The Aramaic Inscriptions of Sefire

Since the first publication of the texts of the Aramaic Inscriptions of Sefire, they have been the subject of much scholarly discussion and interpretation. The three steles preserve the text of a treaty or treaties made by a north Syrian ruler. In the first two of them he is named as Mati'el, the son of 'Attarsamak, the king of Arpad. The several inscriptions of Sefire give us an inkling of the complicated political situation that existed in northern Syria in the middle of the eight century BC. All such ententes must have come to an end when Tiglathpileser III reasserted Neo-Assyrian might. All these details provide an interesting historical background for the reigns of Jeroboam II in Israel and of Uzziah in Judah, as well for the career of the prophet Amos.