RASIN (Heb. Rēṣīn; Septuagint Pāṇḍaṣ; Assyrian Rasūṇṇ). — Last king of Damascus (ca. 740–732 B.C.). He was a usurper. In 738 he appears as tributary to the Assyrian king Theglathphalasar III (745–727). While the latter was at war with the Urartians (737–735), R. promoted, together with Phacee, king of Samaria, an anti-Assyrian league for their own defense; Sidon, Tyre, and Samsi, an Arabian queen, joined II.
Ioatham, king of Judah, refused to join. R. and Phacee sought to compel him by force (II Reg. 15, 37), in order to keep open their communications with Egypt, their supporter, and to draw Edom, Moab, and the Philistines into the league. The attack took place against Achaz, who, having succeeded his father (736), followed his policy. Achaz, severely defeated by R. and Phacee (II Par. 28, 5-15), was besieged in the capital; the aim was to remove the Davidic dynasty and place on the throne a certain Tabeel, a supporter of the policy of Damascus (Syro-Ephraimite war, 735–734; Is. 7, 1-9; 8, 6; 9, 11). The Edomites (II Reg. 16, 6, instead of 'Aram; Rēṣīn is regarded as a gloss) and the Philistines took advantage of this to attack Judah: the former recovered Elath, while the latter took six cities of the Šēphēlah (II Par. 28, 17 ff.). According to the Masoretic text, Elath was taken by R., who handed it over to the Edomites (II Reg. 16, 6), in order to bring them into the league; Edom and the Philistines would therefore have attacked Judah (II Par. 28, 17 ff.).
Theglathphalasar, having subdued the Urartians, was already ready to move against the confederates when he received Achaz’s appeal (autumn of 735; II Reg. 16, 7). Advancing along the coast, he conquered Gaza, whose king fled to Egypt, and defeated the Philistines (734). Secure on the southern borders, he ravaged Samaria (the first deportation; Phacee was killed, and Theglathphalasar approved the election of Osea); then he besieged Damascus (733). “Rasunnu fled like a gazelle and took refuge in the capital, where he was shut up like a bird in a cage. I devastated, like a flood, 591 cities of the 16 districts in the land of Damascus” (Annals of Nimrud, lines 195–209). After two years (732), the city was captured and R. put to death. Damascus became an Assyrian province (II Reg. 16, 9; II Par. 28, 16, 1940).