Shalmaneser and Sargon

2 Kings 17 names Shalmaneser as the king who found out Hoshea's treason, imprisoned him, and besieged Samaria. The capture itself, in verse 6, says "the king of Assyria," not the personal name. 2 Kings 17:3 2 Kings 17:6 2 Kings 18:9 names Shalmaneser again for the start of the siege.

Sargon II, who took the throne in 722 when Shalmaneser V died, claims in his own inscriptions that he conquered Samaria, led away its gods and its people, and resettled it. The numbers of deportees vary by inscription, which is normal in these boasts. The claim is repeated enough that historians do not think he invented the city.

The cleanest way to hold both is the one most historians actually use. Shalmaneser begins the war and the siege. He dies in 722, the year the city falls or the year the credit is taken. Sargon, the new king, finishes the deportation and writes the annals. A siege of three years can cross a change of kings. The Bible is interested in the king who came up against Hoshea. Sargon is interested in the king who got to carve the result. Isaiah will later name Sargon in a different scene, a commander sent to Ashdod. Isaiah 20:1 The book knows the name. It does not need it for the fall of Samaria.

A less likely reading makes the whole capture Sargon's and treats Shalmaneser as only the tribute king. That has to brush past the three-year siege credited to the king who came up before the capture. The timeline does not brush past it. It prints 722, marks it as a record that lines up, and lets the two names stand in this note.

What neither inscription gives is the chapter's theology. Assyria does not say it was sent because Israel despised the covenant. Isaiah does say Assyria is a rod in God's hand and that the rod will be punished for its arrogance. Isaiah 10:5 The stone and the prophet are both allowed to speak. They are not saying the same kind of sentence.