Location:

• Biblical: ashshuwr (אַשּׁוּר)
• Modern Location: Northern Iraq (centered around ancient cities like Nineveh and Assur)

Significance:

• First mention: Genesis 2:14 (Tigris flows east of Ashur / Assyria)
• Last mention: Zechariah 10:11 (Assyria mentioned in prophecy of future deliverance)
• Symbolic: Rod of God's anger, instrument of divine judgment and punishment against Israel's unfaithfulness and idolatry, prideful empire that God humbles
• Major Events:
  • Founded by Nimrod / Asshur (Genesis 10:8-12)
  • Tribute from Menahem of Israel to Pul (Tiglath-Pileser III) (2 Kings 15:19-20)
  • Conquest of northern Israel, fall of Samaria, deportation of Israelites (2 Kings 17:3-6)
  • Sennacherib's invasion of Judah, siege of Jerusalem, miraculous deliverance (2 Kings 18-19; Isaiah 36-37; 2 Chronicles 32)
  • Jonah's mission to Nineveh and the repentance of the Assyrians (Jonah 3)
  • Prophesied fall of Assyria and Nineveh (Nahum; Isaiah 10:5-19)

People

• Asshur (אַשּׁוּר) (patriarch, son of Shem, Genesis 10:22)
• Pul (פּוּל) (Tiglath-Pileser III, king who received tribute)
• Shalmaneser (שַׁלְמַנְאֶסֶר) (king who besieged Samaria)
• Sargon (סַרְגּוֹן) (king associated with final fall of Samaria, Isaiah 20:1)
• Sennacherib (סַנְחֵרִיב) (king who invaded Judah)
• Rabshakeh (רַבְשָׁקֵה) (Assyrian commander who taunted Jerusalem)
• Esarhaddon (אֵסַרְחַדּוֹן) (mentioned in context of Assyrian kings, 2 Kings 19:37)

Connections