Tilgathpilneser Tiglathpileser
Tilgathpilneser Tiglathpileser [1]
Successor to Pul, king of Assyria. He is called a usurper and the founder of the second Assyrian empire. He reigned B.C. 745-727. In the reign of Pekah, king of Israel, he overran the northern part of Palestine, and took away the people as captives. 2 Kings 15:29; 1 Chronicles 5:6 . In the days of Ahaz, when Pekah had formed an alliance with Rezin, king of Damascus, against Judah, Ahaz appealed to the king of Assyria. Tiglath-pileser attacked Damascus, and according to his monuments he destroyed that city and put Rezin to death. The monuments also state that he held a court at Damascus where the kings met him, to own their submission, and pay their tribute. Scripture relates that Ahaz met him there, and also that he paid a heavy tribute; but the final result was that Tiglath-pileser, instead of helping Ahaz, distressed him, and carried away captive the tribes on the east of the Jordan. Israel remained tributary to Assyria. 2 Kings 16:7,9,10; 1Ch, 5:26; 2 Chronicles 28:20 . Some Assyrian scholars hold that Tiglath-pileser is the same person as Pul. But in 1 Chronicles 5:26 both kings are mentioned as different persons, and the dates of the Pul of scripture do not agree with those of Tiglath-pileser. See Pul.
