Meaning of HAZAEL

"God has seen." Syrian courtier who was anointed king of Syria by Elisha in compliance with an order from Jehovah (1 Kings 19:15). Hazael killed Ben-hadad, and reigned in his place, between the years 845 and 843 BC. C. Shalmansar III, king of Assyria, reduced Hazael and imposed a tribute on him.

Jehu, king of Israel, had previously submitted to the king of Assyria. In the year 838, Shalmansar attacked him again. Towards the end of Jehu's reign, Hazael dedicated himself to harassing the territories located east of the Jordan (2 Kings 10:32);

During the reign of Jehu's successor, Hazael crossed the Jordan, imposed severe oppression on the Israelites (2 Kings 13:4-7), invaded the country of the Philistines, took Gath, and did not lift the siege of Jerusalem until receive the sacred utensils dedicated to the worship of Jehovah and the temple treasury (2 Kings 12:17, 18).

Hazael's capital was Damascus (Am. 1:4). Finally, Assyrian power was once again felt over Syria. In 1905 the Stele of Saba'a was discovered in which Adadnirari III king of Assyria (807-782 BC) relates: «I gave the order to march against Aram.

I locked Mari' (Hazael according to Albright and other researchers) inside Damascus, his royal city. I received…ten talents of gold, a thousand talents of silver” (D. D. Luckenbill, II, sec. 735).

The same king wrote another tablet discovered in Nimrod (Cala), in which the list of other subject countries is found: «Tyre, Sidon, Humri (country of Omri, Israel), Edom, Palastu (Philistia)... I have them. placed at my feet, demanding taxes and tribute from them” (Cf. the cited work of Luckenbill, sec. 739). Hazael died around the year 801 or shortly after.