“The King of Assyria says.
‘Are not my commanders all kings?
Is not Calno
Like Carchemish?
Is not Hamath
Like Arpad?
Is not Samaria
Like Damascus?
As my hand has reached
To the kingdoms of the idols
Whose images
Were greater than those of Jerusalem.
They were greater than those of Samaria.
Shall I not do to Jerusalem
As I have done to Samaria?
Shall I not do to her idols
As I have done to the Samarian images?’”
King Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 BCE), the king of Assyria said that he had commanders in his army that could become kings. He cited the examples of his capture of various towns or cities like Calno in 742 BCE and Carchemish, which is now on the border between Turkey and Syria, but was part of the Syrian empire that was lost in 738 BCE. There also was the capture of other western Syrian town of Hama or Hamath and Arpad that were in this same area that Tiglath-Pileser III captured in 741 BCE. Finally there was Damascus, also in Syria, that was captured in 732 BCE. King Menahem of Samaria was the king of northern Israel from 743-738 BCE, who paid tribute to the King of Assyria, as mentioned in 2 Chronicles, chapter 26, and 2 Kings, chapter 15. Now King Tiglath-Pileser III was thinking of attacking Jerusalem. What he had done to Samaria, he would the same to Judah by destroying their images, since he thought that Yahweh was just another idol god.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 