The King Who Survived the Siege

A king says he was besieged at Tell Afis by a coalition of kings. He survived, and he commissioned a stone to commemorate it.

Scripture: Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael, continually.

In the passage, Syria's power presses on Israel under King Jehoahaz, with Hazael and his son Benhadad named.

That king was Zakkur, king of Hamath and Luhuti in Syria, who ruled around seven hundred eighty-five BC.

Earlier, Hamath's king Irhuleni led a coalition against Assyria's Shalmaneser the Third, which Wikipedia says succeeded at Qarqar in eight fifty-three BC. Later, Irhuleni kept good relations with Assyria.

Zakkur's origins are hazy. He appears to have come from a place called Ana, which may be the city of Hana or Terqa on the Euphrates. Some scholars call him a usurper, someone who seized power, since earlier Hamath kings bore Luwian or neo-Hittite names.

It records a siege of Tell Afis by a coalition of Aramean kings, led by the king of Bit Agusi and incited by Ben-Hadad the Third of Damascus.

Zakkur survived, and commissioned the stele to commemorate it.

The passage names a Benhadad, son of Hazael. The stele's story names a Ben-Hadad of Damascus. The names are similar, but the sources don't say these are the same person, so any link is unconfirmed. The stele itself describes Hamath's siege, not Israel's troubles.

Here's what remains open. The sources I have don't say who found the stele, in what year, or where it is kept today.

A stone commissioned by one king, read beside a verse about another kingdom's hardship. May the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today. Follow Bible Evidence for the next find.