Shalmaneser V (reigned 727–722 BC) succeeded Tiglath-pileser (ISBE, "Shalmaneser"). When Hoshea, the last king of Israel and an Assyrian vassal, withheld tribute and looked to "So king of Egypt" for help that never came, Shalmaneser took him prisoner and laid siege to Samaria for three years (2 Kings 17:3–6; 18:9). No annals of his reign have survived, so, unusually, the ISBE notes that "we have only the accounts contained in 2 Kings for his history." He appears to have died or been deposed as the siege closed, because it is his successor Sargon, not Shalmaneser, who claims the actual capture of the city in 722 BC. (Source: ISBE 1915, "Shalmaneser.")
Empires and rulers of the Old Testament world
Shalmaneser V: the siege of Samaria
RulerAssyria
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- 2 Kings 17:3bsb
Shalmaneser king of Assyria attacked him, and Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute.
- 2 Kings 18:9bsb
In the fourth year of Hezekiah’s reign, which was the seventh year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah over Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and besieged it.
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