Upon this, the most of the writers on this subject attempt to make Pul and Tiglath-Pileser the same individual. Indeed, Sayce says that “the fact of their identity is now completely established;”3 though he does not present the evidence of it except in the name “Pulu” for Tiglath-Pileser in the Babylonian list. He takes this as being his name originally, and holds that when he usurped the Assyrian throne, he adopted the name of his great predecessor, Tiglath-Pileser I. This might all be true, and yet he be not the Pul of the Scripture statement. The Bible statements as to “Pul king of Assyria and Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, are too explicit to allow the two names to refer to the same individual, without evidence of the most positive and unquestionable character.
This confusion is made greater because of the date of the accession of Tiglath-Pileser placed in the Assyrian list at 745 BC. Tiglath-Pileser himself says that he received tribute from Menahem of Israel; and several times names Azariah (Uzziah) of Judah in a way that shows that Azariah was then living. Of course this date, 745 BC, cannot be held with these records without throwing out of date more than forty years, two whole series of Scripture statements. It is impossible to do this without making confusion worse confounded. Those writers who have attempted this have been obliged either to bring down the dates of the kings of Israel and Judah to a time where they cannot possibly belong or else to invent new kings to meet the demand, or both.
The Scripture account is followed here. It is true, this will not be in perfect harmony with the dates assigned to Tiglath-Pileser, though it will be much more in harmony with the facts on both sides, and with after dates, than it could possibly be to adopt the other view. To accept 727 BC as the year of Tiglath- Pileser’s death, and allow Pul to have reigned eight or nine years - to 764 or 763 - and Tiglath-Pileser to come to the throne within the last two years of the reign of Menahem, and thus to receive tribute from him, is easy, and agrees with all except the dates from the beginning of the reign of Tiglath-Pileser till his last years. This would give to Tiglath-Pileser a reign of but thirty-six years in length. Indeed, to allow him to come to the throne after only one year’s reign of Pul, would give him a reign of only forty-four years, which would not be at all an unreasonable length. However, it is not here claimed that it is impossible for the Scripture statements concerning Pul and Tiglath-Pileser to refer to the same individual under different names. It is here only held that the Scripture is too explicit as to there having been two of them, to be set aside upon the evidence that so far has been presented in favor of the two names referring to the same individual. It is presumed that there is more probability of mistake in the Assyrian records, or in deductions based upon them, than in the Scriptures; and much more probability of one or two mistakes there, than that there should be a whole series of mistakes in the Scriptures.
The records which were left by Tiglath-Pileser III, show that it was not in vain that he adopted the royal name of the original Tiglath-Pileser. His name and titles he gives in the following words: - “Tiglath-pileser, the great king, the mighty king, king of the whole world, king of Assyria, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Accad, king of the four regions . . . from the sea of Bit-Yakin [Persian Gulf] to Bikni of the rising of the sun; and [from] the sea of the setting of the sun to Mutsri [Egypt]; from the west to the east the countries ruled, and exercised kingship over them.”
Tiglath-Pileser III changed the order of procedure which had been followed by all his predecessors. Instead of slaughtering the people by wholesale, as Assur-natsir-pal and Shalmaneser II had done, he transported them by wholesale from their native countries to other points far off in the empire. By this means he avoided the necessity of passing around year by year to quell revolts in all the provinces of the empire. There has been found an account of his, covering the time from the beginning to the seventeenth year of his reign. At the beginning he names thirty-six peoples whom, he says, “all of them . . . on the banks of the rivers Tigris, Euphrates, and ‘Surappi, to the midst of the River Uknie, which is over against the lower sea, I subdued, . . . their spoil I spoiled. . . . Upon Tul-Kamri, which they called the city Khumut, a city I built; Kar-assur its name I called; people of the countries, the spoil of my hands, in the midst I placed.”
Of Babylonia, he says: “In Sippara, Niffer, Babylon, Borsippa, Kutha, Kis, Dilbat, and Erech, cities without equals, splendid sacrifices to Bel, Zirbanit, Nebo, Tasmit, Nergal, Laz, the great gods, my lords, I offered, and they loved my priesthood. Broad Kar-Dunias to its whole extent I ruled, and exercised kingship over it.” “The cities . . . I took 155,000 people and children from them; their horses and cattle without number I carried off. Those countries to the boundaries of Assyria I added.”
Next he speaks of the people on the border of Elam, the Puqudu, that is, the people of Pekod, whom, he says, “ As it were with a net I struck down, with slaughter of them I slaughtered, much spoil of them I spoiled. These Puqudu and the city of Lakhiru which looks toward the midst of the city of Khilimmu, and the city of Pillutu, which is on the side of Elam, to the territory of Assyria I added, and in the hands of my general, the governor of Arrapkha, I allotted.”
Of Chaldea, its cities, and its people, he says: “As many as there were, I carried away, and in the midst of Assyria I settled. Kaldu to its (whole) extent like dust I trod it down.” “Fifty-five thousand people together with their goods; . . . 30,000 people together with their goods; . . . 50,600 people together with their goods, their spoil, their stuff, their possessions and their gods I carried off.” Besides these, many others which are not numbered, were also carried off. “Groves of palms . . . and date palms, which are the growth of the country I destroyed;” and their cities “to their whole extent like a ruin of the deluge I destroyed; to mounds and ruins I reduced. The tribute . . . silver, gold, precious stones, I received. Merodach-Baladan son of Yakin, king of the sea [the Persian Gulf], who in the time of the kings my fathers, into the presence of none of them had come, and kissed their feet: fear of the majesty of Assur my lord cast him down, and to Sapia, into my presence, he came, and kissed my feet. Gold, the dust of his country, in abundance, implements of gold, necklaces of gold, precious stones, the produce of the sea, beams of wood . . . parti-colored garments, perfumes in abundance of all kinds, oxen, sheep, as his tribute I received.”
Next he names thirty countries, “districts of remote Media,” which he says, “to their whole extent like dust I overwhelmed, and their fighting men in numbers I slew; 60,500, people, together with their goods, their horses, their mules, their humped oxen, their oxen, their sheep, without number I carried off. Their cities I destroyed, I laid waste, and with fire I burned; to mounds and ruins I reduced. The countries of remote Media, to the territory of Assyria I added. The cities which were in them, anew I built; the worship of Assur my lord in the midst I established; people from the countries, the conquests of my hands, therein I settled; my generals as governors over them I appointed.” The “tribute of Media and Ellipai, and the chiefs of the cities of the mountains, all of them, as far as Bikni,” was “horses, mules, humped oxen, and sheep.”
Of the Arabians, he says that “the cities of the Temanians, the Sabeans, the Khaiappians, the Badanians,” “at the boundaries of the setting sun, who knew no rivals, whose place was remote, the might of my dominion . . . they heard, and submitted to my dominion. Gold, silver, camels, she camels, perfumes in abundance of all kinds, as their tribute at once to my presence they brought and kissed my feet.” He was ready to measure power even with Egypt, for he says, “Idibi’ili as a watch over against Egypt I appointed.”
One king, however, of the country of Tubal, refused to pay tribute, and, says Tiglath-Pileser, “the things of Assyria sought to rival, and into my presence did not come.” The king of Assyria therefore sent his “general, the Rabshakeh,” who put down the aspiring kinglet, and seated a certain “Khulli, the son of an unknown person, on the throne of his royalty,” and carried away “10 talents of gold, 1000 talents of silver, 2000 horses.” He sent the Rabshakeh to Tyre also, and exacted of “Mietenna of Tyre 150 talents of gold.”
Of the connection of Tiglath-Pileser III with Syria and Palestine, there is more said in his records than of any other nation. Of the kings in these countries he names Rezin, of Damascus; Menahem, Pekah, and Hoshea, of Israel; and Azariah and Ahaz of Judah. These accounts are much mutilated, yet some points can be gathered from them. Menahem, as we have seen (chap. xvi, par. 20), is the king in whose time Assyria first invaded Israel; and in the following list of kings from whom Tiglath-Pileser III received tribute, it will be seen that Rezin, of Syria, and Menahem, of Samaria, are named: —
“The tribute of Kustaspi, of Kummuha; Rezin, of Syria, Menahem, of Samaria; Hiram, of Tyre; Sibitti-bahal, of Gebal; Urikki, of Qui; Pisiris, of Carchemish. Eniel of Hamath; . . . Vassurmi, of Tubal; . . . and Zabibi, queen of Arabia; gold, silver lead, iron, skins of buffaloes, horns of buffaloes, clothing of wool and linen, violet wool, purple wool, strong wood, weapon wood, female slaves, royal treasures, the skins of sheep their fleece of shining purple, birds of the sky, the feathers of their wings of shining velvet, horses, riding horses, oxen and sheep. camels, she camels and young ones,” “in the midst of the city of Arpad” “I received.”
His references to Azariah are now so much mutilated that but little that is definite can be gathered from them. Yet as some information can be obtained from reading only the names in such a place, what remains will be inserted just as it stands. It seems that Uzziah was in league will the kings of the country of Hamath, and had either led, or sent, troops there to help defend that country against Assyria. We have already seen (chap. xvii, par. 13) that Uzziah was so successful in his own expeditions that “his name spread abroad, even to the entering in of Egypt.” What remains of Tiglath-Pileser’s account is as follows: —