Shalmaneser

Shalmane´ser, King of Assyria [ASSYRIA].

King of Assyria between Tiglath-pileser and Sennacherib. He ascended the throne about B. C. 728, and reigned fourteen years. Scripture reports that he came into Palestine, subdued Samaria, and obliged Hoshea to pay him tribute; but in the third year, being weary of this exaction, Hoshea combined secretly with So, King of Egypt to remove the subjection. Shalmaneser brought an army against him, ravaged Samaria, besieged Hoshea in his capital, and notwithstanding his long resistance of three years, 2Ki 17:1-40 ; 18:9-12, he took the city and dismantled it, put Hoshea into bonds, and dismantled it, put Hoshea into bonds, and carried away most of the people beyond the Euphrates. He thus ruined the kingdom of Samaria, which had subsisted two hundred and fifty-four years, from B. C. 975 to 721. The bas- relief copied in the next page was found on a fine Assyrian obelisk of black marble, six and a half feet high, and covered on all sides with inscriptions. It was discovered in the ruins of the northwest palace at Nimroud, and is believed from various evidences to represent Shalmaneser receiving tribute from the Jews subdued by his arms. Hezekiah king of Judah successfully resisted him, 2Ki 18:7: but he appears to have ravaged Moab, Isa 10:9,15,16,23 ; and is said in Josephus to have conquered Phoenicia, with the exception of insular Tyre, which he besieged in vain for five years.\par

Shalmane’ser. (fire-worshipper). Shalmaneser was the Assyrian king, who reigned, probably, between Tiglath-Pileser and Sargon, B.C. 727-722. He led the forces of Assyria into Palestine, where Hoshea, the last king of Israel, had revolted against his authority. 2Ki 17:3. Hoshea submitted and consented to pay tribute; but he soon after concluded all alliance with the king of Egypt, and withheld his tribute, in consequence.

In B.C. 723, Shalmaneser invaded Palestine for the second time, and, as Hoshea refused to submit, laid siege to Samaria. The siege lasted to the third year, B.C. 721, when the Assyrian arms prevailed. 2Ki 17:4-6; 2Ki 18:9-11. It is uncertain whether Shalmaneser conducted the siege to its close, or whether he did not lose his crown to Sargon, before the city was taken.

Shalmaneser (shăl-ma-nç’zer), Salman is gracious. A king of Assyria, b.c. 727-722. Hoshea, king of Israel, had revolted, but was conquered by Shalmaneser. 2Ki 17:3. Hoshea revolted a second time and allied himself with So, king of Egypt, and Shalmaneser returned, ravaged Samaria, besieged Hoshea, and after three years Samaria fell. But meantime a rebellion headed by Sargon had broken out in Assyria, and Shalmaneser was deposed. It is not stated in 2Ki 17:6 that Shalmaneser took Samaria, but that the king of Assyria did, probably Sargon.

[Shalmane’ser]

King of Assyria, successor to Tiglath-pileser, B.C. 727. He is sometimes called Shalmaneser 3, and sometimes 4. He made Hoshea, king of Israel, tributary; but Hoshea revolted, relying on So, king of Egypt. In the ninth year of Hoshea’s reign, B.C. 722, Samaria was taken and the inhabitants were carried away captive. 2Ki 17:3; 2Ki 18:9. It may be noticed that Shalmaneser’s name is mentioned only in these two passages, afterwards the term ’the king of Assyria’ is employed; and in 2Ki 18:10 it is said, "at the end of three years they took it." This leaves room for SARGON, the next king of Assyria, to have finished the siege, and to have carried away the captives. He succeeded to the Assyrian throne in the year B.C. 722, and on his monuments he claims to have taken Samaria in his first year.

(; Enemessar in Tobit i. 2, 13, 15; Salmanasar or Salmanassar in II Esd. xiii. 40):

By: Joseph Jacobs, J. F. McLaughlin

King of Assyria from 727 to 722 B.C.; successor, and possibly son, of Tiglath-pileser III. According to II Kings xvii. 3-6, he attacked Hoshea, King of Israel, and made him his vassal. Later Hoshea conspired with So (probably Sabako), King of Egypt, and did not send the customary tribute. Therefore the King of Assyria invaded Israel, put Hoshea in prison, attacked Samaria, and, after a siege of three years, took the city and carried Israel captive to Assyria. No records of Shalmaneser have been found among the Assyrian inscriptions. The Assyrian form of his name is "Shulmânuasharid"; and he was the fourth king of Assyria who bore that name. According to the Babylonian Chronicle (Schrader, "K. B." ii. 276), "he sat on the throne the 25th of Ṭebêtu. The city Samara'in [= Samaria] he destroyed. In his fifth year he died. Five years had he reigned in Assyria." The Assyrian eponym canon gives the names of the eponyms for the five years of his reign, and states that military expeditions were undertaken in the third, fourth, and fifth years; but the destination of these is not given. Some of the standard lion-weights found at Kalah bear his name.

Tiglath-pileser claims to have put Hoshea upon the throne, so that king's vassalage began beforeShalmaneser's accession. Sargon, the successor of Shalmaneser, and apparently the founder of a new dynasty, in one of his inscriptions accuses Shalmaneser of having deprived the city of Asshur of its ancient rights. He claims also to have taken Samaria, which probably fell into the hands of the besiegers about the time of or shortly after the death of Shalmaneser. The facts that this king had also invaded Philistia and that Sargon completed the subjugation of that country are probably referred to in Isa. xiv. 28-32 (H. P. Smith, "Old Testament History," p. 241).

Bibliography:

McCurdy, History, Prophecy, and the Monuments, vol. i., sections 342-349;

Schrader, C. I. O. T. 2d ed., Eng. transl., pp. 258-263;

Goodspeed, Hist. of Babylonians and Assyrians;

Rogers, Hist. of Babylonia and Assyria.

SHALMANESER (Assyr. [Note: Assyrian.] Shulman-asharîdu, i.e. ‘Shulmanu [a god] is chief’).—In 2Ki 17:3; 2Ki 18:9-11 the Shalmaneser is obviously a king of Assyria who succeeded Tiglath-pileser (wh. see) and preceded Sargon. This was Shalmaneser iv., who reigned over Assyria b.c. 727–722. He ruled Babylonia as Ululai. No monuments of his are preserved. The Eponym Canons give campaigns for his last three years. The siege of Samaria was probably begun in his reign and finished under Sargon. The name Shalmaneser appears in 2Es 13:40 as Salmanasar.

C. H. W. Johns.

shal-ma-nē´zẽr (שׁלמנאסר, shalman’eṣer; Septuagint Σαμεννάσαρ, Samennásar, Σαλμανάσαρ, Salmanásar): The name of several Assyrian kings. See ASSYRIA; ASSYRIAN CAPTIVITY. It is Shalmaneser IV who is mentioned in the Biblical history (2Ki 17:3; 2Ki 18:9). He succeeded Tiglathpileser on the throne in 727 BC, but whether he was a son of his predecessor, or a usurper, is not apparent. His reign was short, and, as no annals of it have come to light, we have only the accounts contained in 2 Kings for his history. In the passages referred to above, we learn that Hoshea, king of Israel, who had become his vassal, refused to continue the payment of tribute, relying upon help from So, king of Egypt. No help, however, came from Egypt, and Hoshea had to face the chastising forces of his suzerain with his own unaided resources, the result being that he was taken prisoner outside Samaria and most likely carried away to Nineveh. The Biblical narrative goes on to say that the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria and besieged it 3 years. There is reason to believe that, as the siege of Samaria was proceeding, Shalmaneser retired to Nineveh and died, for, when the city was taken in 722 BC, it is Sargon who claims, in his copious annals, to have captured it and carried its inhabitants into captivity. It is just possible that Shalman (Hos 10:14) is a contraction for Shalmaneser, but the identity of Shalman and of Beth-arbel named in the same passage is not sufficiently made out.

Literature.

Schrader, COT, I, 258 ff; McCurdy, HPM, I, 387 ff.