How Many
How many kings of the neo-Assyrian empire are mentioned in the Bible?
Answer: 6
After the dissolution of the United Monarchy of David and Solomon, the Iron Age (1000–586 B.C.E.) kingdoms of Israel and Judah arose, matured and, in the case of Israel, even perished amid the brutal campaigns of conquest wrought by the kings of the Assyrian empire. Modern exploration of ancient Iraq’s royal cities and archives revealed countless documents and reliefs commissioned by these warrior kings, and yet the names of at least six Assyrian rulers were already known to readers of the Bible.
For several of these kings, little is noted other than the king’s name and a brief note about something that happened during his reign. Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal are remembered in the Book of Ezra, for example, for their policies of deportation and resettlement (Ezra 4:2, 10). Such imperial policies were begun several decades earlier during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727 B.C.E.), whose well-documented campaigns into Syria and Israel are referenced several times in the Bible (2 Kings 15:29, 16:7). Similarly, the circumstances surrounding the final demise of Samaria at the hands of Shalmaneser V (727–722 B.C.E.) are mentioned in the Biblical accounts of the reigns of both Hoshea, the last king of Israel (2 Kings 17:3–4), and Hezekiah, king of Judah (2 Kings 18:9). But it is the 701 B.C.E. campaign of Sennacherib (705–681 B.C.E.) against Judah that is remembered most vividly in the Bible (2 Kings 18–19). With annalistic detail the Biblical writers follow the events surrounding Sennacherib’s siege and attempted sacking of Jerusalem, which, according to the Bible, was only lifted once an angel of the Lord had decimated the Assyrian camp (2 Kings 19:35–36).
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