2 Kings 15:29

In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria,.... Into the land of Israel; he is called by a Jewish chronologer (c), Pul-Asir; so Phul-Assar by Metasthenes (d), who says he

In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-beth-ma'achah, and Jonoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali,

Tiglath-pileser, or, Tilgath-pilneser, , called in heathen authors Phulasar, or Phul-assur, the son of that Pul or Phul above, . Abel-beth-maachah; of which see . Janoah; a city of Ephraim, . Kedesh and Hazor; two cities of Naphtali, 19:36. Gilead; all the land beyond Jordan, which was nigher to the Assyrian than the rest. Galilee, to wit, the Upper Galilee, as may be gathered from the following words, all (or, even all) the land of Naphtali; which seem to be added by way of explication or restriction, to show what Galilee he meant, even the Upper, in which Naphtali’ s lot fell. See Poole "".

2 Kings 15:29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.Ver. 29. Came Tiglathpileser.] Which name of his signifieth, say some, the removing of captives: others making him to be son to Pul, say that he was therefore called Tiglathpulassir. Why he came now against Israel, see Isaiah 7:1 2 Kings 16:7. And carried them captive.] Whither they were carried, see 1 Chronicles 5:5-6. Neither ever returned they: see Isaiah 9:1. Captivitas. Mirabiles legationes. - Pagnin.

(27-31) THE REIGN OF PEKAH, SON OF , IN SAMARIA.(27) Reigned twenty years.—This does not agree with the duration assigned to the reign of Jotham (2 Kings 15:33), and the year assigned as the beginning of Hoshea’s reign (2 Kings 17:1). For, according to 2 Kings 15:32, Pekah had reigned about two years when Jotham succeeded in Judah, and Jotham reigned sixteen years; and, according to 2 Kings 17:1, Pekah was succeeded by Hoshea in the twelfth year of Jotham’s successor, Ahaz. These data make the duration of Pekah’s reign from twenty-eight to thirty years. We must, therefore, either assume, with Thenius, that “the numeral sign for 30 (ì) has been corrupted into 20 (ë),” or, with Ewald, that “and nine” has been accidentally omitted after “twenty.” (29) Tiglath-pileser.—This Assyrian sovereign, who reigned from 745 to 727 B.C. , is called in his own inscriptions, Tukulti- (or Tuklat) ‘abal-Esarra, which Schrader renders, “my trust is Adar”—literally, Trust is the son of the temple of Sarra. (See Note on 1 Chronicles 5:26.) “The idea we get of this king from the remains of these inscriptions corresponds throughout to what we know of him from the Bible. Everywhere he is presented as a powerful warrior-king, who subjugated the entire tract of anterior Asia, from the frontier mountains of Media in the east to the Mediterranean sea in the west, including a part of Cappadocia” (Schrader, K.A.T., p. 247). Took Ijon, and Abel-beth-maachah . . . all the land of Naphtali.—Comp. 1 Kings 15:20. Janoah.—Not the border-town between Ephraim and Manasseh (Joshua 16:6), as the context requires a place in the northernmost part of Israel. Kedesh.—On the western shore of the waters of Merom (Joshua 21:37). Hazor.—See 1 Kings 9:15. Gilead.—See 2 Kings 14:25; 1 Chronicles 5:26. It was no long time since Jeroboam II. had recovered it for Israel. According to Schrader (K.A.T., pp. 254, seq.) the reference of the verse is to Tiglath Pileser’s expedition in B.C. 734, called in the Eponym list an expedition to the land of Pilista (Philistia). With this Schrader connects a fragment of the annals which begins with a list of towns conquered by Tiglath, and ends thus: . . . “the town of Gaal (ad) . . . (A) bil . . . of the upper part of the land of Beth-Omri (i.e., Samaria) . . . in its whole extent I annexed to the territory of Assyria; my prefects the sagans I appointed over them.” The fragment goes on to mention the flight of Hânûn, king of Gaza, to Egypt, and the carrying off of his goods and his gods by the conqueror. It is added, “The land of Beth-Omri . . . the whole body of his men, their goods, to the land of Assyria I led away, Pakaha (i.e., Pekah) their king I slew (so Schrader;? ‘they slew’), and A-u-si-ha (i.e., Hoshea) . . . over them I appointed. Ten (talents of gold, 1,000 talents of silver) 1 received from them.” (30) Hoshea . . .

Verse 29. Came Tiglath-pileser] He is supposed to have been the successor of Sardanapalus: Dean Prideaux makes him the same with Arbaces, called by AElian Thilgamus, and by Usher Ninus junior; who, together with Belesis, headed the conspiracy against Sardanapalus, and fixed his seat at Nineveh, the ancient residence of the Assyrian kings; as did Belesis, who is called, in Isaiah 39:1, Baladan, fix his at Babylon. Took Ijon] These places belonged to Israel; and were taken by Ben-hadad, king of Syria, when he was in league with Asa, king of Judah. See 1Kg 15:20. They were regained by Jeroboam the second; and now they are taken from Israel once more by Tiglath-pileser. From 1 Chronicles 5:26, we learn that Pul and Tiglath-pileser, kings of Assyria, carried away into captivity the two tribes of Reuben, and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh; all that belonged to Israel, on the other side of Jordan. These were never restored to Israel.

29. Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria] This is the second Assyrian king of this name; the first having flourished in the twelfth century b.c. For some of the facts connected with his history see note on verse 19 above. According to the Assyrian canon Tiglath-pileser reigned 18 years, from b.c. 745 to b.c. 727, and the conquests mentioned in this verse are supposed to have been made in b.c. 734. Ijon] In the north of Palestine, in the tribe of Naphtali. It has been mentioned previously (1 Kings 15:20) as ravaged by Benhadad’s captains. The towns here enumerated were exposed to the first attack of any enemy from the north. Abel-beth-maachah] R.V. maacah. This city like Ijon lay in the extreme north of Israel, and was also plundered by Benhadad’s officers. It is spoken of as ‘a city and a mother in Israel’ (2 Samuel 20:19). It is elsewhere called Abel-maim. Janoah] This place is mentioned nowhere else, and its site has not been determined. But, from the connexion in which it here occurs, it must have been situate in the northern part of the tribe of Naphtali. Kedesh] This town was one of the cities of refuge, and situate in the tribe of Naphtali. Hence it is called Kedesh-Naphtali (Judges 4:6). Here Barak lived, and in later times (1Ma 11:63; 1Ma 11:73) it is mentioned as the scene of a battle between Jonathan Maccabæus and the troops of Demetrius. The name indicates that from the first it was a ‘holy’ place. Hazor] Another fortified city of the tribe of Naphtali. It stood on the high ground overlooking Lake Merom. It was a very important place before the Israelites entered Canaan (Joshua 11:10). Jabin was the king thereof whose general Sisera was defeated by Deborah and Barak (Judges 4:2; Judges 4:17). It was strengthened by Solomon for the defence of his kingdom on the north (see 1 Kings 9:15, note). Gilead] The mountainous country on the east of the Jordan, extending from Bashan on the north to Moab and Ammon on the south. Galilee] This name, though afterwards given to a wide district, was at first only applied to a portion of the country round about Kedesh-Naphtali. In it were the twenty cities which Solomon gave to Hiram king of Tyre, for helping him in his building of the temple, and his own house (1 Kings 9:11). In the verse before us Galilee must refer only to the northern part of the district afterwards so named. all the land of Naphtali] We can see, from this addition, where the ravages of Tiglath-pileser were made. He came into the northern portion of Israel on the west of Jordan, and on the east of the river overran a larger district, which from its mountainous character was more sparsely populated and so more easily reduced. carried them captive to Assyria] This event is placed from the evidence of the Assyrian inscriptions in b.c. 734.

Tiglath-Pileser is the first among the Assyrian monarchs of Scripture whom we can certainly identify with a king mentioned in the monuments. According to the Assyrian Dr. he reigned from 745 B.C.

29. Tiglath-pileser — From the various sources of information concerning this Assyrian monarch we learn that he was a usurper, and by a successful revolution became the founder of a new dynasty.