Seder Olam: C26a- Sargon
- Albert Benhamou
- Mar 15
- 23 min read
Updated: Mar 20
BIBLICAL CHRONOLOGY
Generation 26: Hebrew years 3000 to 3120 (760-640 BCE)
Introduction
This chronological 26th generation covers the campaigns of Assyria against the kingdom of Israel, and its destruction, and the campaign of Sennacherib against the kingdom of Judah.
The 26th Generation is an important milestone in Jewish History. The number 26 is the numerical value of God's 4-letter name (for Jewish symbolism of the numbers, click here). This 26th Generation bears witness of the divine hand upon His chosen people, after years and generations of deviations from His commandments.
Chronology of the two kingdoms during the 26th Generation
Hebrew Year | CE | Differ. | Kingdom of JUDAH | Kingdom of ISRAEL | Sources | Text |
3002 | -758 | 10 | Menahem son of Gadi dies | II Kings 15:17 | reigned 10Y | |
3003 | -757 | 49 | Pekahiah son of Menahem reigns | II Kings 15:23 | Y50 Azariah | |
3005 | -755 | 2 | Pekahiah murdered by Pekah | II Kings 15:23 | reigned 2Y | |
3005 | -755 | 51 | Pekah son of Remaliah reigns | II Kings 15:27 | Y52 Azariah | |
3006 | -754 | Vision of Isaiah the Prophet | Isaiah 6:1 | Y of Uzziah | ||
3006 | -754 | 52 | Azariah/Uzziah dies, a leper | II Kings 15:2 | ||
3006 | -754 | 1 | Jotham son of Azariah/ Uzziah reigns | II Kings 15:32 | Y2 Pekah |
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3007 | -753 | Foundation of Rome | Historical | |||
3016 | -744 | Tiglath-Pileser III campaign in Y1 of reign; Deportation of Naphtali | Historical |
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3022 | -738 | 16 | Jotham son of Uzziah dies | II Kings 15:33 | reigned 16Y | |
3022 | -738 | 17 | Ahaz son of Jotham reigns | Y17 Pekah | ||
3005 | -755 | Pekah and Resin of Aram war vs. Judah | II Kings 16:1 | |||
3025 | -735 | Tiglath-Pileser III campaign 735BC; Deportation of the northern tribes | Historical |
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3025 | -735 | 20 | Pekah son of Remaliah is killed by Hoshea | II Kings 15:27,30 | reigned 20Y | |
3032 | -728 | Shalmaneser V reigns in Babylon | Historical |
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3033 | -727 | 11 | Hoshea son of Elah reigns, vassal of Assyria | II Kings 17:1 | Y12 Ahaz | |
3035 | -725 | 2 | Hezekiah son of Ahaz reigns | II Kings 18:1 | Y3 Hoshea |
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3038 | -722 | 16 | Ahaz son of Jotham dies | II Kings 16:2 | reigned 16Y | |
3038 | -722 | -4 | Hoshea rebels; taken captive to Assyria | II Kings 17:1 | ||
3038 | -722 | 0 | Shalmaneser V campaign 722BC; Deportation of Israel to Assyria | Historical |
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3039 | -721 | 4 | Shalmaneser besieges Samaria | II Kings 18:1 | Y4 Hezekiah | |
3041 | -719 | 6 | Shalmaneser destroys the capital Samaria | II Kings 17:5-6 | Y6 Hezekiah | |
3042 | -718 | 9 | Hoshea son of Elah - official end of reign | II Kings 17:1 | reigned 9Y | |
3048 | -712 | 13 | Sennacherib invades Judah | II Kings 18:13 | Y14 Hezekiah | |
3049 | -711 | -15 | Hezekiah son of Ahaz fatally ill | II Kings 20:6 | added 15Y |
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3052 | -708 | -12 | Manasseh son of Hezekiah born | II Kings 21:1 |
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3064 | -696 | 29 | Hezekiah son of Ahaz dies | II Kings 18:14 | reigned 29Y | |
3064 | -696 | 29 | Manasseh son of Hezekiah reigns | II Kings 20:21 | aged 12Y old |
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3079 | -681 | Sennacherib is assassinated by his sons | Historical |
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3097 | -663 | -22 | Amon son of Manasseh born |
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3113 | -647 | -8 | Josiah son of Amon born | II Kings 22:1 | ||
3119 | -641 | 55 | Manasseh son of Hezekiah dies | II Kings 21:1 | reigned 55Y |
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3119 | -641 | Amon son of Manasseh reigns | II Kings 21:1 | aged 22Y |
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Year 3006 – 754 BCE – Death of Uzziah
Pekahiah son of Menachem only reigned 2 years in Israel when he was assassinated by Pekah, the son of his army chief Remaliah who was from Gilead. Pekah started to reign in his stead.
In Judah, King Uzziah died of leprosy. In 1931, a tablet was found in a Christian monastery in Jerusalem. It states: To here were brought the bones of Uzziah king of Judah. Do not open.
The tablet was inscribed in the period of the Second Temple, and it may be possible that it was made during the works on the Second Temple when his tomb was discovered. Why was his tomb discovered on its own, and not with the tombs of other members of his family or of other kings of Judah? Because Uzziah died a leper so they probably buried him in a different location within the City of David:
And the Lord smote the king [Azariah/Uzziah], so that he was a leper unto the day of his death and dwelt in a house set apart. And Jotham the king's son was over the household, judging the people of the land. Now the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And Azariah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David; and Jotham his son reigned in his stead. (II Kings 15:5-7)
The Book of Chronicles also bears mention of the burial of Uzziah with a comment, He is a leper, which probably was meant as an explanation about his burial, in a slightly different place than the rest of his family:
So Uzziah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the field of burial which belonged to the kings; for they said: 'He is a leper'; and Jotham his son reigned in his stead. (II Chronicles 26:23)
When the tomb was found at a much later period, they re-buried the bones of Uzziah and, as they knew he died a leper, they added the word of caution: Do not open.
Year 3006 – 754 BCE – Isaiah the Prophet
Isaiah, son of Amos the prophet, had a prophetic vision about Judah and Israel in the year that Uzziah king of Judah died:
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass at the end of days [the Messianic times], that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many peoples shall go and say: 'Come you and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge between the nations and shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. (Isaiah 2:1-4)
Isaiah continued to prophesize in the kingdom of Judah during the reigns of Jotham son of Uzziah, then Ahaz, until Hezekiah (Isaiah 1:1). He promised the divine protection to Ahaz when he was new king over Judah and when both Pekah king of Israel and Rezin king of Aram waged a war against him (Isaiah 7:3-8). Indeed, God promised to Ahaz that the kingdoms of Aram and Israel will fall under the hand of Assyria, and their people will be deported (Isaiah 8:4):
“O Asshur, the rod of My anger, in whose hand as a staff is My indignation! I do send him against an ungodly nation, and against the people of My wrath do I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.” (Isaiah 10:5)
But Redemption will eventually come, as Isaiah had the vision of forthcoming events, the destruction of the Temple, the spoil of Jerusalem but also their rebirth with the help of a king called Cyrus who will be God’s instrument:
That says of Cyrus: “He is My shepherd and shall perform all My pleasure;” even saying of Jerusalem: “She shall be built” and of the temple: “My foundation shall be laid.” (Isaiah 44:28)
The final redemption, at the end of days, will not be limited to the children of Israel, but also to all aliens who would embrace the word of God:
Also the aliens, that join themselves to the Lord, to minister unto Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one that keeps the sabbath from profaning it, and holds fast by My covenant: Even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer; their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be acceptable upon My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Says the Lord God who gathers the dispersed of Israel: Yet I will gather others to him, beside those of him that are gathered. (Isaiah 56:6-8)
Year 3016 – 744 BCE – Tiglath-Pileser III
Tiglath-Pileser III was the new ruler of the Assyrian empire. He seized power in 745 BCE by killing all members of the previous royal family. To avoid rebellion from various parties, he declared himself as Pulu, meaning "the Heir" (for the biblical "Put", see document C25), claiming that he was another son of Adad-Nirari III and therefore was legitimate to claim the throne. He first called himself Sargon (Isaiah 20:1), which means "the true [or legitimate] king" (in reference to a heroic king, Sargon of Akkad, see document C16), following the same goal to ascertain his rule. He was a ruthless but successful military commander. He reigned between 745 and 727 BCE and was in fact one of the most successful military commanders of the old ages.
According to the Babylonian records, he started to campaign in the Levant around 740 BCE and his general policy on conquered territories was to cause massive deportations of population to avoid future rebellion from these lands.
In a relief found in Nimrud, the name of one of the conquered cities is Astartu which was a city located in Moab territory. It is mentioned in the Bible, when the Hebrews approached Canaan, that it was the capital of Og king of Bashan (Deuteronomy 1:4). After the conquest by Joshua, this territory was part of Gilead and was given to the sons of Gershom from the tribe of Manasseh.
The relief shows the Astartu prisoners of a larger size than their conquerors, which is quite remarkable in an antique depiction, generally putting victors in a better light. It must indicate that the Astartu people were tall, like Og the giant.
The succession of fateful events that would bring down the kingdom of Israel started with the aggression they did against the kingdom of Judah:
Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war; and they besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him. At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath to Aram and drove the Judeans from Elath; and the Edomites came to Elath and dwelt there, unto this day. (II Kings 16:5-6)
Ahaz started to reign in Judah after his father Jotham, son of Uzziah, died. But he worshipped idols and, worse, adopted the abominable pagan customs of human sacrifice because he made his son to pass through the fire (II Kings 16:3). God punished him by raising a war against Judah in which Pekah made an alliance with Rezin king of Aram. But despite their successes in parts of the kingdom, they could not take the city of Jerusalem from Ahaz.
This is when Ahaz made a big mistake: he pledged allegiance to Tiglath-Pileser to get his military support against Israel and Aram. Piglath-Pileser did not need further reason to order another campaign in the Levant:
So, Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying: “I am your servant and your son; come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram, and out of the hand of the king of Israel who rise up against me.”
And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it as a present to the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus [capital of Aram] and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin. (II Kings 16:7-9)
Year 3025 – 735 BCE – The merit of the Patriarchs is exhausted
In the Hebrew year 3025, 1000 years had been accomplished since God spoke to Abraham to ask him to settle in the land He had designated. The Israelites did not walk in the path of God as their ancestors did and yet God protected His people all the time, because of the merit of their Patriarchs. Now, after 1000 years, this merit had faded away. For the first time, God will let events to unfold against His people and would no longer intervene as directly as He had often done before.
The Talmud had reflected on this question of merit and when it was exhausted. Several opinions were expressed, but all agreed that it happened during this period of the kingdoms:
And since when has the merit of the Patriarchs been exhausted? — Rab said, Since the days of Hosea the son of Beeri, for it is written, "[And now] will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of my hand." [Hosea 2:12]
Samuel said. Since the days of Hazael, for it is said, "And Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz;" [II Kings 13:22] and it is written, "But the Lord was gracious unto them, and had compassion upon them, and had respect unto them, because of the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, neither cast he them from his presence until now." [II Kings 13:23]
R. Joshua b. Levi said: Since the days of Elijah, for it is said, "And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening oblation, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, O Lord, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel, and that I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word."[I Kings 18:36]
R. Johanan said: Since the days of Hezekiah, for it is said, "Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with judgement and with righteousness for henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall perform this." [Isaiah 9:6] (Talmud, Shabbat, 55a)
Year 3025 – 735 BCE – Deportation of the Tribe of Naphtali
After conquering Aram, Tiglath-Pileser turned his army against the kingdom of Israel. It happened in the 20th year since Pekah had seized power:
In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-Beth-Maacah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria. And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. (II Kings 15:29-30)
This was the first of a series of disasters that struck the kingdom of Israel: the deportation of some of the tribes, those on the eastern side of the Jordan River and those in the northern part of the land, such as the tribe of Naphtali. The Babylonian records give a date of this conquest around 740-733 BCE, while the Hebrew calendar placed around year 3004, equivalent to 756 BCE, which is close enough considering the margin of error between various calendars. This catastrophe had cost Pekah his throne and his life. He had reigned for 20 years before being assassinated by Hoshea, son of Elah.
Hoshea ruled over a country devastated by war with a depleted population. He tried to rebuild a kingdom and crowned himself king a few years later, when the news of the death of Pigath-Pileser reached the region, in the 12thyear of the reign of Ahaz. Hoshea probably thought that this powerful king of Assyria being dead, his empire would collapse thanks to internal political disputes. But this didn’t happen: his son Shalmaneser V rose to power and forced his regions, including the kingdom of Israel, to submit to his rule and to pay tribute.
Year 3035 – 725 BCE – Hezekiah king of Judah
Ahaz was succeeded on the throne of Judah by his son Hezekiah who was 25 years old. He was influenced not by his pagan father but by his mother who was the daughter of the Prophet Zechariah. And he restored the divine service in Jerusalem:
Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.
And he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. (II Kings 18:1-3)
Hezekiah also imposed religious reforms in the way that he concentrated all the cult onto the Temple in Jerusalem. Indeed, in many cities of Judeah, people had built their own temples to offer sacrifices, which were not acceptable by Jewish lawmakers because they often added pagan rites under the cover of Jewish practice:
He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah; and he broke in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made; for unto those days the children of Israel did offer to it; and it was called Nehushtan.
He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among them that were before him. (II Kings 18:4-5)
One example of this reform can be seen today in the ruins of Tel Arad, a fortress in the Negev desert. There, visitors can see the same layout as in the Temple of Jerusalem, divided in three sections: the main hall where a 'high place' featured an altar for the sacrifices, then the entrance to the 'eichal' (the sanctuary), and that one leading to the 'devir' (the Holy of Holies). When excavations were carried out there, they found that the stones were taken down by human hands but not as a result of destruction, thus proving that the temple of Tel Arad was decommissioned but not destroyed. This happened indeed at the time of the religious reforms led by King Hezekiah.
More recently in 2016, excavations at Lachish, which was the second most important city of the kingdom of Judah, unveiled remains of one such "high place" where the altar has been deliberately damaged. But, interestingly, they also found in this high place a holed stone that was used as a toilet seat ! Why? This was a way to defile a cultic place. We know that such method was used in these times because a Biblical text explicitly mentions the same for a high place destroyed by Jehu in the kingdom of Israel. This is to say it was the common practice to obtain the desired result. And in Lachish was found the archaeological evidence of this Biblical passage:
And they brought forth the pillars that were in the house of Baal and burned them. And they broke down the pillar of Baal, and broke down the house of Baal, and made it a latrine unto this day. Thus, Jehu destroyed Baal out of [the kingdom of] Israel. (II Kings 10:26-28)
Hezekiah had no doubt that the Assyrian army would eventually come back to attack his kingdom. So, although he trusted God for protection, he took the important steps to improve the defenses of the city of Jerusalem. To guarantee its supply of water in case of lengthy siege, he arranged to conceal the access of a natural spring, the Gihon Spring, located outside the city walls and to dig a secret underground tunnel to divert its waters towards the interior of the city walls. The waters, until today, arrive in the so-called Pool of Siloam. The secret tunnel had been discovered in 1834 and a plaque was later found carved there on the rock, whereas Hezekiah probably wanted to commemorate this great work for the city. The passage reads:
... the tunnel ... and this is the story of the tunnel while ... the axes were against each other and while three cubits were left to cut? ... the voice of a man ... called to his counterpart, (for) there was echo in the rock, on the right ... and on the day of the tunnel (being finished) the stonecutters struck each man towards his counterpart, axe against axe and flowed water from the source to the pool for 1200 cubits. and 100? cubits was the height over the head of the stonecutters ... (Transcription by Palestine Exploration Fund)
There is some debate among some archaeologists about the king who directed the work of this water tunnel, although the Biblical text is noticeably clear about it stating that it was indeed King Hezekiah:
Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? (II Kings 20:20)
During the reign of Hezekiah, and probably because of the threats that were upon the kingdom of Israel, the people of the kingdom of Israel who wanted to return to the faith were allowed to do the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the first time since the interdiction that Jeroboam had imposed:
Ulla said: It is the day [the 15th of Av] on which Hoshea the son of Elah removed the guards which Jeroboam the son of Nebat had placed on the roads to prevent Israel [people] from going [up to Jerusalem] on pilgrimage, and he proclaimed: “Let them go up to whichever shrine they desire.” (Talmud, Taanith, 30b)
In fact, many of these people sought to find protection in the kingdom of Judah to avoid deportation. King Hezekiah encouraged all the people, of the two kingdoms, to make repentance by coming to Jerusalem:
So, they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beer-Sheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover unto the Lord, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem; for they had not kept it in great numbers according as it is written. So, the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying: “You children of Israel, turn back unto the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that He may return to the remnant that are escaped of you out of the hand of the kings of Assyria. And be not you like your fathers, and like your brethren, who acted treacherously against the Lord, the God of their fathers, so that He delivered them to be an astonishment, as you see. Now be you not stiff-necked, as your fathers were; but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into His sanctuary, which He has sanctified forever, and serve the Lord your God, that His fierce anger may turn away from you. For if you turn back unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that led them captive and shall come back into this land; for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away His face from you, if you return unto Him.”
So, the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even unto Zebulun; but they were some who laughed them to scorn and mocked them. Nevertheless, people of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. Also in Judah was the hand of God to give them one heart, to do the commandment of the king and of the princes by the word of the Lord. And there assembled at Jerusalem many people to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation. (II Chronicles 30:5-13)
As a result, the city of Jerusalem witnessed a huge increase of its population. Many of the newcomers settled in the close vicinity of the city walls. So, King Hezekiah also expanded the city walls to include these new communities inside the walls.
In the above diagram of Jerusalem in the time of Hezekiah, we can see the extensions that the king developed: in red the minimalist theory, in orange the commonly accepted theory.
Jewish Tradition also considers King Hezekiah as having been a great scholar of the Scriptures and even as the compiler of the Book of Proverbs and the Song of Songs. He knew that the Earth was composed of seven continents, but that it was initially composed of one. This notion of a unique initial continent only became clear in 1921 when the German scientist Alfred Weneger proved it and explained that the existence of several continents today was caused by a so-called Continental Drift. This movement of tectonic plaques is indirectly stated in two verses of the Jewish Scriptures, which could only be fully understood in the past 100 years, or by those like King Hezekiah in his days who could analyze the meaning behind the lines.The first verse refers to the creation of the initial sole continent:
And God said: 'Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land (הַיַּבָּשָׁה) appear.' And it was so. (Genesis 1:9)
The use of singular form for the dry land implicates one continent. Then the second verse was introduced by King Hezekiah in the Proverbs, seemingly as a mirror to Genesis 1:9 as it is found in Proverbs 9:1:
Wisdom has built her house (בֵיתָהּ), she has hewn out her seven pillars. (Proverbs 9:1)
The great Medieval commentator Rashi explained the word her house as being the world for the living creatures because it is with Wisdom that God created the world. This was the world of Creation, the one mentioned in Genesis 1:9 as being the dry land. And this one-continent world (the house) then split itself as it has hewn seven pillars. What pillars? This refers to the seven continents, derived from the single initial dry land that God made to appear. From geologists, the seven continents (different from political continents) are: North America, South America, Asia/Europe, Africa, India, Australia and Antarctica.
Another passage in the Biblical text refers to four rivers that came out from the Garden of Eden:
And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted and became four heads. The name of the first is Pishon; that is it which compasses the whole land of Havilah where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
And the name of the second river is Gihon; the same is it that compasses the whole land of Cush.
And the name of the third river is Tigris; that is it which goes toward the east of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. (Genesis 2:10-14)
Two rivers are easy to identify: the Tigris and the Euphrates. Pishon could be the Amazon in South America where gold and onyx stone used to be found abundantly by the Conquistadors. Gihon refers to the Nile River that crosses the land of Cush (Ethiopia).
Regardless of what these rivers really were, they all came out of the Garden of Eden, according to the Biblical text. How could this be possible when we look at the position of all these possible rivers today? The only explanation is that there was a time when the continents were one, and these rivers could then be in locations that made the configuration described in the Bible as true (the Garden of Eden being eventually prepared well before the making of Adam). The explanation is in the Continental Drift.
Year 3042 – 718 BCE – The end of the Kingdom of Israel
While paying tribute to Shalmaneser, Hoshea sought to build an alliance with the king of Egypt, called So in the Biblical text: he was probably Osorkon IV, the last Pharaoh of the 22nd Dynasty so-called Tanite. The call for help was however intercepted by Shalmaneser agents who decided to punish the vassal Hoshea for his duplicity:
Against him [Hoshea] came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant and brought him presents. And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; therefore, the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. (II Kings 17:3-4)
The Israelite king was taken captive in the 6th year of his reign. But the capital city of Samaria continued the struggle for the 3 following years:
Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away unto Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and in Habor, on the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. (II Kings 17:5-6)
Shalmaneser V died soon after having conquered Samaria. Maybe he was even murdered by his successor, Sargon II, who campaigned in the Levant as well. His conquest of the Philistine city of Ashdod, in 711 BCE, is mentioned in Isaiah. This new ruler applied the same policy of “ethnic cleansing” by displacing populations from one place of the empire to another.
After he took away the Israelites out of the kingdom of Israel, he moved in foreign populations and ordered to rebuild the city of Samaria: for this reason, these people would become known as the Samaritans (II Kings 17:24-29).
There are historians who believe that Sargon II and Sennacherib were the same person, whereas Sargon II was a name that Sennacherib adopted later in his reign. History has not decided yet whether this king was the actual son of his predecessor or an usurper who killed Shalmaneser on his return from the campaign against Israel.But, according to the Bible, there were 10 years difference between the campaigns of Shalmaneser and of Sennacherib, because the first one took place in the 4th year of the reign of Hezekiah king of Judah and the second one took place in the 14th year (II Kings 18:9 and 18:13).
Year 3045 – 715 BCE – Numa, king of Rome
Not all the Israelites chose to become slave and be deported to Assyria. When all hope was lost, many escaped, along with their Phoenician neighbors who also wanted to avoid death or deportation, to cities where they had already established maritime settlements in the Mediterranean basin. One of the destinations was Rome which, we would recall, was originally an establishment of Benjamite Jews who escaped from the civil war at the time of the Judges (see document C22).
At that time, a king called Numa Pompilius reigned in Rome. According to the Roman historian Plutarch (46-120 CE), he was a Sabine, and the Sabines were themselves originally Lacedaemonians (Spartans), thus of Hebrew origin as all classic historians knew this as a fact. The Sabines were those who welcomed the Benjamite escapees from the Israelite civil war at the time of the Judges.
Numa acquired a legendary status in Roman history because of his unique character with an aura for wisdom and piety. Most of his stories may be legend but some of it may not be totally unfounded. For example, Numa was said to have authored "sacred books" and asked to be buried with them (Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, Numa Pompilius, chapter XXII, section 22). Did he author them or were they brought to him by Jewish refugees who may have held documents they saved from their country and containing the psalms of David or some wisdom teachings from Solomon? Numa also established the function of a "high priest", pontifex maximus in Latin (ibidem, section 9), in charge of some "religious vessels". Further, he suddenly changed the calendar with the introduction of new months to accommodate solar and lunar years together. Last, Numa imposed that the Roman religion would be "imageless" thus only spiritual (In an interview, Italian archaeologist Dr. Clementina Panella mentioned that Numa did so because he thought "it was impious to represent things Divine by what is perishable"; to read further, click here). This custom of Ancient Rome persisted for the next 170 years according to Plutarch, before Rome started to introduce statues in their temples. Plutarch took this information from Marcus Verentius Varro who wrote a chronology of Rome around 50 BCE. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 CE), a Father of the Church, confirmed it some 300 years after Plutarch, when Varro’s works were still existing (they have been lost since):
He [Varro] says, also, that the ancient Romans, for more than a hundred and seventy years, worshipped the gods without an image. And if this custom, he says, could have remained till now, the gods would have been more purely worshipped. In favor of this opinion, he cites as a witness among others the Jewish nation; nor does he hesitate to conclude that passage by saying of those who first consecrated images for the people, that they have both taken away religious fear from their fellow citizens, and increased error, wisely thinking that the gods easily fall into contempt when exhibited under the stolidity of images. (Augustine, The City of God, book IV, chapter 31)
These reforms established by Numa and the history of Ancient Rome cannot be fully understood without the help of "foreign" influence. It is generally assumed that Rome was founded by escapees from Troy. But was it so? It rather seems that it was founded, or greatly influenced, by Hebrews first and then by Israelites, before eventually been indeed absorbed by Greek culture, some centuries later. This fact was probably known in ancient times, but it is a knowledge lost today. The Roman historian and Bishop of Caesarea, Eusebius, repeated Plutarch when he wrote:
But Numa the king of the Romans, though he was a Pythagorean, received benefit from the teaching of Moses, and forbade the Romans to make an image of God in the shape of man or any animal. So, in the first hundred and seventy years [of Rome], though they built themselves temples, they made no image, neither in sculpture nor yet in painting. For Numa used to teach them in secret, that it was not possible for the Perfect Good to be reached by language, but only by the mind. (Eusebius of Caesarea, Preparation for the Gospel, Book 9, chapter VI, translated by E.H. Gifford, 1903)
Eusebius used the writings of Clement of Alexandria as a source. It mentions that Numa was a Pythagorean, but the Greek philosopher Pythagoras lived a couple of centuries after Numa, so Numa could not have been “a Pythagorean”. So, from Eusebius’ assertion, we can only retain Moses’ teaching.
Numa was a peaceful and wise king. But, after his death in 673 BCE, Rome started to turn into the military power that they became known for. And many years later, the Roman Senate would order that the sacred books of Numa be burned and eradicated from public knowledge.
To continue reading to the second section of this generation 26, click here.
To return to the list of chronological generations from Seder Olam Revisited, click here.
Albert Benhamou
Private Tour Guide in Israel
Adar 5785 - March 2025