The Aramaean kingdom of Damascus and its most famous king, Hazael, have been the subject of numerous studies, especially since Hazael has been suspected to be behind the most important text relative to the Bible and to Ancient Israel discovered at the end of the twentieth century ce, the so-called Tel Dan (Tell el-Qadi) Inscription. In spite of the number and quality of these studies, I believe that the influence of Hazael on biblical literature is not exhausted. More light can be cast when, instead of considering biblical texts relevant to the history of ninth century BCE Israel from the standpoint of Jerusalem, the onlooker sets him/herself further north, from the standpoint of Damascus and Assyria.

To work out the extent of Hazael's influence on the biblical literature, I present, first, the current state of research concerning this king and his empire through surveying some recent studies of the history of Israel and of Aram-Damascus. I then examine the relevant extra-biblical sources, inscriptions and archaeological data. Finally, I examine passages in the books of Kings and the Twelve Minor Prophets to study the interaction between the Bible and history.

At this point, a quick reminder of some key points is in order. The Aramaeans were a group of semi-nomadic tribes in Syria/Mesopotamia during the second half of the second millennium BCE (Kottsieper 2009: 398). They are first mentioned in Mesopotamian texts around 1200 BCE.