02.05. Rise and fall of Assyria

Rise and fall of Assyria

After Abraham left Chaldea, the Bible says little about the ancient territory of present-day Iraq till the ninth century BC, when Assyria emerged as the dominant power of the region. The nation took its name from Asshur, son of Shem, son of Noah.¹ Its capital, Nineveh, was on the Tigris River, hundreds of kilometres upstream from today’s capital, Baghdad. By the time Assyria began to interfere in Palestine, the Israelite nation had divided into two. Ten tribes to the north and east broke away from the Davidic rule and formed their own kingdom. They still called themselves Israel, and eventually made Samaria their capital. The little that was left of the original kingdom was called Judah, after the dominant tribe. Judah maintained the Davidic dynasty, kept Jerusalem as its capital and remained outwardly loyal to the religion of the Jerusalem temple. The northern kingdom was vulnerable to Assyrian attacks, which explains why the Israelite prophet Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh and preach. He wanted Assyria conquered, not saved. He had to learn that God could be merciful to Assyrians as well as Israelites. And God could use Assyria to punish Israel if he chose.² In the end, Assyria conquered the northern kingdom, destroyed Samaria and took the people into foreign captivity (722 BC). It then repopulated the region around Samaria with people brought in from other lands. These migrants intermarried with the leftovers of Israel, to produce a people of mixed blood and mixed religion called Samaritans. They and the Israelites despised each other.³

After the destruction of Israel, Assyria carried its aggression south into Judah. It was unable to destroy Judah, and in due course was itself conquered by Babylon. The just penalty on such a cruel master was welcomed everywhere.⁴ God may use people to carry out his purposes, but that does not exempt those people from judgment.

1. Genesis 10:1; Genesis 10:11-12; Genesis 10:22 2. Jonah 3:4-5; Jonah 3:10; Jonah 4:11; cf. Isaiah 10:5; Romans 3:29; Romans 9:15 3. 2 Kings 15:29; 2 Kings 17:3-6; 2 Kings 17:24-29; 2 Kings 17:33; John 4:9; John 8:48 4. Nahum 1:1; Nahum 3:1-7; Zephaniah 2:13-15

Syrian Hamah, biblical Hamath, strategic outpost of
the Assyrian Empire