Hazael

In Kings, Hazael is an officer of Ben-hadad of Damascus. Elisha tells him, weeping, that he will be king and will do great harm to Israel; the next day the king is dead and Hazael reigns (2 Kings 8:7–15). An inscription of Shalmaneser III puts it more bluntly: Hadad-ezer died and Hazael, “son of a nobody”, took the throne (Shalmaneser III, Annals RIAo 40, i 25–ii 6). The Assyrian annals still name Hadad-ezer as king of Damascus in 848 BC (Black Obelisk lines 87–89) and name Hazael in 841 BC, when Shalmaneser defeated him and shut him up in Damascus without claiming to have taken the city (Shalmaneser III, Annals RIAo 12, lines 21–30).

Hazael fought Joram of Israel at Ramoth-gilead (2 Kings 8:28–29), took Israel’s land east of the Jordan in the time of Jehu (2 Kings 10:32–33), and later marched as far as Gath and was bought off from attacking Jerusalem with the temple treasure (2 Kings 12:17–18). Kings says he oppressed Israel throughout the reign of Jehu’s son and was succeeded by his own son Ben-hadad (2 Kings 13:22–24); Amos remembers his house in an oracle against Damascus (Amos 1:3–4). The victory stele found at Dan, whose author’s name is lost, is usually assigned to him (Tel Dan Stele lines 2–9); see the House of David Inscription from Tel Dan.