Hazael (; ;[I Kings 19:15, II Kings 8:8, etc.] Old Aramaic 𐤇𐤆𐤀𐤋 Ḥzʔl) was a king of Aram-Damascus mentioned in the Bible.
In the Bible
Hazael is first mentioned by name in . God tells
Elijah the
prophet to anoint Hazael king of Syria. Years after this, the Syrian king Ben-Hadad II, probably identical to the
Hadadezer mentioned in the Tel Dan stele, was ill and sent his court official Hazael with gifts to Elijah's successor,
Elisha. Elisha told Hazael to tell Hadadezer that he would recover and revealed to Hazael that the king would recover but would be assassinated. He also predicted that Hazael would commit atrocities against the Israelites. Hazael denies that he is capable of perpetrating such deeds. Elisha predicts that Hazael will be king of Syria; he returns to Damascus the next day and tells Hadadezer he will recover but suffocates Hadadezer and seizes power himself.
During his reign,
Tel Dan stele
A monumental Aramaic inscription discovered at Tel Dan is seen by most scholars as having been erected by Hazael, after he defeated the kings of Israel and Judah.
Recent excavations at
Tell es-Safi/Gath have revealed dramatic evidence of the siege and subsequent conquest of Gath by Hazael. An archaeomagnetic study has suggested that the sites of
Tell Zeitah,
Tel Rehov and Horvat Tevet were destroyed by Hazael's campaign.
Items belonging to Hazael
Bronze plaques
Decorated bronze plaques from chariot horse-harness taken from Hazael, identified by their inscriptions, have been found as re-gifted
at two Greek sites, the Heraion of Samos and in the temple of Apollo at
Eretria on
Euboea. The inscriptions read "that which
Hadad gave to our lord Hazael from 'Umq in the year that our lord crossed the River".
[I. Eph'al and J. Naveh, "Hazael's booty inscriptions", Israel Exploration Journal 39 (1989:192-200).] The river must be the
Orontes River. The triangular front pieces show a "Master of the animals"
[Compare the Aegean "Mistress of the Animals"] gripping inverted sphinxes or lions in either hand, and with goddesses who stand on the heads of lions. When Tiglath-Pileser III took Damascus in 733/2, these heirlooms were part of the loot that fell eventually into Greek, probably
hands.
[Robin Lane Fox, Travelling Heroes in the Epic Age of Homer, 2008:109-11.]
Arslan Tash ivories
A set of ivory bed decorations were found in 1928 in
Arslan Tash in northern Syria (ancient Hadātu) by a team of French archaeologists.
[ Arslan-Tash. v. 1 p.135: "Trois fragments d'une lamelle d'ivoire portant une ligne de texte en caractères araméens. Ces fragments ont été trouvés aux environs immédiats des cadres décrits plus haut p. 89 et suiv."] Among them is the Arslan Tash ivory inscription in
Old Aramaic that carries the name 'Hazael' (𐤇𐤆𐤀𐤋
ḤZʔL); this bed seems to have belonged to king Hazael of Aram-Damascus. The inscription is known as KAI 232.
Also, some fragmentary ivories mentioning Hazael were found in
/ref>
See also
-
List of biblical figures identified in extra-biblical sources
-
Timeline of Syrian history
Notes
-
Biran, A., and Naveh, J. 1995. The Tel Dan Inscription: A New Fragment. Israel Exploration Journal 45(1):1–18.
-
Ephal, I., and Naveh, J. 1989. Hazael's booty inscriptions. Israel Exploration Journal 39(3–4):192–200.
-
Lemaire, A. 1991. Hazaël, de Damas, Roi d'Aram. Pp. 91–108 in Marchands, Diplomates et Empereurs, Etudes sur la civilisation mésopotamienne offertes à P. Garelli. Paris: Editions Recherche sur la Civilisations.
-
Maeir, A. 2004. The Historical Background and Dating of Amos VI 2: An Archaeological Perspective from Tell es-Safi/Gath. Vetus Testamentum 54(3):319–34.
-
Galil, G., "David and Hazael: War, Peace, Stones and Memory," Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 139,2 (2007), 79–84.
-
Maeir, A. M., and Gur-Arieh, S. 2011. Comparative aspects of the Aramean Siege System at Tell es-Sa¦fi/Gath. Pp. 227–44 in The Fire Signals of Lachish: Studies in the Archaeology and History of Israel in the Late Bronze Age, Iron Age and Persian Period in Honor of David Ussishkin, eds. I. Finkelstein and N. Na'aman. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.
External links
