Rezin (Aram-Damascus)

Rezin (Rahianu in Assyrian records) was the last king of Aram-Damascus. He appears beside Menahem of Samaria in Tiglath-pileser III's lists of kings paying tribute, but later led a revolt, allying with Pekah of Israel and trying to force Ahaz of Judah to join. When Ahaz refused, Rezin and Pekah besieged Jerusalem, and 2 Kings 16:6 credits Rezin with taking Elath on the Red Sea from Judah. Isaiah dismissed the two attackers as "two smoldering stubs of firebrands" (Isaiah 7:4).

Ahaz called in Assyria. Tiglath-pileser besieged Damascus, boasting in his annals that he cut down its orchards, and in −732 took the city; according to 2 Kings 16:9 he deported its people to Kir and killed Rezin. Damascus became an Assyrian province, ending some two centuries in which Aramean kings such as Ben-hadad and Hazael had been Israel's most dangerous neighbors. Amos had foretold that the people of Aram would go into exile to Kir (Amos 1:5).