1. An Assyrian king, about 765 B. C., when Assyria is first mentioned in Scripture after the time of Nimrod. He invaded Israel during the reign of Menhem, but was induced to retire by a present of a thousand talents of silver, equivalent to at least a million and a half of dollars, 2Ki 15:19-20; 1Ch 5:26.

2. Isa 66:19, a region remote from Judea, associated with Lud, and supposed by Bochart to be traceable in the island Philae in the Nile, near the confines of Egypt and Ethiopia.

(1.) An Assyrian king. It has been a question whether he was identical with Tiglath-pileser III. (q.v.), or was his predecessor. The weight of evidence is certainly in favour of their identity. Pul was the throne-name he bore in Babylonia as king of Babylon, and Tiglath-pileser the throne-name he bore as king of Assyria. He was the founder of what is called the second Assyrian empire. He consolidated and organized his conquests on a large scale. He subdued Northern Syria and Hamath, and the kings of Syria rendered him homage and paid him tribute. His ambition was to found in Western Asia a kingdom which should embrace the whole civilized world, having Nineveh as its centre. Menahem, king of Israel, gave him the enormous tribute of a thousand talents of silver, "that his hand might be with him" (2Ki 15:19; 1Ch 5:26). The fact that this tribute could be paid showed the wealthy condition of the little kingdom of Israel even in this age of disorder and misgovernment. Having reduced Syria, he turned his arms against Babylon, which he subdued. The Babylonian king was slain, and Babylon and other Chaldean cities were taken, and Pul assumed the title of "King of Sumer [i.e., Shinar] and Accad." He was succeeded by Shalmanezer IV.

(2.) A geographical name in ISA 66:19. Probably = Phut (Ge 10:6; Jer 46:9, R.V. "Put;" Eze 27:10).

1. See Assyria and Babylonia, p. 66. 2. In Isa 66:19 Put is prob. a slip for Put (wh. see).

1. King of Assyria who invaded Israel in the reign of Menahem, who gave him 1,000 talents of silver to confirm the kingdom to him. 2Ki 15:19; 1Ch 5:26. Pul has not been identified among the kings of Assyria. There was one named Pulu, who took the name of Tiglath-pileser 2 B.C. 745-727, and some have supposed that this king was Pul; but these dates do not agree with scripture, and in 1Ch 5:26, Pul is mentioned as a distinct king from Tiglath-pileser. Besides, Pulu reigned only 18 years, whereas the events recorded of Pul in 2Ki 15:19 were 31 years earlier than those concerning Tiglath-pileser in 2Ki 15:29. Rawlinson supposes Pul to be identical with a king called on the monuments Vul-lush or Iva-lush.

2. A district or people to whom tidings will be sent of Jehovah's fame and glory as seen upon the earth in a future day. Isa 66:19. The LXX read PHUD, which has led to the thought that Phut may have been in the original. Phut is associated with Lud in Eze 27:10. See PHUT.

(lord), a country or nation mentioned in

Isa 66:19

It is spoken of with distant nations, and is supposed by some to represent the island Philae in Egypt, and by others Libya.

PUL, king of Assyria. He came into the land of Israel in the time of Manahem, king of the ten tribes, 2Ki 15:19, &c, and invaded the kingdom on the other side of Jordan. But Manahem, by a present, of one thousand talents of silver, prevailed on the king of Assyria, not only to withdraw his forces, but to recognize his title to the crown of Israel before he left the kingdom. This is the first time that we find any mention made of the kingdom of Assyria since the days of Nimrod; and Pul is the first monarch of that nation who invaded Israel, and began their transportation out of their own country.