The Cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament; - The Search For ...

248 THE CUNEIFOBM INSCRIPTIONS AND THE 0. T.
(Samaria) the distant , the whole of its inhabitants,
28. together with their property 1 deported to Assyria.
Pekah, their king, [I] slew. Hosea I appointed 29. [to
rulej over them. Ten talents of gold, a thousand of sil-
ver (?) together with their ... I received from them; 30.
[to Assyria brought] I them. (1) who Samsi queen of
Aribu &c." It is quite certain from this passage that
Tiglath-Pileser extended his campaign as far as to Gaza,
in the South of Philistia, and up to the Arabian fron-
tier. Observe that in the interval (comp. above p. 245)
another Arabian queen had ascended the throne. Moreover
the towns Zemar and Arka, West of Lebanon and North
of Samaria, are mentioned as conquered by the Great King.
Indeed the towns of the land Beth-Omri itself are spoken
of as cut off from it, among these two whose mutilated
names may without difficulty be completed into those two
which are mentioned in 2 Kings XV. 29 as taken away
by Tiglath-Pileser, viz. Gal-[ad] = Gilead, and [A]bel-[Beth-
Maacha], All this seems to show that the expedition, men-
tioned in the list of governors in the year 734 as a campaign
257 to Philistia , was simply the campaign of the Great King
against Pekah. It was not until the Assyrian had overthrown
the latter (who was one of the two adversaries of Ahaz)
and had thus isolated the still powerful Damaskus, that he
turned his arms against Rezin. Yet, as it was, he required
two whole years more (733 and 732) to subjugate him
thoroughly. What has been stated above, and especially
the passage cited from the annals, is confirmed by a list
of all the princes , cities , and countries which at that time
paid tribute to the king. This list occurs in the king's
great triumphal inscription, belonging to the last year of
his reign (II Rawl. 67). This passage also is mutilated,