The Sib’u of this inscription is probably the same as So, King of Egypt, in 2 Kings 17:4. He cannot be identified with any known Egyptian king. He was probably a prince of a nome of the Delta. The above is Sargon’s description of the battle of Raphia, which occurred in the year 720 B. C. This campaign was an aftermath of the fall of Samaria.
717 B. C.
[Sargon],[521] the exalted prince, who came upon Hummanigash, the King of Elam, in the environs of Durilu and accomplished his overthrow, who reduced to submission Yaudi, the place of which was distant, who destroyed Hamath, whose hands captured Yaubidi.
This Yaudi has been taken by some scholars for Judah, but it was probably the kingdom in northern Syria mentioned by Tiglathpileser IV and in the inscription of Panammu, of Samal, the modern Zendjirli. We know of no Assyrian invasion of Judah at this time.
The tribute of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, of Samsi, the Queen of Arabia, Ithamara, the Sabæan, gold, the ...... of the mountain, horses, and camels, I received ............[522]
Yaubidi, the Hamathite, a soldier (?), with no right to the throne, a bad Hittite, had set his heart on the kingdom of Hamath; he caused Arpad, Simirra, Damascus, and Samaria to rebel against me, made them of one intent and collected for battle. The whole army of Ashur I mustered and in Qarqar, his favorite city, I besieged him together with his soldiers. I captured Qarqar, I burned it with fire. His skin I flayed and the partakers of his sin I killed in their cities; I established peace. 200 chariots and 200 horsemen I collected from the people of Hamath, and added to my royal force.
This passage records the overthrow of Hamath and Arpad (Isa. 10:9), and mentions the tribute of a king of Sheba, the account of the coming of whose queen to Solomon is found in I Kings 10:1, ff.
711 B. C.
Azuri, King of Ashdod, planned in his heart not to pay tribute, and among the kings of his neighborhood disseminated hatred of Assyria. On account of the evil he had done I cut off his lordship over the people of his land. I appointed Ahimiti, his younger (?) brother to the kingship over them. But the Hittites, planning evil, hated him and exalted over them Yamani, who had no claim to the throne, and who, like them, knew no fear of authority. In the anger of my heart the mass of my army I did not muster, I did not assemble my camp. With my usual bodyguard I marched against Ashdod. Yamani heard of the progress of my expedition from afar and fled to the borders of Egypt, which lies by the side of Melucha, and was seen no more. Ashdod, Gath, Ashdudimmu, I besieged, I conquered. I took as spoil his gods, his wife, his sons, his daughters, his possessions, the treasures of his palace, together with the people of his land. I seized those cities anew, and settled in them peoples of lands I had captured from among [the lands] of the east .......... With the people of Assyria I numbered them, and they bore my yoke. The king of Melucha, who among ...... an inaccessible place, a road ...... whose fathers from ancient days as far back as the moon-god, his father, had sent no messengers to my fathers to pay their respects, heard from afar of the might of Ashur, Nabu, and Marduk; the fear of the luster of my royalty covered him and fright was poured over him. He cast him [Yamani] into bonds, fetters of iron, and brought him before me into Assyria,—a long journey.[523]
Another fragmentary account runs thus:[524]