Tiglath-pileser III (reigned 745–727 BC) is the king who turned Assyria into the dominant empire (ISBE, "Tiglath-pileser"; "Assyria," XIV.3). He is almost certainly the same ruler the Bible first calls "Pul" taking tribute from Menahem of Israel (2 Kings 15:19) and then names as Tiglath-pileser invading the north, carrying Naphtali and the trans-Jordan tribes (Reuben, Gad, half-Manasseh) into captivity (2 Kings 15:29; 1 Chronicles 5:26, which spells it "Tilgath-pilneser"). When King Ahaz of Judah was besieged by an Israel–Damascus coalition, he stripped the temple and palace treasuries and bought Assyrian help; Tiglath-pileser duly crushed Damascus and Israel from the rear, but Ahaz had sold Judah's independence (2 Kings 16:5–9). The ISBE notes the unusual convergence that no fewer than five Hebrew kings are named in Tiglath-pileser's own annals (Azariah/Uzziah and Ahaz of Judah; Menahem, Pekah and Hoshea of Israel), the empire's records and the Bible's king-lists lining up. (Source: ISBE 1915, "Tiglath-pileser," citing Schrader, COT.)
Empires and rulers of the Old Testament world
Tiglath-pileser III: the empire-builder
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- 2 Kings 15:29bsb
In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and he took the people as captives to Assyria.
- 2 Kings 16:7bsb
So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hands of the kings of Aram and Israel, who are rising up against me.”
- 1 Chronicles 5:26bsb
So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria (that is, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria) to take the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh into exile. And he brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river of Gozan, where they remain to this day.
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