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Kings of Aram and Damascus Rick Aschmann

Last updated: 19-Apr-2019 at 16:14 (See History.) © Richard P. Aschmann

(biblechronology.net/AramDamascus.html)

The kings of Aram (or Syria[1]) with their capital at Damascus appear frequently in the Bible during the period of the Israelite kings, but information about them is limited mostly to the Bible, especially the early ones, unlike the kings of Assyria, Babylon, or Egypt, for which extensive extrabiblical information is available so that we can usually know the beginning and end of many reigns. All we have for the kings of Aram and Damascus are particular events in which they interact with the kings of Judah and Israel, giving us only a general dating for their reigns, plus a few archaeological finds mentioning them. For this reason, as well as just lack of space, they are not included on the Bible chronology main page. What information we do have is included in the following chart.

I adapted much of this material from Chart 10 on page 123 of the Holman Bible Atlas and from the chart on pages 219-220 in the “Chronology of the Old Testament” article in the New Bible Dictionary, 1962 edition.

The few events that are not mentioned in the Bible are indicated by a green line ——— in the Reference columns. All kings’ names are mentioned in the Bible except those marked in green. Obviously the regnal numbers are not in the Bible, so these are also green.

As with all of my chronology material, I wrote this so that I would understand what happened, and hopefully it will help others as well.

King of Aram or Damascus	Alternate Name or Further Information	Possible Reign Dates[2]	Extra- biblical Mention	Event, with date if known	King of Judah involved	Reign Dates	King of Israel involved	Reign Dates	References, Kings	Reference, Other
Rezon		955?? -925??		Seized Damascus & became adversary of Israel	Solomon	970-931			1 Ki. 11:23-25
Hezion[3]	Father of Tabrimmon	925?? -915??	Melqart Stele						1 Ki. 15:18
Tabrimmon	Father of Ben-hadad I	915?? -900??	”						1 Ki. 15:18
Ben-Hadad I		900?? -860??	”	895:[4] Attacked Israel at Asa’s request	Asa	911-870	Baasha	909-886	1 Ki. 15:18-22	2 Ch. 16:1-6
Ben-Hadad II[5]	Hadadezer	860??		Elijah told to anoint Hazael (& Jehu)			Ahab	874-853	1 Ki. 19:15
	in Assyrian	-843*		857:[6] Besieged Samaria, was defeated			”		1 Ki. 20:1-16
	sources			856: Attacked Israel again at Aphek, again defeated			”		1 Ki. 20:17-34
				853: Fought with Israel against Assyria at Qarqar[7]			”		———	———
				853: Fought against Israel at Ramoth-Gilead	Jehoshaphat	870-848?	”		1 Ki. 22:1-40	2 Ch. 18:1-34
				His commander Naaman healed of leprosy by Elisha			Joram	852-841	2 Ki. 5
				Thwarted by Elisha			”		2 Ki. 6:8-23
				Besieged Samaria again			”		2 Ki. 6:24-7:20
Hazael	Usurper	843*	Zakkur	843*: Elisha anointed Hazael who murders Ben-Hadad			”		2 Ki. 8:7-15
		-800?[8]	Stele	841: Joram wounded in battle against Hazael at	Ahaziah	841	”		2 Ki. 8:28-29,
				Ramoth-Gilead	(Jehoahaz)				9:14-15
				Conquered much of Gilead			Jehu	841-814	2 Ki. 10:32-33
				Attacked & captured Gath[9]	Joash	835-796			2 Ki. 12:17
				Attacked Jerusalem, bought off by Joash	”				2 Ki. 12:17-18
				Israel under the power of Hazael (& Ben-Hadad his son)			Jehoahaz	814-798	2 Ki. 13:3,22
Ben-Hadad III	Son of	800?	Zakkur	God freed Israel from the power of Ben-Hadad			”		2 Ki. 13:4-7,
	Hazael	-770??	Stele						23-25
				796?:[10] Adad-Nirari III of Assyria attacked Damascus and took much of Ben-Hadad’s kingdom[11]					———	———
Rezin		750?? -732		732?: Attacks Judah in alliance with Israel	Ahaz	735*[12]-715*	Pekah		2 Ki. 15:37, 16:5-6	2 Chr. 28:5-8 Isa. 7:1-9
				732?: Ahaz asks for help from Assyria					2 Ki. 16:7-8	2 Chr. 28:16, 20-21
				732: Assyria attacks Aram, adds it to its empire, kills Rezin					2 Ki. 16:9	Isa. 7:16 -8:10, 9:11

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[1] The region of Aram is called Syria in some versions of the Bible (ESV, KJV), though this is really the later Greek name for the area, actually ultimately derived from the name of Assyria, which was in a different area. The Hebrew only uses the name Aram אֲרָם /ʾăˈrām/, and this is reflected in some Bible versions such as the NIV.

[2] The dark red dates are merely approximations suggested by the New Bible Dictionary, 1962 edition, pp. 219-220, which I have followed since they are as good a guess as any.

[3] He is called Hadyan on the Melqart Stele.

[4] 2 Ch. 16:1 says “In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah…” This number is impossible to reconcile with the known reigns of these two kings. Several commentators at biblehub.com/commentaries/2_chronicles/16-1.htm suggest that this means 36 years from the dividing of the kingdoms in 931, which would then be the 16^th year of Asa.

[5] It is possible that Ben-Hadad I and Ben-Hadad II were the same person, since there is no evidence to say they were not, except that his reign would have been incredibly long for one person to remain vigorous and warlike, so most authorities assume that they were two people. Thus there were either two or three kings with this name. Ben-Hadad is the Hebrew form of the name. The native Aramaic form was Bar-Hadad.

[6] These teal numbers are from The Narrated Bible by F. LaGard Smith, and seem to be accurate.

[7] See the lavender box at 853 B.C. in the main chart.

[8] This date is from Eerdman’s Dictionary of the Bible, 2000, page 84. The New Bible Dictionary says 796, but based on 2 Ki. 13:3-7,22-25 Hazael must have died before Jehoahaz.

[9] This battle is also commemorated in the Tel Dan Stele (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazael#Tel_Dan_Stele).

[10] This date is from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adad-nirari_III. The Holman Bible Atlas has “either 805 or 796”.

[11] This is according to the Holman Bible Atlas.

* Indicates a date about which I disagree with F. LaGard Smith’s The Narrated Bible (I have the older 1984 edition) and Edwin Thiele. Both the New Bible Dictionary and the Holman Bible Atlas have the 843 date for the start of Hazael’s reign. The New Bible Dictionary under the article on Hazael explains some of the reasons for this date, though the author concludes that the second Ramoth-Gilead battle occurred in 842, in disagreement with Leslie McFall.

[12] This includes his co-regency with his father Jotham. His sole reign began in 731*. This suggests that this happened before his father died.