In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-beth-ma'achah, and Jonoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.
In the days of Pekah ... came Tiglath-pileser, х Tiglat-Pil'ecer (H8407) or ( Tilgat-Pilnª'ecer (H8407), Tilgath-pilneser, 2 Chronicles 28:20); Septuagint, Thalgathfellasar]. Scholars are not agreed as to the import of this name. This monarch, who succeeded Pul on the throne of Assyria, is the only one of all the kings who does not give his genealogy, and is therefore supposed to have been a usurper. His annals have been discovered in the Nimroud Mound, describing this expedition into Syria. The places taken are here mentioned as they occurred, and were conquered in the progress of an invasion. From the Assyrian monuments, it appears that Tiglath-pileser II commenced his expedition Syria in the fourth year of his reign, and that, as it lasted several years, he penetrated to the southern extremities of Palestine, reducing Damascus, Tyre, Samaria, and the Arabs bordering upon Egypt, but without touching upon Judaea, Philistia, or the Phoenician cities. It was during this invasion that Menahem purchased submission by the payment of tribute, which, as already stated, is recorded on the Assyrian monuments to have is brought to him by Israelite messengers in the eighth year of his reign. In consequence of the incompleteness of this Syrian war, and more immediately of the rebellion of Pekah, who, having seized possession of a tributary kingdom, had set up as an independent prince, he in a few years renewed the campaign by an attack upon Samaria, the capital of the Israelite king, and it was in the course of this second expedition he "lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali" (Isaiah 9:1) - i:e., the northern districts of Palestine-principally the portion that lay from the lake Merom to that of Gennesareth. The inhabitants of the whole country and the most important cities became a prey to the conqueror.
Ijon - now Merj 'Ayun, near lake Huleh.
Abel-beth-maachah - or Abel-maim, now Abel, classed with Dan and Ijon (see 1 Kings 15:16-20: cf. 2 Chronicles 16:4).
Janoah. Its site has not been identitied. Kedesh-commonly called Kedesh-naphtali, now Kedes, an ancient royal city, occupying a most picturesque situation, (see the notes at Joshua 12:22; Joshua 20:7; Judges 4:1.)
Hazor. According to Josephus ('Antiquities,' b. 5:, ch. 1:), 'it lay over the lake Samochonites,' and probably south of Kedesh (see the notes at Joshua 19:35-37). It was long the principal city in that northern region.
Gilead - now Jil'ad, an extensive region on the east of Jordan, abounding in excellent pasturage, and well populated.
Galilee. This name, from a root denoting a circle or circuit, was originally applied to a small region round Kedesh (see the notes at Joshua 20:7; 1 Kings 9:11), comprehending the twenty cities presented by Solomon to Hiram (cf. Isaiah 9:1-21; Matthew 4:15).
All the land of Naphtali. This district, which comprised some of the most beautiful scenery and the most fertile soil in Palestine, extended over the plain of the Huleh to the northern shores of the sea of Galilee.