Rezin

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

REZIN . From the ancient versions and the cuneiform inscriptions it is clear that the form should be Razon or Razin .

1 . The last king of Damascus. Towards the close of the 8th cent. b.c. Damascus and Israel were under the suzerainty of Assyria. Tiglath-pileser iii. enumerates the articles paid him in tribute by Ra-sun-nu of Damascus and Menahem of Israel (b.c. 738). Pekah , one of Menahem’s successors, joined Rezin in the attempt to throw off the yoke. Failing to secure the co-operation of Ahaz, they turned their arms against Judah (b.c. 734). 2 Kings 16:6 mentions, among the incidents of the campaign, that Rezin ‘recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath.’ [This statement originated in a scribal error, the r in Aram [Note: ram Aramaic.] (‘Syria’) having been accidentally substituted for the d of Edom , and Rezin’s name being added still later for the sake of completeness (cf. 2 Chronicles 28:17 ).] The two allies besieged Jerusalem, greatly to the alarm of the populace, and Isaiah strove in vain to allay the terror ( Isaiah 7:1-25; Isaiah 8:1-22; Isaiah 9:1-21 ). Ahaz implored aid from Tiglath-pileser, to whom he became tributary ( 2 Kings 16:8 ). On the approach of the Assyrians, Pekah was murdered by his own subjects. Damascus sustained a siege of more than a year’s duration, but was eventually taken (b.c. 732), and Rezin was slain ( 2 Kings 16:9 ). Rawlinson found an inscription on which this was recorded, but the stone has unfortunately disappeared. It is not quite certain who ‘ the son of Tabeel ’ ( Isaiah 7:6 ) is. Winckler ( Alttest. Untersuch ., p. 74f.) fails to carry conviction in his attempt to identify this man with Rezln. More probably he was the tool whom the confederates proposed to seat on the throne of Judah.

2 . The ‘children of Rezin’ are mentioned as a family of Nethinim ( Ezra 2:48 , Nehemiah 7:50 ). Like the Nethinim generally, they were very likely of foreign descent. In 1Es 5:31 they are called ‘sons of Daisan ,’ another instance of the confusion of r and d .

J. Taylor.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

1. King of Damascus. The Israelite Pekah's ally, always mentioned first in the war against Ahaz of Judah (Isaiah 7:4-8; Isaiah 7:8; Isaiah 17:1; 2 Kings 15:37; 2 Kings 16:5-9). (See PEKAH.) He previously attacked Jotham. Rezin wrested from Judah Elath on the gulf of Akabah of the Red Sea. But Ahaz invited Tiglath Pileser to his help, who took Damascus and slew Rezin, fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy. His aim had been to put a creature of his own on the throne of Judah, "the son of Tabeal." Tiglath Pileser having reduced Syria to be tributary before treated Rezin as a rebel, and carried away the Syrians captive to (See KIR . In the monuments records his defeat of Rezin and Damascus.

2. A family of the Nethinim (Ezra 2:48; Nehemiah 7:50). A non-Israelite name.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Re'zin. (firm).

1. King of Damascus. He attacked Jotham, during the latter part of his reign, 2 Kings 15:37, but his chief war was with Ahaz, whose territories, he invaded, in conjunction with Pekah about B.C. 741. Though unsuccessful in his siege of Jerusalem, 2 Kings 16:5; Isaiah 7:1, he "recovered Elath to Syria." 2 Kings 16:6. Soon after this, he was attacked defeated and slain by Tiglath-pileser II, king of Assyria. 2 Kings 16:9.

2. One of the families of the Nethinim. Ezra 2:48; Nehemiah 7:50. (B.C. before 536).

Morrish Bible Dictionary

1. King ofSyria, who, in alliance with Pekah king of Israel, made an attack upon Ahaz, king of Judah. Isaiah was sent to comfort Ahaz, but he asked the aid of Assyria, sending him silver and gold. Rezin was slain, Damascus made desolate, and the people carried into captivity. 2 Kings 15:37; 2 Kings 16:5-9; Isaiah 7:1-8; Isaiah 8:6; Isaiah 9:11 .

2. Ancestor of some Nethinim who returned from exile. Ezra 2:48; Nehemiah 7:50 .

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Rezin (rç'zin), stable, firm. 1. King of Damascus: allied himself with Pekah and defeated Ahaz, but was himself defeated by Tiglath-pileser II., his capital destroyed and his people carried away into captivity. 2 Kings 15:37; 2 Kings 16:5-9; Isaiah 7:1-8; Isaiah 8:6; Isaiah 9:11. 2. One whose descendants returned with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2:48; Nehemiah 7:50.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A king of Damascene Syria, who united with Pekah king of Israel to invade Judah, B. C. 742,2 Kings 15:1-38,37; 16:5-10; Isaiah 7:1 . Turning away from before Jerusalem, Rezin extended his conquests to the south as far as Elath; but was erelong conquered and slain by Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, whose aid had been procured by king Ahaz. His people also were carried captive beyond the Tigris, Isaiah 8:6; 9:11 .

Easton's Bible Dictionary

2 Kings 15:3716:5-9Isaiah 7:1-82 Kings 16:9

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

King of Syria. (2 Kings 15:37) Probably derived from Ratza, meaning a freedom, or some what voluntary.

Holman Bible Dictionary

2 Kings 15:372 Kings 16:5

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

rē´zin ( רצין , recı̄n  ; Ῥαασσών , Rhaassṓn ): The last of the kings of Syria who reigned in Damascus ( 2 Kings 15:37; 2 Kings 16:5-10; Isaiah 7:1; Isaiah 8:4-7 ). Alona with Pekah, the son of Remaliah, who reigned 20 years over Israel in Samaria, he joined in the Syro-Ephraimitic war against Ahaz, the king of Judah. Together they laid siege to Jerusalem, but were unsuccessful in the effort to take it (2 Kings 16:5; Isaiah 7:1 ). It was to calm the fears, and to restore the fainting spirits of the men of Judah, that Isaiah was commissioned by the Lord to assure them that the schemes of "these two tails of smoking firebrands" (Isaiah 7:4 ) were destined to miscarry. It was then, too, that the sign was aiven of the vigin who should conceive, and bear a son, and should call his name Immanuel. Rezin had to content himself on this campaign to the South with the capture of Elath from the men of Judah and its restoration to the men of Edom, from whom it had been taken and made a seaport by Solomon (2 Kings 16:6 , where it is agareed that "Syria" and "Syrians" should be read "Edom" and "Edomites," which in the Hebrew script are easy to be mistaken for one another, and are in fact often mistaken). Rezin, however, had a more formidable enemy to encounter on his return to Damascus. Ahaz, like kings of Judah before and after him, placed his reliance more on the arm of flesh than on the true King of his people, and appealed to Tiglath-pileser III, of Assyria, for help. Ahaz deliberately sacrificed the independence of his country in the terms of his offer of submission to the Assyrian: "I am thy servant and thy son" (2 Kings 16:7 ). Tiglath-pileser had already carried his arms to the West and ravaged the northern border of Israel; and now he crossed the Euphrates and hastened to Damascus, slaying Rezin and carrying his people captive to Kir (2 Kings 16:9 ). In the copious Annals of Tialath-pileser, Rezin figures with the designation Racunu(ni), but the tablet recording his death, found and read by Sir Henry Rawlinson, has been irrecoverably lost, and only the fact of its existence and loss remains (Schrader, COT , I, 252, 257). With the death of Rezin the kingdom of Damascus and Syria came to an end.

Rezin, Sons of: Mentioned among the Nethinim ( Ezra 2:48 ), who returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel from captivity (compare Nehemiah 7:50 ).

Schrader, Cot , as above; Driver, Authority , 99 ff,

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Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Retsin', רְצַין , firm, perhaps prince), the name of two men.

1. (Sept. ῾Ρασίν, ῾Ραασσών .) A king of Damascus, contemporary with Pekah in Israel, and with Jotham and Ahaz in Judaea. The policy of Rezin seems to have been to ally himself closely with the kingdom of Israel, and, thus strengthened, to carry on constant war against the kings of Judah. He attacked Jotham during the latter part of his reign (2 Kings 15:37); but his chief war was with Ahaz, whose territories he invaded, in company with Pekah, soon after Ahaz had mounted the throne (B.C. cir. 740). The combined army laid siege to Jerusalem, where Ahaz was, but "could not prevail against it" (Isaiah 7:1; 2 Kings 16:5). Rezin, however, "recovered Elath to Syria" (2 Kings 16:6); that is, he conquered and held possession of the celebrated town of that name at the head of the Gulf of ‘ Akabah, which commanded one of the most important lines of trade in the East. Soon after this he was attacked by Tiglath-pileser II, king of Assyria, to whom Ahaz in his distress had made application. His armies were defeated by the Assyrian hosts; his city besieged and taken; his people carried away captive into Susiana; and he himself slain (2 Kings 16:9; comp. Tiglath-pileser's own inscriptions, where the defeat of Rezin and the destruction of Damascus are distinctly mentioned). This treatment was probably owing to his being regarded as a rebel, since Damascus had been taken and laid under tribute by the Assyrians some time previously (Rawlinson, Herodotus, 1, 467).

2. The head of one of the families of the Nethinim who returned from Babylon (Ezra 2:48; Nehemiah 7:50). B.C. ante 536.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Re´zin, the last king of Damascene-Syria, slain by Tiglath-pileser [DAMASCUS].