Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Macrobius, which signifieth oneness or unity. I also find a city called Adada in the same part of Syria; of which whether these princes took the name or gave it, I am ignorant. For Adad-ezer, Ben-adad, Eli-adad were the same in name, with the differences of Ezer, Ben, and Eli adjoined. And that Adadezer was of greatest power, it appeareth, first, because it is against him that David undertook the war; secondly, because he levied 22,000 Aramites out of the territory of Damascus, as out of his proper dominions; for had the Damascenes had a king apart, it is probable that the scriptures would have given us his name; thirdly, because Syria Zoba, of the most of which Adadezer was king, was an exceeding large territory, and contained of Arabia the Desert as far as to Euphrates, according to s Pliny, and the greatest part of Arabia Petræa, according to Niger. Whosoever was the first, whether Adadezer or Adad of Idumæa, Rezon was the second; who was an enemy to Israel all the days of Solomon. Besides, the evil that Adad did seemeth to be referred to Hadad of Idumæa, lately returned out of Egypt, to wit, twenty-three years after he was carried thither.

[ocr errors]

The third king of Damascus, and of Zobah both, was Hezion; to Hezion succeeded Tabrimmon, or Tabremmon; to him Benhadad, as is proved in 1 Kings xv. 18. For Asa king of Juda, the son of Abiam, the son of Roboam, the son of Solomon, being vexed and invaded by Baasha, the successor of Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, sent to Benhadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion king of Aram, that dwelt at Damascus, to invade Israel, (while Baasha sought to fortify Rama against Asa; thereby to block him up, that he should not enter into any of the territories of Israel,) who, according to the desire of Asa, having received his presents, willingly invaded the country of Nephtalim, and took divers cities and spoils thence; Asa in the mean while carrying away all the materials which Baasha had brought to fortify Rama withal, and converted them to his own use.

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

This Benhadad's father Tabremmon was in league with Asa, and so was his father Hezion; for Asa requireth the continuance of that friendship from Benhadad his son; though it seemeth that the gold and silver sent him out of the temple was the most forcible argument. And that this Tabremmon invaded Israel, before the enterprise of his son Benhadad, it is conjectured. For Benhadad, when he was prisoner with Achab, spake as followeth: The cities, which my father took from thy father, I will restore; and thou shalt make streets or keepers of the borders for thee in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria. And herein there ariseth a great doubt, (if the argument itself were of much importance,) because Tabremmon was father indeed to Benhadad which invaded Baasha, at the request of Asa. · But this Benhadad, that twice entered upon Achab, and was the second time taken prisoner, was rather the son of Benhadad, the first of that name, the confederate of Asa and Abiam, as before, than the son of Tabremmon. For between the invasion of Benhadad the first in Baasha's time, and the siege of Samaria, and the overthrow of Benhadad by Achab, there passed forty-nine years, as may be gathered out of the reigns of the kings of Israel. So that if we allow thirty years of age to Benhadad when he invaded Baasha, and after that forty-nine years ere he was taken by Achab, which make eighty lacking one, it is unlikely that Benhadad, at such an age, would make war. Besides all this, the first Benhadad came with no such pomp, but the second Benhadad vaunteth that he was followed with thirty-two kings; and therefore I resolve, that Benhadad the son of Tabremmon, invaded Baasha and Omri, and Benhadad the second invaded Achab, at whose hands this Benhadad received two notorious overthrows; the first at Samaria, by a sally of 700 Israelites; the second at Aphec, where with the like number in effect the Israelites slaughtered 100,000 of the Aramites, besides 27,000 which were crushed by the fall of the wall of Aphec. And this Benhadad Achab again setteth at liberty, to whom he rendereth those towns that

[ocr errors]
[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

his father had taken from the predecessor of Achab; but being returned, he refused to render Ramoth-Gilead, a frontier town, and of great importance. Now three years after, (for so long the league lasted,) n Ramoth not being delivered, Achab invadeth Gilead, and besiegeth the city, being assisted by Jehosaphat. The Aramites came to succour and fight, in which Achab is wounded, and dieth that night. After this, Benhadad sendeth the commander of his forces, called Naaman, to Joram the son of Achab, to be healed of the leprosy; and though Elizeus had healed him, yet he picketh quarrel against Joram; and when Joram by Elizeus's intelligence had escaped his plot, he sent men and chariots to take the prophet, as is aforesaid. After P Benhadad besiegeth Samaria again; and being terrified thence from heaven, he departeth home, and sickeneth, and sendeth Azael with great gifts to Elizeus, to know his estate, if he might live. Azael returning smothereth him. Zonaras and Cedrenus call this Benhadad, Adar, the son of Adar: Amos and Jeremiah mention the towers of Benhadad. Josephus writeth, that Benhadad and his successor Azael, were worshipped for gods, by the Syrians to his time, for the sumptuous temples which they built in Damascus. The Syrians also boasted much of their antiquity, ignorant, saith he, that scarce yet 1100 years are complete, since their wars with the Israelites.

Hazael, or Azael, the first king of the race of the Adads of Damascus, was anointed by Elisha, or Elizeus, when he was sent by Benhadad to the prophet, to know whether Benhadad should recover his present sickness. He waged war with Joram, who received divers wounds at the encounter at Ramoth in Gilead; from whence returning to be cured at Jesrael, he and the king of Juda, Ahaziah, or Ochozias, are slain by Jehu, as before is said. After the death of Joram, Azael continued the war against Jehu, and wasted Gilead, and all those portions of Gad, Reuben, and

[blocks in formation]

t

[blocks in formation]

Manasseh, over Jordan. He then invadeth Judah, and took Gath; but by gifts from Joas he was averted from attempting Jerusalem: for he presented him all the "hallowed things which Jehosaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Juda had dedicated, and which he himself had dedicated; and all the gold which was found in the treasuries of the Lord, and in the king's house. This was the second time that the temple was spoiled to please the Adads of Damascus: for Asa did present Benhadad with those treasures when he invited him to war upon Baasha, king of Israel. And notwithstanding this composition between Joas and Azael, yet a part of his army spoiled the other provinces of Judæa, and slaughtered many principal persons. Lastly, y Azael vexed Joahas the son of Jehu, and brought him to that extremity, as he left him but fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen of all his people.

SECT. III.

Of the latter kings, and decay and overthrow of their power. AFTER Hazael, Benhadad the second, or rather the third of that name, the son of Hazael, reigned in Damascus, who fought against Israel with ill success: for 2 Joas, king of Israel, the son of the unhappy Joachaz, as he was foretold by a Elisha the prophet, beat Benhadad in three several battles; and he lost all those cities to Israel, which his father Hazael had taken violently from Joachaz.

b

After this Benhadad, the son of Hazael, there succeeded three others of the same name, of whom the stories are lost; only Nicholau's Damascenus, cited by Josephus, makes mention of them and in one of these king's times it was, that Jeroboam the second, the son of Joas, recovered Damascus itself to Juda, saith the Geneva; but better in Junius, utque recuperabat Damascum, et Chamatham Jehudæ, pro Israele; that is, " and how he recovered for Is"rael, Damascus, and Chamatha of Judæa;" for these cities,

n 2 Kings xii.

* 1 Kings xv.

y 2 Kings xiii. 7.

a Joseph. Ant. c. 9.

b Joseph. Ant. 1. 7. c. 6.

c2 Kings xiv. 28.

2

2 Kings xiii.

sometimes conquered by David, did of right belong to the tribe of Juda.

And it is likely that this conquest upon the Adads was performed; the first of these three Adads then living, of whom there is no story. For when as Jehoas, the king of the ten tribes, had thrice overcome the Syrians in the time of Benhadad, the son of Hazael, and had recovered the cities which Hazael had won from Israel, and so left his kingdom to his son Jeroboam the second; it seemeth, that this Jeroboam without delay, and having nothing else left for him to enterprise, instantly followed his father's good fortune, and invaded Damascus.

Razin, or Rezin, after Josephus Rases, after Zonaras Raason, the tenth Adad, maketh league with Pekah, or Phacas, king of Israel, against Achaz, king of Juda; both carry away a great number of prisoners. After this they both besiege Achaz in Jerusalem, but in vain. Then d Adad alone invadeth Elath; and beating out the Jews, maketh it a colony of Syrians. Wherefore Achaz brought e Teglatphalassar against Razin, who took him and beheaded him, and won Damascus; with whom ended the line of the Adads and the kingdom of Damascus; the Assyrians becoming masters both of that and Israel. These Adads, as they reigned in order, are thus reckoned:

1. Adadezer the son of Rehob.

2. Rezin the son of Eliadad, or Razin.

3. Hezion.

4. Tabremmon.

5. Benhadad, who invaded Baasha.

6. Benhadad the second, taken prisoner by Achab.

7. Hazael, whom Elisha foretold with tears of his advancement; the same who overthrew Joram, king of Israel, at Ramoth Gilead, And that there was a second Hazael, which preceded Benhadad the third, it is not improbable, because that Hazael which took Geth, and compounded the war with Joas, made the expedition thirty years, and perchance more, after the first Hazael, which stifled his master d 2 Kings xvi. 5. e Isaiah vii. Joseph. Ant. 1. 9. c. 12.

« AnteriorContinuar »