Bible Dictionary
Rezin
Rezin was the last king of Syria at Damascus. He joined Pekah of Israel against Ahaz of Judah, but Tiglath-pileser of Assyria captured Damascus, killed Rezin, and carried his people into captivity.
Definition
Rezin was the last king of Syria, reigning at Damascus. He joined Pekah of Israel in attacking Judah and besieged Jerusalem unsuccessfully. When Ahaz appealed to Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, the Assyrian king captured Damascus, killed Rezin, and carried his people captive.
Biblical Usage
Rezin’s attack formed part of the Syro-Ephraimitic war against Ahaz. Isaiah assured Judah that the plans of Rezin and Pekah would fail, and the events provided the setting for the sign of Immanuel.
Historical Background
Rezin captured Elath from Judah and restored it to Edom. His death in the Assyrian conquest of Damascus, about 732 BC, ended the kingdom of Damascus and Syria.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Firm; a prince, a king of Syria, who joined Pekah (q.v.) in an invasion of the kingdom of Judah (2 Kings 15:37; 16:5-9; Isa. 7:1-8). Ahaz induced Tiglath-pileser III. to attack Damascus, and this caused Rezin to withdraw for the purpose of defending his own kingdom. Damascus was taken, and Rezin was slain in battle by the Assyrian king, and his people carried into captivity, B.C. 732 (2 Kings 16:9).
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(firm).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>re'-zin (retsin; Rhaasson): The last of the kings of Syria who reigned in Damascus (2Ki 15:37; 16:5-10; Isa 7:1; 8:4-7). Alona with Pekah, the son of Remaliah, who reigned 20 years over Israel in Samaria, he joined in the Syro-Ephraimitic war aaainst Ahaz, the king of Judah. Together they laid siege to Jerusalem, but were unsuccessful in the effort to take it (2Ki 16:5; Isa 7:1). It was to calm the fears, and to restore the fainting spirits of the men of Judah, that Isaiah was commissioned by the Lord to assure them that the schemes of "these two tails of smoking firebrands" (Isa 7:4) were destined to miscarry. It was then, too, that the sign was aiven of the vigin who should conceive, and bear a son, and should call his name Immanuel. Rezin had to content himself on this campaign to the South with the capture of Elath from the men of Judah and its restoration to the men of Edom, from whom it had been taken and made a seaport by Solomon (2Ki 16:6, where it is agareed that "Syria" and "Syrians" should be read "Edom" and "Edomites," which in the Hebrew script are easy to be mistaken for one another, and are in fact often mistaken). Rezin, however, had a more formidable enemy to encounter on his return to Damascus. Ahaz, like kings of Judah before and after him, placed his reliance more on the arm of flesh than on the true King of his people, and appealed to Tiglath-pileser III, of Assyria, for help. Ahaz deliberately sacrificed the independence of his country in the terms of his offer of submission to the Assyrian: "I am thy servant and thy son" (2Ki 16:7). Tiglath-pileser had already carried his arms to the West and ravaged the northern border of Israel; and now he crossed the Euphrates and hastened to Damascus, slaying Rezin and carrying his people captive to Kir (2Ki 16:9). In the copious Annals of Tialath-pileser, Rezin figures with the designation Racunu(ni), but the tablet recording his death, found and read by Sir Henry Rawlinson, has been irrecoverably lost, and only the fact of its existence and loss remains (Schrader, COT, I, 252, 257). With the death of Rezin the kingdom of Damascus and Syria came to an end.</p><p>Rezin, Sons of: Mentioned among the Nethinim (Ezr 2:48), who returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel from captivity (compare Ne 7:50).</p><p>LITERATURE.</p><p>Schrader, COT, as above; Driver, Authority, 99 ff,</p><p>T. Nicol.</p>