Jakautunut kuningaskuntaKingWarriorAdministratorCultural patronScholarc. 685–c. 631 BC
Assurbanipal, probably identical with Ashur-ban-pal mentioned in Ezra 4:10, was the last powerful ruler of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (c. 668–631 B.C.). In a biblical context, he is primarily known for continuing the Assyrian policy of deportation, where foreign peoples were settled in the cities of Samaria—a practice that laid the foundation for the mixed population later known as Samaritans. Assurbanipal was also an unusually learned king who collected tens of thousands of clay tablets in his famous library at Nineveh, one of the most important archives of antiquity. His reign coincided with the prophets Nahum and Zephaniah, who proclaimed the Lord's judgment against Nineveh and Assyrian violence. A devastating civil war with his brother Shamash-shum-ukin, who ruled Babylon, weakened the empire from within. After Assurbanipal's death, Assyria quickly fell apart, and the fall of Nineveh in 612 B.C. was understood from a prophetic perspective as confirmation that even the world's most powerful empires are subject to the will and judgment of the living God.
Ashurbanipal (Osnapper) continued the Assyrian policy of deportation and moved various ethnic groups into the cities of Samaria. This practice contributed to the ethnically and religiously mixed population that later became known as Samaritans, a group of great significance throughout the biblical narrative.
10together with the rest of the peoples whom the great and honorable Osnappar deported and settled in the city of Samaria and elsewhere in the province Beyond the River. And now:
During the Assyrian golden age, Judah was a vassal state. According to 2 Chronicles, King Manasseh was taken captive by Assyrian commanders. This event is usually linked to the reigns of Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal. Assyrian inscriptions from Esarhaddon's time confirm that Manasseh paid tribute to the Assyrian Empire, and it is likely this vassal status continued under Ashurbanipal.
11So the LORD brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh captive with hooks, bound him with bronze shackles, and carried him off to Babylon.
13He prayed to him, and the LORD was moved by his plea and heard his petition. He brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.
The prophet Nahum proclaimed God's judgment against Nineveh and used Ashurbanipal's conquest of Thebes (No-Amon) in Egypt around 663 BC as a warning example: the city that had destroyed others would itself be struck by destruction. Nineveh fell in 612 BC, shortly after Ashurbanipal's death.
4All because of the endless harlotries of the harlot, so graceful and charming, that mistress of sorcery, who sold nations with her harlotries and peoples with her spells.
5I am against you, declares the LORD of hosts. I will lift your skirts over your face; I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame.
19There is no relief for your injury; your wound is mortal. All who hear the news of you clap their hands over your fall—for who has not felt your endless cruelty?
Assyrian Settlement Policy and Religious Syncretism in Samaria
The foreign peoples whom the Assyrians—including Ashurbanipal—settled in Samaria developed a syncretistic religion where they worshiped both the Lord and their own gods. This practice is described in 2 Kings, although the original deportation is primarily linked to earlier Assyrian kings such as Sargon II.
24The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria in place of the Israelites. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its towns.
29Yet each nation went on making its own gods, and they set them up in the shrines the Samaritans had built at the high places, each nation in the towns where they lived.
32They feared the LORD, but they also appointed men from their own ranks as priests of the high places, and these officiated for them in the shrines of the high places.
34To this day they persist in their former customs. They do not fear the LORD, nor do they follow the statutes and ordinances, the law and the commandment that the LORD gave the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel.