyria, so by the late 8th century BCE, only the southern kingdom carried the banner of the Israelites.

The Assyrians first came to prominence in the Late Bronze Age, playing a role in the Great Powers Club of the Near East and taking much of the land that formerly belonged to the kingdom of Mitanni. The Assyrians escaped the Bronze Age collapse around 1200 BCE relatively unscathed, no doubt in part because their kingdom was far enough inland and thus removed from the Sea Peoples tribes, so they became the dominant kingdom in the Iron Age across the Near East. Modern scholars generally assign the rule of Adad-nirari II (r. 911-891 BCE) as the start of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, which was the zenith of Assyria’s political and cultural influence in the Near East. By the reign of Ashurnasirpal (883-859 BCE), the Assyrians were able to extend their influence over most of the Near East through a combination of brutal military efficiency and shrewd diplomacy (Haywood 2005, 46). The Assyrians made the northern kingdom of Israel a vassal in the mid-9th century BCE, but the Israelite kings were always looking for ways to free themselves from Assyrian rule (Hull and Jotischky 2009, 67).

Meanwhile, the Israelites continued to make attempts to subdue their immediate neighbors even as they became Assyrian vassals. The Israelite king Omri, who ruled the northern kingdom from about 886-875 BCE, installed a new dynasty that made the city of Samaria its home and also became involved in intrigues with the Moabites, Edomites, and their brother Judeans. The background of the conflict is related in a Moabite language text known as the “Moabite Stone” or “Mesha Stela,” for the Moabite king and author of the text, Mesha, who ruled in the mid-9th century BCE. The text relates how the Moabites fought the Israelites to avoid paying a yearly tribute. “I (am) Mesha, son of Chemosh-[. . .], king of Moab, the Dibonite – my father (had) reigned over Moab thirty years, and I reigned after my father, – (who) made this high place for Chemosh in Qarhoh [. . .] because he saved me from all the kings and caused me to triumph over all my adversaries. As for Omri, king of Israel, he humbled Moab many years, for Chemosh was angry at his land. And his son followed him and he also said, “I will humble Moab.” In my

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