Pul
Summary
Pul refers to both an Assyrian king who invaded Israel during the reign of Menahem (c. 769 BC) and received tribute of a thousand talents of silver, and possibly to a distant African country or people mentioned in Isaiah.
☩Pul the Assyrian King
Pul was the first Assyrian monarch mentioned in Scripture. He invaded Israel during the reign of Menahem, who had succeeded in mounting the throne of Israel and proceeded to make himself master of the whole territory belonging to that kingdom. Menahem attacked and took by storm Tiphsah on the Euphrates, which had been a border town of Israel since the conquests of Jeroboam II. This action appears to have drawn the notice of Pul around 769 BC. When Pul marched an army into Palestine, Menahem hastened to make his submission, collecting by means of a poll-tax the large sum of a thousand talents of silver, which he paid to the Assyrian monarch. Pul consented to confirm him as king in exchange for this tribute.
☩Identity Controversy
There is significant scholarly difficulty in determining which Assyrian king is referred to under the name Pul. Some scholars have suggested that Pul and Tiglath-pileser were the same individual, arguing that in 1 Chronicles 5:26 the same event—the deportation of tribes beyond the Jordan—is attributed to both kings associated together. However, the passage does not necessarily ascribe the same measure to both kings; Pul is mentioned as the first Assyrian king who came into collision with the Israelites, preparing the way for subsequent deportation attributed solely to Tiglath-pileser. Other scholars identify Pul with a Babylonian ruler, or with various kings whose names appear in Assyrian inscriptions.
☩Pul as a Place
A country or people named Pul is mentioned once in Isaiah 66:19, listed between Tarshish and Lud among distant nations to whom tidings of God's glory will be sent. Some scholars suppose the true reading should be Put, which is elsewhere joined with Lud, but there is no manuscript authority for this change. If an African Lud is intended, Pul may be African—it has been compared with the island Philae in Egypt, called in Coptic Pelak. However, since other names in the Isaiah passage are those of great countries, while Philae is a very small island, it seems more probable that Pul was the name of some distant province of Africa.
References
- 1.F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet (ed.), "Pul," in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Porter & Coates, 1884).
- 2.John McClintock and James Strong, "Pul," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. VIII (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 3.George Morrish, "Pul," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).