Prophecy in Hamath, Israel, and Mari

Abstract

In many respects the inscription of Zakir, king of Luʻash and Hamath, is quite typical of the northwest Semitic documents of the ninth and eighth centuries B.C. Like most of his royal counterparts, Zakir first introduces himself, indicating the extent of his domain; in this connection he claims that Baʻal-Shamayn stood by him and made him king. He then proceeds to the immediate occasion for the inscription, telling of a coalition of north Syrian and Anatolian kings united against him by Bar-Hadad of Aram, and the subsequent siege laid against his city of Ḥazrak. After an account of Zakir's appeal to Baʻal-Shamayn and the god's encouraging reply, which will be the main concern of this essay, the stele undoubtedly reported the raising of the siege (on the missing lower portion of Side A), for on Side B we find the king boasting of his building operations, again in the style of his time. The inscription closes with the traditional curses upon anyone who dares to damage the stele.