by
Damien F. Mackey
Part One:
When Syro-Ephraïm allied against Assyria
If Syria and Israel truly were aligned against Shalmaneser III of Assyria at the
Battle of Qarqar, as is the general interpretation of the Assyrian inscriptions,
then there is only one era of history when this could have occurred, and it was
not during the time of King Ahab and his Syrian contemporary Ben-Hadad I.
There are now various solid reasons for one to insist that a participant at the Battle of Qarqar sometimes rendered as A-ha-ab-bu Sir-’i-la-a-a (Shalmaneser III’s Kurkh Stele Inscription), cannot possibly be identified as the biblical Ahab of Israel, despite this being the popular view. Nor can that participant’s ally at Qarqar, typically rendered as ‘Adad-idri of Damascus’, be Ahab’s long-time foe, Ben-Hadad I - with whom Ahab foolishly “made a peace agreement”, but only towards the very end of the latter’s reign (I Kings 20:34).
By that stage, Ben-Hadad I was largely a spent force and would hardly be capable of being a major player in a large coalition of Syro-Palestinians against the might of Assyria.
And King Ahab, for his part, was not known to have commanded really large armies.
Nor was Assyria, then, launching armies 120,000-strong, as Shalmaneser III claimed at Qarqar.
For arguments against the possibility of Ahab and Ben-Hadad having participated at Qarqar, see my article:
Shalmaneser III not of the El Amarna [EA] Era
Syria and Israel were again thrust together in common cause owing to the Sinai Commission, when the prophet Elijah was commanded to anoint Hazael of Syria, Jehu of Israel, and Elisha, to eradicate the House of Ahab (I Kings 19:15-17):
The Lord said to [Elijah], ‘Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram [Syria]. Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu’.
Far from Hazael and Jehu ever having formed a military partnership, though, Hazael and his son Ben-hadad II were continually at war with the Jehu-ide dynasty, Hazael being an implacable enemy of Israel. Thus, when Ben-Hadad I was on his deathbed, the prophet Elisha wept before Hazael who would murder the Syrian king and succeed him (2 Kings 8:12-13):
‘Why is my lord weeping?’ asked Hazael.
‘Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites’, he answered. ‘You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women’.
Hazael said, ‘How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such a feat?’
‘The Lord has shown me that you will become king of Aram’, answered Elisha.
At a later time, though, during the era of Jotham, of Ahaz, of Judah, the nations of Syria and Israel did finally combine to forge a formidable military partnership.
This, moreover, was in fierce opposition to the might of Assyria – {and fitting with my view that Shalmaneser III must be moved to the era of Tiglath-pileser III, and identified with him}.
I refer to the potent partnership of Rezin of Damascus and Pekah of Israel (e.g., 2 Kings 15:37):
Jotham: “(In those days the Lord began to send Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah.)”
And 2 Kings 16:5-7:
Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem and besieged Ahaz, but they could not overpower him. At that time, Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram by driving out the people of Judah. Edomites then moved into Elath and have lived there to this day. Ahaz sent messengers to say to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, ‘I am your servant and vassal. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel, who are attacking me’.
Part Two:
Irhuleni and Eni-ilu of Hamath
This reconstruction necessitates that the highly troublesome for the revision,
Shalmaneser III of Assyria, must be the same as the potent Tiglath-pileser III.
Shalmaneser III must be removed from his conventional location spanning
the mid-C9th BC to the C8th BC, about a century of downward shift.
This is a massive step towards solving “The Assuruballit Problem”.
Major players in the western alliance against the might of Shalmaneser III of Assyria at the Battle of Qarqar were the kings of Hamath, Damascus, and – it is thought – Israel:
“… an inscription of Shalmaneser … (860 B.C.) states that Irhuleni, King of Hamath, made an alliance with the Hittites, with Damascus under Ben-hadad, with Ahab of Israel, and with others”.
Whether or not the Sir-’i-la-a-a referred to in Shalmaneser III’s Kurkh Inscription really pertains to “Israel” (though generally accepted as being the case) has been questioned by some.
What I (along with others) now think is most doubtful, as argued in Part One:
is that Ahab and his contemporary Ben-Hadad I could possibly have been at Qarqar, together, as a viable force to trouble Assyria.
The only period in the history of Israel when that kingdom was aligned with Syria, in serious power, against the might of Assyria, was during the reign of Pekah of Israel and Rezin of Syria, known historical characters.
Hence, I would accept that Shalmaneser III’s reference to Sir-’i-la-a-a was a reference to Israel, but to its king, Pekah, and not to Ahab.
This new view may be supported to some degree by what I quoted from James B. Jordan in:
Shalmaneser III not of the El Amarna [EA] Era
“But it is to be noted that the name Ahabbu might be read equally well as Ahappu and be an entirely different name than Ahab, quite probably Hurrian, which would accord well with the make-up of the confederacy”.
Ahappu would certainly be a closer match to the Assyrian name for Pekah (i.e. Pa-qa-ha): “Israel (lit.: "Omri-Land" Bît Humria)...all its inhabitants (and) their king Pekah (Pa-qa-ha) and I placed Hoshea (A-ú-si-') as king over them”.
https://people.bethel.edu/~pferris/historical/hidden/HistSynopsisLinks/tiglathinscription1.htm
This reconstruction necessitates, what I suggested in Part One, that the highly troublesome for the revision, Shalmaneser III of Assyria, must be the same as the potent Tiglath-pileser III. Shalmaneser III must be removed from his conventional location spanning the mid-C9th BC to the C8th BC, about a century of downward shift.
This is a massive step towards solving revision’s “The Assuruballit Problem” (TAP).
An important king at Qarqar opposing Shamaneser III was Irhuleni of Hamath:
“Irhuleni (Luwian: Urhilina) was King of Hamath. He led a coalition against the Assyrian expansion under Shalmaneser III, alongside Hadadezer of Damascus.[1] This coalition succeeded in 853 BC in the Battle of Qarqar a victory over the Assyrians, halting their advance to the west for two years. Later Irhuleni maintained good relations with Assyria. His son was, in Luwian, Uratami.[2]”
He, I suggest, was the same king of Hamath as Tiglath-pileser III’s opponent (vassal), Eni-ilu:
“… Tiglath-pileser appeared in the West Land, according to the inscriptions, and forced Hamath’s king, Eni-ilu (Eniel) to pay tribute to Assyria (740)”.
“In the Assyrian inscriptions it is stated that Enillu, King of Hamath, brought tribute to Tiglathpileser III. (730 B.C.), who distributed a part of it among his generals, annexing nineteen districts to Assyria and transporting 1,223 Hamathites to the sources of the Tigris”.
Not surprisingly now, too - if Shalmaneser III of Assyria be the same as Tiglath-pileser III -Assyria’s attempted conquest of the city of Damascus is described in very similar terms, although the Syrian king is differently named, respectively, “Hazael” and “Rezin”.
From Calah re Shalmaneser III and Hazael we read:
In my eighteenth year, I crossed the Euphrates for the sixteenth time. Hazael of Damascus trusting in the size of his army, mustered a force of significant size, and established his fortress in Mount Saniru, a mountain peak at the border of Lebanon.
I met him in battled, and was able to overthrow him. I killed 6,000 of his soldiers, and apprehended 1,121 of his chariots and 470 of his cavalry, along with his camp. He ran for his life up into the mountain. I followed after him and trapped him in Damascus; his royal city. I cut down his orchards, and advanced as far as Mount Hauran destroying, devastating, and setting fire to countless cities. I carried off a great amount of their spoil. ….
Re Tiglath-pileser III and Rezin (Rakhianu) we read:
In order to save his life, he (Raḫiānu) fled alone and entered the gate of his city [like] a mongoose. I [im]paled his foremost men alive while making (the people of) his land watch. For forty-five days I set up my camp [aro]und his city and confined him (there) like a bird in a cage. I cut down his plantations, [...] ..., (and) orchards, which were without number; I did not leave a single one (standing). I surrounded (and) captured [the city ...]ḫādara, the ancestral home of Raḫiānu (Rezin) of the land Damascus, [the pl]ace where he was born. I carried off 800 people, with their possessions, their oxen, (and) their sheep and goats. ….
Common here, the Syrian king is defeated in battle, flees, takes refuge in his city of Damascus, whilst the Assyrian king cuts down his orchards.
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