Ahab
Father’s brother. (1.) The son of Omri, whom he succeeded as the seventh king of Israel. His history is recorded in 1 Kings 16 -22. His wife was Jezebel (q.v.), who exercised a very evil influence over him. To the calf-worship introduced by Jeroboam he added the worship of Baal. He was severely admonished by Elijah (q.v.) for his wickedness. His anger was on this account kindled against the prophet, and he sought to kill him. He undertook three campaigns against Ben-hadad II., king of Damascus. In the first two, which were defensive, he gained a complete victory over Ben-hadad, who fell into his hands, and was afterwards released on the condition of his restoring all the cities of Israel he then held, and granting certain other concessions to Ahab. After three years of peace, for some cause Ahab renewed war ( 1 Kings 22:3 ) with Ben-hadad by assaulting the city of Ramoth-gilead, although the prophet Micaiah warned him that he would not succeed, and that the 400 false prophets who encouraged him were only leading him to his ruin. Micaiah was imprisoned for thus venturing to dissuade Ahab from his purpose. Ahab went into the battle disguised, that he might if possible escape the notice of his enemies; but an arrow from a bow “drawn at a venture” pierced him, and though stayed up in his chariot for a time he died towards evening, and Elijah’s prophecy ( 1 Kings 21:19 ) was fulfilled. He reigned twenty-three years. Because of his idolatry, lust, and covetousness, Ahab is referred to as pre-eminently the type of a wicked king ( 2 Kings 8:18 ; 2 Chr. 22:3 ; Micah 6:16 ). (2.) A false prophet referred to by Jeremiah ( Jer. 29:21 ), of whom nothing further is known.
Ahaziah
Held by Jehovah. (1.) The son and successor of Ahab. He followed the counsels of his mother Jezebel, and imitated in wickedness the ways of his father. In his reign the Moabites revolted from under his authority ( 2 Kings 3:5-7 ). He united with Jehoshaphat in an attempt to revive maritime trade by the Red Sea, which proved a failure ( 2 Chr. 20:35-37 ). His messengers, sent to consult the god of Ekron regarding his recovery from the effects of a fall from the roof-gallery of his palace, were met on the way by Elijah, who sent them back to tell the king that he would never rise from his bed ( 1 Kings 22:51 ; 2 Kings 1:18 ). (2.) The son of Joram, or Jehoram, and sixth king of Judah. Called Jehoahaz ( 2 Chr. 21:17 ; 25:23 ), and Azariah ( 2 Chr. 22:6 ). Guided by his idolatrous mother Athaliah, his reign was disastrous ( 2 Kings 8:24-29 ; 9:29 ). He joined his uncle Jehoram, king of Israel, in an expedition against Hazael, king of Damascus; but was wounded at the pass of Gur when attempting to escape, and had strength only to reach Megiddo, where he died ( 2 Kings 9:22-28 ). He reigned only one year.
Amon
Builder. (1.) The governor of Samaria in the time of Ahab. The prophet Micaiah was committed to his custody ( 1 Kings 22:26 ; 2 Chr. 18:25 ). (2.) The son of Manasseh, and fourteenth king of Judah. He restored idolatry, and set up the images which his father had cast down. Zephaniah (1:4; 3:4, 11) refers to the moral depravity prevailing in this king’s reign. He was assassinated ( 2 Kings 21:18-26 : 2 Chr. 33:20-25 ) by his own servants, who conspired against him. (3.) An Egyptian god, usually depicted with a human body and the head of a ram, referred to in Jer. 46:25 , where the word “multitudes” in the Authorized Version is more appropriately rendered “Amon” in the Revised Version. In Nah. 3:8 the expression “populous No” of the Authorized version is rendered in the Revised Version “No-amon.” Amon is identified with Ra, the sun-god of Heliopolis. (4.) Neh. 7:59 .
Assyria
The name derived from the city Asshur on the Tigris, the original capital of the country, was originally a colony from Babylonia, and was ruled by viceroys from that kingdom. It was a mountainous region lying to the north of Babylonia, extending along the Tigris as far as to the high mountain range of Armenia, the Gordiaean or Carduchian mountains. It was founded in B.C. 1700 under Bel-kap-kapu, and became an independent and a conquering power, and shook off the yoke of its Babylonian masters. It subdued the whole of Northern Asia. The Assyrians were Semites ( Gen. 10:22 ), but in process of time non-Semite tribes mingled with the inhabitants. They were a military people, the “Romans of the East.” Of the early history of the kingdom of Assyria little is positively known. In B.C. 1120 Tiglath-pileser I., the greatest of the Assyrian kings, “crossed the Euphrates, defeated the kings of the Hittites, captured the city of Carchemish, and advanced as far as the shores of the Mediterranean.” He may be regarded as the founder of the first Assyrian empire. After this the Assyrians gradually extended their power, subjugating the states of Northern Syria. In the reign of Ahab, king of Israel, Shalmaneser II. marched an army against the Syrian states, whose allied army he encountered and vanquished at Karkar. This led to Ahab’s casting off the yoke of Damascus and allying himself with Judah. Some years after this the Assyrian king marched an army against Hazael, king of Damascus. He besieged and took that city. He also brought under tribute Jehu, and the cities of Tyre and Sidon. About a hundred years after this (B.C. 745) the crown was seized by a military adventurer called Pul, who assumed the name of Tiglath-pileser III. He directed his armies into Syria, which had by this time regained its independence, and took (B.C. 740) Arpad, near Aleppo, after a siege of three years, and reduced Hamath. Azariah (Uzziah) was an ally of the king of Hamath, and thus was compelled by Tiglath-pileser to do him homage and pay a yearly tribute. In B.C. 738, in the reign of Menahem, king of Israel, Pul invaded Israel, and imposed on it a heavy tribute ( 2 Kings 15:19 ). Ahaz, the king of Judah, when engaged in a war against Israel and Syria, appealed for help to this Assyrian king by means of a present of gold and silver ( 2 Kings 16:8 ); who accordingly “marched against Damascus, defeated and put Rezin to death, and besieged the city itself.” Leaving a portion of his army to continue the siege, “he advanced through the province east of Jordan, spreading fire and sword,” and became master of Philistia, and took Samaria and Damascus. He died B.C. 727, and was succeeded by Shalmanezer IV., who ruled till B.C. 722. He also invaded Syria ( 2 Kings 17:5 ), but was deposed in favour of Sargon (q.v.) the Tartan, or commander-in-chief of the army, who took Samaria (q.v.) after a siege of three years, and so put an end to the kingdom of Israel, carrying the people away into captivity, B.C. 722 ( 2 Kings 17:1-6 , 24 ; 18:7 , 9 ). He also overran the land of Judah, and took the city of Jerusalem ( Isa. 10:6 , 12 , 22 , 24 , 34 ). Mention is next made of Sennacherib (B.C. 705), the son and successor of Sargon ( 2 Kings 18:13 ; 19:37 ; Isa. 7:17 , 18 ); and then of Esar-haddon, his son and successor, who took Manasseh, king of Judah, captive, and kept him for some time a prisoner at Babylon, which he alone of all the Assyrian kings made the seat of his government ( 2 Kings 19:37 ; Isa. 37:38 ). Assur-bani-pal, the son of Esarhaddon, became king, and in Ezra 4:10 is referred to as Asnapper. From an early period Assyria had entered on a conquering career, and having absorbed Babylon, the kingdoms of Hamath, Damascus, and Samaria, it conquered Phoenicia, and made Judea feudatory, and subjected Philistia and Idumea. At length, however, its power declined. In B.C. 727 the Babylonians threw off the rule of the Assyrians, under the leadership of the powerful Chaldean prince Merodach-baladan ( 2 Kings 20:12 ), who, after twelve years, was subdued by Sargon, who now reunited the kingdom, and ruled over a vast empire. But on his death the smouldering flames of rebellion again burst forth, and the Babylonians and Medes successfully asserted their independence (B.C. 625), and Assyria fell according to the prophecies of Isaiah (10:5-19), Nahum (3:19), and Zephaniah (3:13), and the many separate kingdoms of which it was composed ceased to recognize the “great king” ( 2 Kings 18:19 ; Isa. 36:4 ). Ezekiel (31) attests (about B.C. 586) how completely Assyria was overthrown. It ceases to be a nation. (See NINEVEH ; BABYLON .)
Athaliah
Whom God afflicts. (1.) The daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, and the wife of Jehoram, king of Judah ( 2 Kings 8:18 ), who “walked in the ways of the house of Ahab” ( 2 Chr. 21:6 ), called “daughter” of Omri ( 2 Kings 8:26 ). On the death of her husband and of her son Ahaziah, she resolved to seat herself on the vacant throne. She slew all Ahaziah’s children except Joash, the youngest ( 2 Kings 11:1 , 2 ). After a reign of six years she was put to death in an insurrection ( 2 Kings 11:20 ; 2 Chr. 21:6 ; 22:10-12 ; 23:15 ), stirred up among the people in connection with Josiah’s being crowned as king. (2.) Ezra 8:7 . (3.) 1 Chr. 8:26 .