Lives of Scripture
Rezin (M)
First named in 2 Kings 15:37
Rezin ruled as king of Aram (Syria) from Damascus during the reign of Ahaz in Judah. He allied with Pekah, king of Israel, and together they marched against Jerusalem, intending to depose Ahaz and install a puppet king who would join their coalition against the rising Assyrian Empire (2 Kings 16:5; Isaiah 7:1-6). Though they besieged Jerusalem, they could not take it. Rezin also recaptured the port of Elath for Aram, driving out the Jews there (2 Kings 16:6). Terrified, Ahaz refused Isaiah's call to trust the LORD rather than foreign powers, and God gave the famous sign that a virgin would conceive and bear Immanuel before Rezin's and Pekah's threat had passed (Isaiah 7:10-16). Instead of trusting God, Ahaz stripped the temple treasury to buy Assyrian help. Tiglath-pileser III answered by attacking Damascus, capturing it, deporting its people, and killing Rezin (2 Kings 16:9). Isaiah later names Rezin's fall alongside Israel's as proof that the LORD's hand remains stretched out in judgment against those who oppose His people (Isaiah 9:11-12). Rezin's brief, violent career supplies the historical crisis behind one of Scripture's most quoted Messianic prophecies, even though he never intended any such thing.
Thought for Today
Rezin's attack on Jerusalem was the very crisis that led Isaiah to promise a child called Immanuel, 'God with us.' That child, born generations later, was Jesus Himself.
References: 2 Kings 15:37; 2 Kings 16:5-9; Isaiah 7:1-8; Isaiah 8:6; Isaiah 9:11
Genealogy
Father
—Mother
—Spouse(s)
—Children
—Connections
- Rezin (M) — besieged Jerusalem with an ally → Ahaz (M)
Rezin of Aram allied with Pekah of Israel and marched against Jerusalem intending to depose Ahaz and install a puppet king, besieging the city though unable to take it.
2 Kings 16:5; Isaiah 7:1-6
- Pekah (M) ↔ allied with him to besiege Jerusalem ↔ Rezin (M)
Pekah of Israel and Rezin of Aram allied together against Judah, marching on Jerusalem intending to depose Ahaz and install a puppet king who would join their coalition against Assyria, a siege Isaiah told Ahaz not to fear even though it could not be stopped by Judah's own strength.
2 Kings 16:5; Isaiah 7:1-9
- Tiglath-pileser (M) — captured Damascus and killed him → Rezin (M)
After Ahaz stripped the temple treasury to buy Assyrian help against the combined threat of Rezin and Pekah, Tiglath-pileser III marched against Damascus, captured the city, deported its people, and killed Rezin, ending Aram's power in the region.
2 Kings 16:7-9