ASSYRIA

- Antiquity and origin of Ge 10:8-11 - Situated beyond the Euphrates Isa 7:20 - Watered by the river Tigris Ge 2:14 - CALLED . The land of Nimrod Mic 5:6 . Shinar Ge 11:2; 14:1 . Asshur Ho 14:3 - Nineveh, chief city of Ge 10:11; 2Ki 19:36 - Governed by kings 2Ki 15:19,29 - CELEBRATED FOR . Fertility 2Ki 18:32; Isa 36:17 . Extent of conquests 2Ki 18:33-35; 19:11-13; Isa 10:9-14 . Extensive commerce Eze 27:23,24 - Idolatry, the religion of 2Ki 19:37 - AS A POWER, WAS . Most formidable Isa 28:2 . Intolerant and oppressive Na 3:19 . Cruel and destructive Isa 10:7 . Selfish and reserved Ho 8:9 . Unfaithful, 2Ch 28:20,21 . Proud and haughty 2Ki 19:22-24; Isa 10:8 . An instrument of God's vengeance Isa 7:18,19; 10:5,6 - Chief men of, described Eze 23:6,12,23 - Armies of, described Isa 5:26-29 - PUL KING OF . Invaded Israel 2Ki 15:19 . Brought off by Menahem 2Ki 15:19,20 - TIGLATHPILESER KING OF . Ravaged Israel 2Ki 15:29 . Asked to aid Ahaz against Syria 2Ki 16:7,8 . Took money from Ahaz, but strengthened him not 2Ch 28:20,21 . Conquered Syria 2Ki 16:9 - SHALMANESER KING OF . Reduced Israel to tribute 2Ki 17:3 . Was conspired against by Hoshea 2Ki 17:4 . Imprisoned Hoshea 2Ki 17:4 . Carried Israel captive 2Ki 17:5,6 . Re-peopled Samaria from Assyria 2Ki 17:24 - SENNACHERIB KING OF . Invaded Judah 2Ki 18:13 . Bought off by Hezekiah 2Ki 18:14-16 . Insulted and threatened Judah 2Ki 18:17-32; 19:10-13 . Blasphemed the Lord 2Ki 18:33-35 . Prayed against by Hezekiah 2Ki 19:14-19 . Reproved for pride and blasphemy 2Ki 19:12-34; Isa 37:21-29 . His army destroyed by God 2Ki 19:35 . Assassinated by his sons 2Ki 19:36 - Condemned for oppressing God's people Isa 52:4 - Manasseh taken captive to 2Ch 33:11 - The re-peopling of Samaria from, completed by Asnappar Ezr 4:10 - Idolatry of, brought into Samaria 2Ki 17:29 - Judah condemned for trusting to Jer 2:18,36 - Israel condemned for trusting to Ho 5:13; 7:11; 8:9 - The Jews condemned for following the idolatries of Eze 16:28; 23:5,7-49 - The greatness, extent, duration, and fall, illustrated Eze 31:3-17 - PREDICTIONS RESPECTING . Conquest of the Kenites by Nu 24:22 . Conquest of Syria by Isa 8:4 . Conquest and captivity of Israel by Isa 8:4; Ho 9:3; 10:6; 11:5 . Invasion of Judah by Isa 5:26; 7:17-20; 8:8; 10:5,6,12 . Restoration of Israel from Isa 27:12,13; Ho 11:11; Zec 10:10 . Destruction of Isa 10:12-19; 14:24,25; 30:31-33; 31:8,9; Zec 10:11 . Participation in the blessings of the gospel Isa 19:23-25; Mic 7:12

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A celebrated country and empire, had its name from Ahur, or Assur, the second son of Shem, who settled in that region, Ge 10:22. In the Bible the name Assyria is employed in three different significations: namely, 1. Assyria ancient and proper lay east of the Tigris, between Armenia, Susiana, and Media, and appears to have comprehended the six provinces attributed to it by Ptolemy, namely, Arrapachis, Adiabene, Arbelis, (now Erbil,) Calachene, (Heb. Halah? 2Ki 17:6,) Apollonias, and Sittacne. It is the region which mostly comprises the modern Kurdistan and the pashalik of Mosul. Of these provinces, Adiabene was the most fertile and important; in it was situated Nineveh the capital; and the term Assyria, in its most narrow sense, seems sometimes to have meant only this province. 2. Most generally, Assyria means the Kingdom of Assyria, including Babylonia and Mesopotamia, and extending to the Euphrates, which is therefore used by Isaiah as an image of this empire, Isa 7:20; 8:7. In one instance, the idea of the empire predominates so as to exclude that of Assyria proper, namely, Ge 2:14, where the Hiddekel or Tigris is said to flow eastward of Assyria. 3. After the overthrow of the Assyrian state, the name continued to be applied to those countries which had been formerly under its dominion, namely, (a) To Babylonia, 2Ki 23:29; Jer 2:18. (b) To Persia, Ezr 6:22, where Darius is also called king of Assyria. The early history of Assyria is involved in obscurity. We know from the sacred narrative that it was a powerful nation. Israel was subjugated by one of its monarchs in the period of the Judges, and during the reign of the kings the Assyrian power was an object of perpetual dread. Pul, king of Assyria, invaded Israel in the reign of Menahem. Tiglath-pileser assisted Ahaz against a confederate army formed of the Syrian forces in league with those of the ten tribes. Shalmanezer invaded Israel, conquered Hoshea, and made him a vassal, bound to pay a yearly tribute. Hoshea wishing however to throw off the yoke, attempted to form a league with Egypt, and refused the tribute. On ascertaining this secret design of the Israelitish prince, Shalmanezer again invaded Israel, reduced Samaria, loaded its king with fetters, and transported the people of the land into Media, and put an end to the separate kingdom of the ten tribes. The three tribes located east of Jordan had already been deported into Media by Tiglath-pileser, when he ravaged Israel to save Ahaz, and the kingdom of Judah. Sennacherib of Assyria come into Judah with a powerful army in the reign of Hezekiah, but was miraculously defeated. Esarhaddon, his son and successor, ravaged Judah in the days of Manasseh, and carried the conquered sovereign in chains to Babylon. After this period the empire of Assyria suddenly waned, and its last monarch was the effeminate Sardanapalus, Nu 24:22. Its capital was one of the most renowned of the eastern world. See NINEVEH. But the kingdom fell at length into the hands of the Medes, the monarchy was divided between them and the Babylonians, and the very name of Assyria was thenceforth forgotten.

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Assyria. Assyria
The name derived from the city Asshur on the Tigris, the original capital of the country, was originally a colony from Babylonia, and was ruled by viceroys from that kingdom. It was a mountainous region lying to the north of Babylonia, extending along the Tigris as far as to the high mountain range of Armenia, the Gordiaean or Carduchian mountains. It was founded in B.C. 1700 under Bel-kap-kapu, and became an independent and a conquering power, and shook off the yoke of its Babylonian masters. It subdued the whole of Northern Asia. The Assyrians were Semites (Gen. 10:22), but in process of time non-Semite tribes mingled with the inhabitants. They were a military people, the “Romans of the East.”

Of the early history of the kingdom of Assyria little is positively known. In B.C. 1120 Tiglath-pileser I., the greatest of the Assyrian kings, “crossed the Euphrates, defeated the kings of the Hittites, captured the city of Carchemish, and advanced as far as the shores of the Mediterranean.” He may be regarded as the founder of the first Assyrian empire. After this the Assyrians gradually extended their power, subjugating the states of Northern Syria. In the reign of Ahab, king of Israel, Shalmaneser II. marched an army against the Syrian states, whose allied army he encountered and vanquished at Karkar. This led to Ahab’s casting off the yoke of Damascus and allying himself with Judah. Some years after this the Assyrian king marched an army against Hazael, king of Damascus. He besieged and took that city. He also brought under tribute Jehu, and the cities of Tyre and Sidon.

About a hundred years after this (B.C. 745) the crown was seized by a military adventurer called Pul, who assumed the name of Tiglath-pileser III. He directed his armies into Syria, which had by this time regained its independence, and took (B.C. 740) Arpad, near Aleppo, after a siege of three years, and reduced Hamath. Azariah (Uzziah) was an ally of the king of Hamath, and thus was compelled by Tiglath-pileser to do him homage and pay a yearly tribute.

In B.C. 738, in the reign of Menahem, king of Israel, Pul invaded Israel, and imposed on it a heavy tribute (2 Kings 15:19). Ahaz, the king of Judah, when engaged in a war against Israel and Syria, appealed for help to this Assyrian king by means of a present of gold and silver (2 Kings 16:8); who accordingly “marched against Damascus, defeated and put Rezin to death, and besieged the city itself.” Leaving a portion of his army to continue the siege, “he advanced through the province east of Jordan, spreading fire and sword,” and became master of Philistia, and took Samaria and Damascus. He died B.C. 727, and was succeeded by Shalmanezer IV., who ruled till B.C. 722. He also invaded Syria (2 Kings 17:5), but was deposed in favour of Sargon (q.v.) the Tartan, or commander-in-chief of the army, who took Samaria (q.v.) after a siege of three years, and so put an end to the kingdom of Israel, carrying the people away into captivity, B.C. 722 (2 Kings 17:1-6, 24; 18:7, 9). He also overran the land of Judah, and took the city of Jerusalem (Isa. 10:6, 12, 22, 24, 34). Mention is next made of Sennacherib (B.C. 705), the son and successor of Sargon (2 Kings 18:13; 19:37; Isa. 7:17, 18); and then of Esar-haddon, his son and successor, who took Manasseh, king of Judah, captive, and kept him for some time a prisoner at Babylon, which he alone of all the Assyrian kings made the seat of his government (2 Kings 19:37; Isa. 37:38).

Assur-bani-pal, the son of Esarhaddon, became king, and in Ezra 4:10 is referred to as Asnapper. From an early period Assyria had entered on a conquering career, and having absorbed Babylon, the kingdoms of Hamath, Damascus, and Samaria, it conquered Phoenicia, and made Judea feudatory, and subjected Philistia and Idumea. At length, however, its power declined. In B.C. 727 the Babylonians threw off the rule of the Assyrians, under the leadership of the powerful Chaldean prince Merodach-baladan (2 Kings 20:12), who, after twelve years, was subdued by Sargon, who now reunited the kingdom, and ruled over a vast empire. But on his death the smouldering flames of rebellion again burst forth, and the Babylonians and Medes successfully asserted their independence (B.C. 625), and Assyria fell according to the prophecies of Isaiah (10:5-19), Nahum (3:19), and Zephaniah (3:13), and the many separate kingdoms of which it was composed ceased to recognize the “great king” (2 Kings 18:19; Isa. 36:4). Ezekiel (31) attests (about B.C. 586) how completely Assyria was overthrown. It ceases to be a nation. (See NINEVEH; BABYLON.)

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Assyria. country of Assur or Ashur

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ASSYRIA. → An empire founded by Nimrod Ge 10:8-12; Mic 5:6 → It extended from east of the Tigris Ge 2:14; 10:11 → Possibly to Egypt Ge 25:18 → Its armies invade the land of Israel under Pul 2Ki 15:19; 1Ch 5:26 → Tiglath 2Ki 15:29; 1Ch 5:6,26 → Shalmaneser 2Ki 17:3-6,24-27; 18:9-12; Jer 50:17 → Sennacherib 2Ki 18:13-37; 19; 2Ch 32; Isa 36; 37 → Army of, destroyed by the angel of the Lord Isa 37:36 → Alliances with, sought by Judah and Israel Ho 5:13 → Israelites subject to La 5:6 → Israelites carried captive into 2Ki 17:3-23 → Jews carried captive to 2Ki 24; 25; 2Ch 36:5-21 → Invaded by Pharaoh-necho 2Ki 23:29 → Commerce of Eze 27:23 → Productiveness of Isa 36:17 → Prophecies concerning Isa 7:17-25; 8:4-10; 10:5-34; 14:24-28; 19:23-25; 20; 30:27-33; 31:8,9; 37:21-35; Jer 1:15; Eze 31; Jon 3:1-4; Na 1; 2; 3; Zep 2:13-15; Zec 10:11 → Prophecies of captivity of Israelites in Ho 9:3; 11:5,11 → Idols of → See ADRAMMELECK → See ANAMMELECH → See NISROCH → See TARTAK

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kingdom founded by Asshur and Nimrod Ge 2:14; 10:11; 25:18; 2Ki 15:19; 17:6; 18:9; 1Ch 5:26; Isa 36:1 Jer 50:17; Mic 5:6