KINGS
AND MAJOR CITIES OF ASSYRIA
Map
of the Major Cities of Assyria in the Ancient Near East :
About
the time of King David and Solomon the Assyrians began to move northward
and westward in their military expansions. They were searching for
booty such as metals like gold, iron and bronze, and horses. Under
King Ashurnasirpal II (885-860 BC) the Assyrian capital was moved
to Nimrud (Kalhu) and the next set of kings expanded the kingdom
of Assyria to beyond the Euphrates River Euphrates. When Tiglath-Pileser
III came to power in 747 BC, he conquered nations to form an empire
and deported the people of those nations throughout the Assyrian
Empire. For the next 100 years the Assyrian kings build new capitals:
Sargon built his palace at Khorsabad, and Sennacherib built Nineveh
and Esarhaddon not only expanded these new capitals but expanded
the empire until Assyrian dominance reached from Persia to the Mediterranean
Sea. Ashurbanipal (668-626 BC) fought many wars with Egypt, and
Babylonia and Elam were crushed. In 616 BC the new king of Babylon,
Nabopolassar joined with the Medes and attacked Assyria. The mighty
Empire of Assyria finally fell in 612 BC and Nineveh was destroyed.
The Assyrian royalty fled to the city of Haran and the Babylonians
came and destroyed them in 609 BC.
![](kingsandmajorcitiesofassyria/map-of-assyria.jpg)
Assyria
on the Northern Tigris River
![](kingsandmajorcitiesofassyria/Map-Ancient-Near-East.jpg)
Map
of the Ancient Near East
![](kingsandmajorcitiesofassyria/fertile-crescent.jpg)
Map
of the Fertile Crescent
![](kingsandmajorcitiesofassyria/map-of-israel.jpg)
Map
of Israel
Samaria,
the new capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, was founded by
king Omri (878-871 B.C.), the father of king Ahab. The city was
built with high walls and very heavily fortified.
The
kings of later Assyria reigned from the 9th century BC until the
fall of Assyria in 612 BC.
Later
kings of Assyria (885 - 607 B.C.) :
Assur-nasirpal
II (885 - 860 B.C.)
Shalmaneser
II (860 - 825 B.C.)
Shansi-adad
(825 - 808 B.C.)
Adad-nirari
(808 - 783 B.C.)
Shalmaneser
III (783 - 771 B.C.)
Assur-dayan
(771 - 753 B.C.)
Assur-lush
(753 - 747 B.C.)
Tiglath-pileser
III (Pul) (747 - 727 B.C.)
Shalmaneser
IV (727 - 722 B.C.)
Sargon
II (722 - 705 B.C.)
Sennacherib
(705 - 681 B.C.)
Esar-haddon
(681 - 668 B.C.)
Assur-banipal
(668 - 626 B.C.)
Assur-etil-ilani
(626 - 607 B.C.)
Assyrian
annals mention contacts with some nine Hebrew kings: Omri, Ahab,
Jehu, Menahem, Pekah, Uzziah, Ahaz, Hezekiah, and Manasseh.
In
the reign of Hoshea, king of Israel, Shalmaneser, king of Assyria,
twice invaded (2 Kings 17:3,5) the kingdom that remained, and his
successor Sargon II took Samaria in 722 BC, carrying away 27,290
of the population as he tells in his Khorsabad Annals. Later Assyrian
kings, notably Esarhaddon (681 BC - 668 BC), completed the task.
"Therefore
the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight;
there was none left but the tribe of Judah alone. . And the LORD
rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered
them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them from His
sight." (The Book of 2 Kings)
When
Your Enemies Are The Size Of Assyria - A Heart Message
Isa
10:5-7 "Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in
whose hand is My indignation. I will send him against an ungodly
nation, And against the people of My wrath I will give him charge,
To seize the spoil, to take the prey, And to tread them down like
the mire of the streets. Yet he does not mean so, Nor does his heart
think so; But it is in his heart to destroy, And cut off not a few
nations."
The
Northern Kingdom consisted of 10 of the tribes (excluding Judah
and Benjamin). It lasted for about 210 years until it was destroyed
by Assyria in 722 BC. Its capital was Samaria. Every king of Israel
was evil. In the northern kingdom there were 9 dynasties (family
lines of kings) and 19 kings in all. An average of 11 years to a
reign. 8 of these kings met death by violence.
The
epitaph written over every one of its kings was :
I
King 15:34 "and he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked
in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin by which he had made Israel
to sin."
It
was king Ahab who introduced Baal worship to them.
I
King 16:30-33 "Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight
of the LORD, more than all who were before him. And it came to pass,
as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins
of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter
of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and
worshiped him. Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of
Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a wooden image.
Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all
the kings of Israel who were before him."
The
last king was Hoshea (2 Ki 17). The petty wars of the past, wars
with Syria and Edom, Ammon and Philistia, were now to give way to
war on an ominous new scale. A world empire was being gathered into
the ruthless hands of the Assyrians. The ruthless and cruel Assyrians
(under Sargon II) besieged Samaria for 3 years and finally it fell,
Israel was doomed. The Assyrians hauled them away into captivity
(722 BC).
But
the Lord always reminded them of why judgment came :
II
Ki 17:7-23 "For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned
against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land
of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they
had feared other gods, and had walked in the statutes of the nations
whom the LORD had cast out from before the children of Israel, and
of the kings of Israel, which they had made.
Also
the children of Israel secretly did against the LORD their God things
that were not right, and they built for themselves high places in
all their cities, from watchtower to fortified city. They set up
for themselves sacred pillars and wooden images on every high hill
and under every green tree. There they burned incense on all the
high places, like the nations whom the LORD had carried away before
them; and they did wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger, for
they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, "You
shall not do this thing."
Yet
the LORD testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His
prophets, every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways, and
keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which
I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants
the prophets." Nevertheless they would not hear, but stiffened
their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who did not believe
in the LORD their God. And they rejected His statutes and His covenant
that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He
had testified against them; they followed idols, became idolaters,
and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning
whom the LORD had charged them that they should not do like them.
So
they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, made for themselves
a molded image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshiped
all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their sons
and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and
soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the
LORD, to provoke Him to anger.
Therefore
the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight;
there was none left but the tribe of Judah alone. And the LORD rejected
all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them
into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them from His sight.
For He tore Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam
the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel from following
the LORD, and made them commit a great sin. For the children of
Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did
not depart from them, until the LORD removed Israel out of His sight,
as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried
away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day."
Source
:
https://www.bible-history.com/
destruction_of_israel/destruction_
of_israel_map_of_assyria.html