The Assyrians conducted many military campaigns in their heyday, with the intention of subduing foreign countries. In the service of their God Ashur, these military expeditions were actually motivated by economical aspirations.

Some of the nations subdued by the Assyrians were treated as vassals, with the Assyrian king appointing the rulers, such as at Samaria and Megiddo. The Assyrian government often exiled the local population and resettled a new populace in their place in a “divide and conquer” method; Isaiah had long prophesized this historical outcome (Isaiah 1:39). Even countries that had willingly surrendered to the Assyrians paid heavy taxes and were looted. The annals of Tiglath Pileser III provide a long list of plundering by the Assyrians from cities in the Judean Kingdom, as well as from Amon and Moab.