Hadadezer ( ; " he godHadad is help"); also known as Adad-Idri (), and possibly the same as Bar- or Ben-Hadad II, was the king of
Aram-Damascus
Aram-Damascus ( ) was an Arameans, Aramean polity that existed from the late-12th century BCE until 732 BCE, and was centred around the city of Damascus in the Southern Levant. Alongside various tribal lands, it was bounded in its later years b ...
Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)
The Kingdom of Israel ( ), also called the Northern Kingdom or the Kingdom of Samaria, was an History of ancient Israel and Judah, Israelite kingdom that existed in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Its beginnings date back to the firs ...
, but was defeated and captured by him. However, soon after that, the two kings signed a peace treaty and established an alliance according to 1 Kings 20.
According to the Kurkh Monoliths, Hadadezer and Irhuleni of Hamath later led a coalition of eleven kings (including Ahab of Israel and Gindibu of the Arab) at the
Battle of Qarqar
The Battle of Qarqar (or Ḳarḳar) was fought in 853 BC when the army of the Neo-Assyrian Empire led by Emperor Shalmaneser III encountered an allied army of eleven kings at Qarqar led by Hadadezer, called in Assyrian ''Adad-idir'' and possib ...
against the Assyrian king
Shalmaneser III
Shalmaneser III (''Šulmānu-ašarēdu'', "the god Shulmanu is pre-eminent") was king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 859 BC to 824 BC.
His long reign was a constant series of campaigns against the eastern tribes, the Babylonians, the nations o ...
. He fought Shalmaneser six other times, twice more with the aid of Irhuleni and with an unspecified coalition.
The biblical text reports that, after a few years, Ahab and Jehoshaphat of the
Kingdom of Judah
The Kingdom of Judah was an Israelites, Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Centered in the highlands to the west of the Dead Sea, the kingdom's capital was Jerusalem. It was ruled by the Davidic line for four centuries ...
formed an alliance against Hadadezer, starting a war against him; however, Aram-Damascus was able to defeat them, and Ahab was killed during the battle according to 1 Kings 22.
According to 2 Kings 8 and to an inscription of the Assyrian king
Shalmaneser III
Shalmaneser III (''Šulmānu-ašarēdu'', "the god Shulmanu is pre-eminent") was king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 859 BC to 824 BC.
His long reign was a constant series of campaigns against the eastern tribes, the Babylonians, the nations o ...
, Hadad-Ezer was succeeded by Hazael after his death. The biblical account claims that Hazael murdered him.
List of Aramean kings
Aramean kings were Monarch, kings of the ancient Arameans, and rulers of various Aram (region), Aramean states that existed throughout the Levant and Mesopotamia during the 14th and 13th centuries BC, before being absorbed by various other empire ...