View source for Hazael

{{Short description|Ancient Aramean king}}
{{distinguish|Ḫazaʾil}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Hazael
| title        = ([[El (deity)|El]]/God has seen)
| titletext    = 
| more         = 
| type         = 
| image        = File:King Hazael light.jpeg
| image_size   = 150px
| alt          = 
| caption      = Ivory inlay possibly depicting Hazael of Damascus
| succession   = [[King]] of [[Aram Damascus]]
| moretext     = ([[King]] of [[Syria]])
| reign        = 842–796 BC
| reign-type   = 
| coronation   = 
| cor-type     = 
| predecessor  = [[Hadadezer]]
| pre-type     = Predecessor
| successor    = [[Ben-Hadad III]]
| suc-type     = Successor
| regent       = 
| reg-type     = 
| birth_name   = 
| birth_date   = <!-- {{birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}} -->
| birth_place  = 
| death_date   = 796 BC
| death_place  = 
| burial_date  = 
| burial_place = 
| spouse       = 
| spouse-type  = 
| consort      = <!-- yes or no -->
| issue        = <!--list children in order of birth-->Ben-Hadad III
| issue-link   = 
| issue-pipe   = 
| issue-type   = 
| full name    = 
| era name     = 
| era dates    = 
| regnal name  = 
| posthumous name = 
| temple name  = 
| house        = 
| house-type   = 
| father       = 
| mother       = 
| occupation   = Court official
| signature_type = 
| signature    = 
}}

'''Hazael''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|eɪ|z|i|əl}}; {{Langx|hbo|חֲזָאֵל or חֲזָהאֵל|translit=Ḥăzāʾēl}};<ref>I Kings 19:15, II Kings 8:8, etc.</ref> [[Old Aramaic]] 𐤇𐤆𐤀𐤋 ''Ḥzʔl'') was a king of [[Aram-Damascus]] mentioned in the [[Bible]].<ref name=Hastingp832>{{cite book |title=A Dictionary of the Bible: Dealing with its Language, Literature, and Contents, including the Biblical Theology |volume=3|first1=James|last1=Hastings|first2=Samuel Rolles|last2=Driver|publisher=T. & T. Clark|year=1899|page=832}}</ref><ref name=Arnoldp46>{{cite book|title=Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books|first1=Bill T.|last1=Arnold|first2=Hugh Godfrey Maturin|last2=Williamson|edition=Illustrated|page=46|publisher=InterVarsity Press|year=2006|isbn= 978-0-8308-1782-5}}</ref> Under his reign, Aram-Damascus became an empire that ruled over large parts of contemporary [[Syria (region)|Syria]] and [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Israel-Samaria]].<ref name="FreedmanMyers2000">{{cite book|author1=David Noel Freedman|author2=Allen C. Myers|title=Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&pg=PA84|date=31 December 2000|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|isbn=978-90-5356-503-2|page=84}}</ref> While he was likely born in the greater [[Damascus]] region of today, his place of birth is unknown, with both [[Bashan]] and the [[Beqaa Valley]] being favoured by different historians.<ref name="Hafþórsson2006">{{cite book|author=Sigurður Hafþórsson|title=A Passing Power: An Examination of the Sources for the History of Aram-Damascus in the Second Half of the Ninth Century B.C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=33SgAAAAMAAJ|year=2006|publisher=Almqvist & Wiksell International|isbn=978-91-22-02143-8|page=61}}</ref><ref name="Stith2008">{{cite book|author=D. Matthew Stith|title=The Coups of Hazael and Jehu: Building an Historical Narrative|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xa0sAQAAIAAJ|year=2008|publisher=Gorgias Press|isbn=978-1-59333-833-6|page=55}}</ref><ref name="Ghantous2014">{{cite book|author=Hadi Ghantous|title=The Elisha-Hazael Paradigm and the Kingdom of Palestine: The Politics of God in Ancient Syria-Palestine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q_bOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA71|date=14 October 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-54435-7|page=71}}</ref>

==In the Bible==
{{Arameans}}
Hazael is first mentioned by name in {{bibleverse|1|Kings|19:15|KJV}}. God tells [[Elijah]] the [[prophet]] to anoint Hazael king of Syria. Years after this, the Syrian king Ben-Hadad II, probably identical to the [[Hadadezer]] mentioned in the [[Tel Dan stele]], was ill and sent his court official Hazael with gifts to Elijah's successor, [[Elisha]]. Elisha told Hazael to tell Hadadezer that he would recover and revealed to Hazael that the king would recover but would be assassinated. He also predicted that Hazael would commit atrocities against the Israelites. Hazael denies that he is capable of perpetrating such deeds. Elisha predicts that Hazael will be king of Syria; he returns to Damascus the next day and tells Hadadezer he will recover but suffocates Hadadezer and seizes power himself.

During his reign,<ref name="FreedmanMyers2000"/><!-- or to 796 BCE{{cn}}--> King Hazael led the Arameans in a battle against the allied forces of [[Jehoram of Israel]] and [[Ahaziah of Judah]]. After defeating them at [[Ramoth-Gilead]], Hazael repelled two attacks by the [[Assyria]]ns, seized Israelite territory east of the [[Jordan River]], and the [[Philistine]] city of [[Gath (city)|Gath]]. Although unsuccessful, he also sought to take [[Jerusalem]] ({{bibleverse|2|Kings|12:17-18|KJV}}). Hazael's death is mentioned in {{bibleverse|2|Kings|13:24|KJV}}.

==Tel Dan stele==
[[Tel Dan stele|A monumental Aramaic inscription discovered at Tel Dan]] is seen by most scholars as having been erected by Hazael, after he defeated the kings of Israel and Judah.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://theosophical.wordpress.com/2011/07/15/biblical-archaeology-4-the-moabite-stone-a-k-a-mesha-stele/|title = Biblical Archaeology 4: The Moabite Stone (A.k.a. Mesha Stele)|date = 15 July 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-artifacts/artifacts-and-the-bible/the-tel-dan-inscription-the-first-historical-evidence-of-the-king-david-bible-story/|title=The Tel Dan Inscription: The First Historical Evidence of King David from the Bible|date=11 June 2021}}</ref> Recent excavations at [[Tell es-Safi]]/Gath have revealed dramatic evidence of the siege and subsequent conquest of Gath by Hazael. An archaeomagnetic study has suggested that the sites of [[Tell Zeitah]], [[Tel Rehov]] and Horvat Tevet were destroyed by Hazael's campaign.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Reconstructing biblical military campaigns using geomagnetic field data |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |last1=Vaknin |first1=Yoav |date=2022-10-24 |issue=44 |volume=119 |article-number=e2209117119 |last2=Shaar |first2=Ron |doi=10.1073/pnas.2209117119 |last3=Lipschits |first3=Oded |last4=Mazar |first4=Amihai |last5=Maeir |first5=Aren M. |last6=Garfinkel |first6=Yosef |last7=Freud |first7=Liora |last8=Faust |first8=Avraham |last9=Tappy |first9=Ron E. |last10=Kreimerman |first10=Igor |last11=Ganor |first11=Saar |last12=Covello-Paran |first12=Karen |last13=Sergi |first13=Omer |last14=Herzog |first14=Zeev |last15=Arav |first15=Rami |last16=Lederman |first16=Zvi |last17=Münger |first17=Stefan |last18=Fantalkin |first18=Alexander |last19=Gitin |first19=Seymour |last20=Ben-Yosef |first20=Erez|pmid=36279453 |pmc=9636932 |bibcode=2022PNAS..11909117V }}</ref>

==Items belonging to Hazael==

===Bronze plaques===
{{Main|Hazael horse frontlet}}
Decorated bronze plaques from chariot horse-harness taken from Hazael, identified by their inscriptions, have been found as re-gifted [[votive object]]s at two Greek sites, the [[Heraion of Samos]] and in the temple of Apollo at [[Eretria]] on [[Euboea]].  The inscriptions read "that which [[Hadad]] gave to our lord Hazael from 'Umq in the year that our lord crossed the River".<ref>I. Eph'al and J. Naveh, "Hazael's booty inscriptions", ''Israel Exploration Journal'' '''39''' (1989:192-200).</ref> The river must be the [[Orontes River|Orontes]]. The triangular front pieces show a "[[Lord of the animals|Master of the animals]]"<ref>Compare the Aegean "[[Mistress of the Animals]]"</ref> gripping inverted sphinxes or lions in either hand, and with goddesses who stand on the heads of lions. When [[Tiglath-Pileser III]] took Damascus in 733/2, these heirlooms were part of the loot that fell eventually into Greek, probably [[Euboea]]n hands.<ref>Robin Lane Fox, ''Travelling Heroes in the Epic Age of Homer'', 2008:109-11.</ref>

===Arslan Tash ivories===
[[File:Plaque_avec_fragment_d'inscription_au_nom_d'Hazaël_-_Musée_du_Louvre_Antiquités_orientales_AO_11489.jpg|thumb|[[Arslan Tash ivory inscription]]]]
A set of ivory bed decorations were found in 1928 in [[Arslan Tash]] in northern Syria (ancient Hadātu) by a team of French archaeologists.<ref>[http://digital.library.stonybrook.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/amar/id/139862/rec/44 Arslan-Tash. v. 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205033309/http://digital.library.stonybrook.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/amar/id/139862/rec/44 |date=2021-12-05 }} p.135: "Trois fragments d'une lamelle d'ivoire portant une ligne de texte en caractères araméens. Ces fragments ont été trouvés aux environs immédiats des cadres décrits plus haut p. 89 et suiv."</ref> Among them is the [[Arslan Tash ivory inscription]] in [[Old Aramaic]] that carries the name 'Hazael' (𐤇𐤆𐤀𐤋 ''ḤZʔL''); this bed seems to have belonged to king Hazael of Aram-Damascus. The inscription is known as KAI 232.<ref name="Muscarella1980">{{cite book|last=Muscarella|first=Oscar White|title=The Catalogue of Ivories from Hasanlu, Iran: Hasanlu Special Studies, Volume II|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lJsSA2OCq6gC&pg=PA218|date=29 January 1980|publisher=UPenn Museum of Archaeology|isbn=978-0-934718-33-2|pages=218–}}</ref>

Also, some fragmentary ivories mentioning Hazael were found in [[Nimrud]], Iraq.<ref>A. R. Millard, Alphabetic Inscriptions on Ivories from Nimrud. Iraq, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Spring, 1962), pp. 41-51 (13 pages). https://doi.org/10.2307/4199711</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Asia}}
* [[List of biblical figures identified in extra-biblical sources]]
* [[Timeline of Syrian history]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* Biran, A., and Naveh, J. 1995. The Tel Dan Inscription: A New Fragment. ''Israel Exploration Journal'' '''45'''(1):1–18.
* Ephal, I., and Naveh, J. 1989. Hazael's booty inscriptions. ''Israel Exploration Journal'' '''39'''(3–4):192–200.
* Lemaire, A. 1991. Hazaël, de Damas, Roi d'Aram. Pp.&nbsp;91–108 in ''Marchands, Diplomates et Empereurs, Etudes sur la civilisation mésopotamienne offertes à P. Garelli''. Paris: Editions Recherche sur la Civilisations.
* Maeir, A. 2004. The Historical Background and Dating of Amos VI 2: An Archaeological Perspective from Tell es-Safi/Gath. ''[[Vetus Testamentum]]'' '''54'''(3):319–34.
* Galil, G., "David and Hazael: War, Peace, Stones and Memory," ''Palestine Exploration Quarterly'', 139,2 (2007), 79–84.
* Maeir, A. M., and Gur-Arieh, S. 2011. Comparative aspects of the Aramean Siege System at Tell es-Sa¦fi/Gath. Pp.&nbsp;227–44 in ''The Fire Signals of Lachish: Studies in the Archaeology and History of Israel in the Late Bronze Age, Iron Age and Persian Period in Honor of David Ussishkin'', eds. I. Finkelstein and N. Na'aman. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
*[http://gath.wordpress.com Tell es-Safi/Gath Excavation Project Blog]
*[https://archive.today/20150403061208/http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~maeira/ Tell es-Safi/Gath Excavation Project website]
*[http://www.kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/westsem/teldan.html Tel Dan Inscription Webpage]

{{s-start}}
{{succession box|title=[[Aram Damascus|King of Aram-Damascus]]|before=[[Hadadezer]]|after=[[Ben-Hadad III]]|years=842–796 BC}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:790s BC deaths]]
[[Category:9th-century BC Aramean kings]]
[[Category:Kings of Aram-Damascus]]
[[Category:8th-century BC Aramean kings]]
[[Category:Monarchs in the Hebrew Bible]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Biblical murderers]]
[[Category:Gath (city)]]