REZIN . From the ancient versions and the cuneiform inscriptions it is clear that the form should be Razon or Razin .
1 . The last king of Damascus. Towards the close of the 8th cent. b.c. Damascus and Israel were under the suzerainty of Assyria. Tiglath-pileser iii. enumerates the articles paid him in tribute by Ra-sun-nu of Damascus and Menahem of Israel (b.c. 738). Pekah , one of Menahem’s successors, joined Rezin in the attempt to throw off the yoke. Failing to secure the co-operation of Ahaz, they turned their arms against Judah (b.c. 734). 2 Kings 16:6 mentions, among the incidents of the campaign, that Rezin ‘recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath.’ [This statement originated in a scribal error, the r in Aram [Note: ram Aramaic.] (‘Syria’) having been accidentally substituted for the d of Edom , and Rezin’s name being added still later for the sake of completeness (cf. 2 Chronicles 28:17 ).] The two allies besieged Jerusalem, greatly to the alarm of the populace, and Isaiah strove in vain to allay the terror ( Isaiah 7:1-25; Isaiah 8:1-22; Isaiah 9:1-21 ). Ahaz implored aid from Tiglath-pileser, to whom he became tributary ( 2 Kings 16:8 ). On the approach of the Assyrians, Pekah was murdered by his own subjects. Damascus sustained a siege of more than a year’s duration, but was eventually taken (b.c. 732), and Rezin was slain ( 2 Kings 16:9 ). Rawlinson found an inscription on which this was recorded, but the stone has unfortunately disappeared. It is not quite certain who ‘ the son of Tabeel ’ ( Isaiah 7:6 ) is. Winckler ( Alttest. Untersuch ., p. 74f.) fails to carry conviction in his attempt to identify this man with Rezln. More probably he was the tool whom the confederates proposed to seat on the throne of Judah.
2 . The ‘children of Rezin’ are mentioned as a family of Nethinim ( Ezra 2:48 , Nehemiah 7:50 ). Like the Nethinim generally, they were very likely of foreign descent. In 1Es 5:31 they are called ‘sons of Daisan ,’ another instance of the confusion of r and d .
J. Taylor.