Shalmaneser

peace; tied; chained; perfection; retribution

(fire-worshipper ) 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. ( 2 Kings 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. ( 2 Kings 17:4-6 ; 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

shal-ma-ne'-zer (shalman'ecer; Septuagint Samennasar, Salmandsar):

The name of several Assyrian kings. See ASSYRIA; CAPTIVITY. It is Shalmaneser IV who is mentioned in the Biblical history (2 Kings 17:3; 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 (Hosea 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; McCurdy, HPM, I, 387.

T. Nicol