Rezin רְצִין
King of Aram (Syria) during the reign of Ahaz
Biography
Rezin was the king of Aram (Syria) during the reign of Ahaz, king of Judah (2Ki.15.37; 16.5-6, 9; Isa.7.1, 4, 8; 8.6; 9.11). He formed an alliance with Pekah, king of Israel, to attack Judah (Isa.7.1). Their goal was to replace Ahaz with a king who would join their coalition against the growing threat of the Assyrian Empire (Isa.7.6). The alliance between Rezin and Pekah caused great distress to Ahaz and the people of Judah (Isa.7.2). In response, the prophet Isaiah encouraged Ahaz to trust in God and not fear the two "smoldering stubs of firewood" (Isa.7.3-9). Rezin and Pekah's attack on Jerusalem was unsuccessful (2Ki.16.5). However, Rezin was able to capture the city of Elath and drive out the Judahites living there (2Ki.16.6). Ahaz, instead of relying on God, sought help from Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, by sending him tribute (2Ki.16.7-8). Tiglath-pileser responded by attacking Damascus, the capital of Aram. He captured the city, killed Rezin, and deported the Aramean people to Kir (2Ki.16.9). This event fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy about the defeat of Aram and the death of Rezin within 65 years (Isa.7.8-9). The downfall of Rezin and the Aramean kingdom was a significant moment in the history of the region, demonstrating the rising power of the Assyrian Empire and the consequences of forming alliances against God's people.
In Scripture
2 biblical books ; 1 with study content2 Kings 4 verses
- 2 Kings 15:37
"In those days, Yahweh began to send Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah."
- 2 Kings 16:5
"Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war. They besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him."
- 2 Kings 16:6
"At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drove the Jews from Elath; and the Syrians came to Elath, and lived there, to this day."
- 2 Kings 16:9
"The king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried its people captive to Kir, and killed Rezin."
Isaiah 5 verses Study available
- Isaiah 7:1
"In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it."
Study Isaiah → - Isaiah 7:4
"Tell him, ‘Be careful, and keep calm. Don’t be afraid, neither let your heart be faint because of these two tails of smoking torches, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah."
Study Isaiah → - Isaiah 7:8
"For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken in pieces, so that it shall not be a people."
Study Isaiah → - Isaiah 8:6
"“Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son;"
Study Isaiah → - Isaiah 9:11
"Therefore Yahweh will set up on high against him the adversaries of Rezin, and will stir up his enemies,"
Study Isaiah →
Names & Aliases
| Form | Language | Script | Strong's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Named | Hebrew | רְצִין | H7526G |
Encyclopedia Article
ISBE 1915 (Public Domain) Rezin
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.
Rezin, Sons of: Mentioned among the Nethinim (Ezr 2:48), who returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel from captivity (compare Ne 7:50).
Literature
Schrader, COT, as above; Driver, Authority, 99 ff,
T. Nicol.
re'-zon (rezon; Rhazon): Son of Eliadah, and a subject of Hadadezer, king of Zobah (1Ki 11:23). The name appears to be given as chezyon; Hazein (1Ki