In circa. 736 B.C.E., an Israelite military officer named Pekah launched a military coup d’etat against King Pekahiah, assassinating him and seizing the throne of Israel (2 Kings 15:25). Pekah then collaborated with King Rezin of Aram-Damascus, along with multiple other states in the southern Levant, in a resistance movement against King Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria – a move that would soon lead to the ultimate downfall of Israel.

Tiglath-pileser III responded with several military campaigns against the revolting states in the Levant. His successful campaign against Israel in 732 B.C.E. – which we’ll take a look at in this post – is recorded in his own inscriptions, in the Hebrew Bible (2 Kings 15:29), and is also documented in the archaeological record.

Biblical Sources

Our biblical source for Tiglath-pileser III’s Israelite campaign is the note contained in 1 Kings 15:29,

 In the time of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maakah, Janoah, Kedesh and Hazor. He took Gilead and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and deported the people to Assyria.

This text reports that Tiglath-pileser III captured the Galilee region and numerous cities within it (Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Kedesh, Janoah, Hazor, and “all the land of Naphtali”), as well as the Gilead, which here refers to all the Israelite territory east of the Jordan River. This was roughly half of Israel’s territory, leaving only the hill country of Samaria in Israelite hands. The Israelites living in these territory were then deported east to territories within the Assyrian Empire.

There is good reason to believe that the Gilead region was not a part of Israel at the time of Tiglath-pileser III’s campaign. Two Assyrian summary inscriptions – no. 9, and 10 – record that Gilead was conquered from Aram-Damascus rather than Israel, and that “Gilead” (probably referring to the city of Mizpeh-Gilead on the Jabbok River), was at the southern border of Aram-Damascus (Na’aman 1995a, p. 105; for the inscriptions, see Tadmor and Yamada 2011, p. 128-134). It thus seems that, prior to the campaign of Tiglath-pileser III, the Gilead region was conquered and annexed by Aram-Damascus. This happened perhaps as early as the late years of Jeroboam II, but no later than Pekah’s ascension, since Israel and Aram-Damascus were allied during Pekah’s reign (Na’aman 1995a, p. 106).

Assyrian Sources

Tiglath-pileser III himself recorded his campaign against Israel in his own inscriptions; specifically, his annals and his summary inscriptions. These inscriptions, by and large, report the same general events. One of Tiglath-pileser III’s inscriptions – Summary inscription no. 8 – says the following,

⁾ [I conquered the land Bīt-Ḫumr]î (Israel) in [its] entire[ty (and) I brought] t[o Assyria …, together with] their [belon]gings.

Tadmor and Yamada 2011, p. 125-127.

Another inscription, Annals no. 24, is difficult to read, but it reports the conquest of “sixteen districts” of Israel and the deportation of the peoples from those territories to Assyrian territories,

 … […] without … [… I utterly demolished …] of sixteen dis[tricts of the land Bīt-Ḫumrî (Israel). I carried off (to Assyria) …] capti[ves from …], (5´) 226 [captives from …, …] captives [from …], 400 [(and …) captives from …], 656 cap[tives from the city Sa…, …] (altogether) 13,520 [people, …], (10´) with their belongings. [I … the cities Arumâ (and) Marum, (…) which are] sit[uated in] rugged mountains.

Tadmor and Yamada 2011, p. 60-61.

Tiglath-pileser III further records, – in Summary inscription no. 13 – that Samaria was the only part of Israel that was spared by the Assyrian assault,

[The land Bīt-Ḫumrî] (Israel), all [of whose] cities I [utterly devastated i]n former campaigns of mine, whose […] (and) livestock I carried off, and (whose capital) Samaria I isola[ted

Tadmor and Yamada 2011, p. 110-112.

The king of Assyria also records the assassination of King Pekah (reported in 2 Kings 15:30), and states that he placed Hoshea as a vassal king over the remaining Israelite territory,

[I/they] killed Peqah, their king, and I placed Hoshea [as king o]ver them. I received from them ten talents of gold, … talents of silver, [together with] their [proper]ty, and [I brou]ght them [to Assyria].

Tadmor and Yamada 2011, p. 104-107.

Archaeological Data

Archaeological data confirms and helps shed light on the campaign of Tiglath-pileser III into Israel.

The Lower Galilee region was conquered by Tiglath-pileser III in his 732 B.C. campaign. This region was surveyed by Zvi Gal in 1980-1983, and the results of the survey showed that the Lower Galilee was practically completely destroyed and abandoned in the late 8th century B.C. – as a result of the Assyrian campaign – and that its abandonment continued into the 7th century B.C. (Gal 1988).

Other than that, destruction layers in the land of Israel that have been attributed to Tiglath-pileser III’s conquests include Stratum VI of Gezer (Wolff 2021), Stratum P-7 of Beth-Shean (Itkin 2022, p. 53-54), and Stratum V of Hazor (Na’aman 1989, p. 106; Itkin 2022, p. 57; but see also James 2008).

Conclusion

Tiglath-pileser III campaigned against Israel in 732 B.C.E. His campaign resulted in the conquest of the Galilee region, the Northern Valleys, and the coastal plains, the destruction and abandonment of numerous sites in these territories, the deportation of the peoples living in these territories to Assyria, and the elimination of Israel as a significant military threat to Assyrian interests. Israel was now confided simply to the hill country surrounding Samaria, and was no more than an Assyrian vassal. Later, after Tiglath-pileser III’s death, the revolt of Hoshea would lead to the final annexation and destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C.E.

Bibliography

Gal, Zvi. “The Lower Galilee in the Iron Age II: Analysis of Survey Material and its Historical Interpretation.” Tel Aviv 15.1 (1988): 56-64.

Itkin, Eli. “Post-Destruction Squatter Phases in the Iron Age IIB–C Southern Levant.” Bulletin of the American Society of Overseas Research 388.1 (2022): 51-72.

James, Peter. “The alleged “anchor point” of 732 BC for the destruction of Hazor V.” (2008).

Na’aman, Nadav. “Rezin of Damascus and the Land of Gilead.” Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins (1953-) H. 2 (1995a): 105-117.

Na’aman, Nadav. “Tiglath-pileser III’s campaigns against Tyre and Israel (734–732 BCE).” Tel Aviv 22.2 (1995b): 268-278.

Tadmor, Hayim, and Yamada, Shigeo. The Royal Inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser III (744-727 BC) and Shalmaneser V (726-722 BC), Kings of Assyria. Germany, Penn State University Press, 2011.

Wolff, Samuel R. “The date of destruction of Gezer Stratum VI.” Tel Aviv 48.1 (2021): 73-86.