Editing Jehu (section)

== Archaeological evidences ==

=== Tel Dan Stele ===
{{main|Tel Dan Stele}}
The author of the [[Tel Dan Stele]] (9th century BCE, found in 1993 and 1994) claimed to have slain both [[Ahaziah of Judah]] and [[Jehoram of Israel]]. Most scholars identify Hazael of Damascus (c. 842 – 806 BCE) as the author, the Damascan king who fought a great war against Israel and Juda. Apparently the coalition that had been forged between Ahab and [[Hadadezer]], who had provided the main force that stopped the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III at the [[Battle of Qarqar]], had fallen apart under their successors and in the succeeding war between Israel-Juda against Aram-Damascus the kings of Israel and Juda were killed. Jehu, already an important military leader, then became king after this event.

=== Black Obelisk ===
{{main|Black Obelisk}}
[[File:Black Obelisk side 4 Jewish delegation.jpg|thumb|Part of the gift-bearing delegation of King Jehu, [[Black Obelisk]], 841–840 BCE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Delitzsch |first1=Friedrich |last2=McCormack |first2=Joseph |last3=Carruth |first3=William Herbert |last4=Robinson |first4=Lydia Gillingham |title=Babel and Bible; |date=1906 |publisher=Chicago, The Open court publishing company |page=78 |url=https://archive.org/stream/babelbibl00deli/babelbibl00deli#page/78/mode/1up}}</ref>]]
Aside from the [[Hebrew Scriptures]], Jehu appears in Assyrian documents, notably in the [[Black Obelisk]], where he is depicted as kissing the ground in front of [[Shalmaneser III]] and presenting a gift (''maddattu ša Ia-ú-a...kaspu mâdu'' "tribute of Jehu...much silver"). In the [[Assyria]]n documents, Jehu is simply called "son of [[Omri]]"<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=tBEYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA304&lpg=PA304&dq=mar+Hu-um-ri-i Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament] - Robert William Rogers</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Bezold|first1=Carl|last2=King|first2=L. W.|date=1889|title=Catalogue of the Cuneiform Tablets in the Kouyunjik Collection of the British Museum|publisher=British Museum Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan|isbn=1145519350}}</ref> ({{langx|akk|mār Ḫumri|italic=yes}}, possibly expressing his having been the ruler of "the [[House of Omri]]", a later Assyrian designation for the Kingdom of Israel), but since his grandfather Nimshi might have been a son of Omri, it could have been just describing a well-known descendency. This tribute is dated ca. 841 BCE by a fragment from Calah.<ref >Luckenbill, David Daniel (1989), Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, Volume I, §672London: Histories and Mysteries of Man Ltd</ref><ref>Millard, Alan (1997) ''Discoveries from Bible Times'', Oxford, Lion, p. 121</ref> It is the earliest preserved depiction of an Israelite.<ref name="AD" /> One more argument that Jehu was or styled himself as a descendent of Omri is the fact that he moved the capital back to Samaria, which was the capital in Omri's days.<ref name="Amitai Baruchi-Unna 2017 pp. 3"/>

According to the Obelisk, Jehu severed his alliances with [[Phoenicia]] and [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]], and became subject to [[Assyria]]. Apparently, faced with the aggression of Aram-Damascus in the north and also rebellion of the Moabites (see [[Mesha stele]]) in the east, Jehu  had no other options then yield to the Assyrians, who would resume their attacks at Aram-Damascus, thus relieving the pressure on Israel.

{{clear}}
[[File:Jewish_delegation_to_Shalmaneser_III_on_the_Black_Obelisk,_circa_840_BCE.jpg|thumb|center|upright=4|Black Obelisk, Jehu's delegation to Shalmaneser III]]