Shalmaneser V
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Shalmaneser V was the king of Assyria (reigned c. 727-722 BC) who succeeded Tiglath-Pileser III. Hoshea, the last king of Israel, became his servant and paid him tribute, but then conspired with So king of Egypt and stopped paying. Shalmaneser imprisoned Hoshea, invaded the land, and besieged Samaria for three years. The city fell in Hoshea's ninth year, and the people of Israel were carried away to Assyria, ending the northern kingdom. Scripture says that 'the king of Assyria took Samaria'; the inscriptions of his successor Sargon II also claim the conquest, and scholars still discuss how the credit should be divided between them.
Biography
- Occupation
- King of Assyria
- Era
- Divided Kingdom
- Nationality
- Assyrian
Did You Know?
A Babylonian chronicle records that Shalmaneser destroyed a city called Shamara'in, which many scholars identify with Samaria.
The siege of Samaria lasted three years (2 Kings 17:5; 18:10), a measure of how strongly the hilltop city built by Omri could hold out.
Samaria fell in the sixth year of Hezekiah king of Judah (2 Kings 18:10), so Judah watched the end of the northern kingdom from close at hand.
Key Chapters
Key Passages
Hoshea Becomes His Servant
2 Kings 17:3-4
Hoshea's double game between Assyria and Egypt seals his fate and his kingdom's.
3gainst him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.
The Siege of Samaria
2 Kings 17:5-6
After a three-year siege the northern kingdom falls and its people are scattered across the Assyrian empire.
5hen the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.
Samaria Taken
2 Kings 18:9-11
The fall is retold from Judah's side, dated by Hezekiah's reign, as a warning that Judah too could go the same way.
9nd it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it.
