The Coups of Hazael and Jehu offers a narrative reconstruction of the events surrounding the rise of Hazael to the throne of Aram-Damascus and Jehu to the throne of Israel in the mid-eighth century B.C.E. These near-simultaneous dynastic changes did not take place in a vacuum, but were parts of a major shift in the political, military, and economic structure of the Levant, which took place as the mighty armies of Assyria, under Shalmaneser III, pushed into the region. The book argues that Jehu’s bloody overthrow of Joram, the last Omride king of Israel, and Hazael’s irregular seizure of power after the death of his predecessor were not independent events, but rather that Jehu pursued his coup with the support of, and possibly at the instigation of, Hazael, all with an eye toward responding to the Assyrian threat. But, as events unfolded, neither Jehu nor Hazael got what they bargained for.

The narrative presented in this study is shaped by careful engagement with all the available historical evidence for this period: biblical texts, Assyrian annals and other ancient near eastern inscriptions, archaeological results, and even the geography and topography of the places in which the events took place. It is also founded on recent developments in the theory, philosophy, and methodology of history writing, and so takes up, in the context of biblical studies, some of the current challenges and debates that continue to reshape how we view, and do, history.

D. Matthew Stith is the Pastor of Community Presbyterian Church in West Fargo, North Dakota. He holds a Ph.D. in Old Testament Studies from Princeton Theological Seminary.