In 841BC, the Assyrian king, Shalmaneser III (not mentioned in the Bible) wanted to show off the immense size of his kingdom. He did so by documenting a series of tribute payment visits on a black obelisk.
These tribute payments include expensive objects, money and exotic animals. The penalty for not bringing the annual tribute was severe. Think protection money.
He selected five countries from the border of his empire to show how much space there was between these countries. Similar to saying California to New York or Washington to Florida.
What is particularly relevant is that King Jehu of the Kingdom of Israel (Divided Kingdom, Northern tribes) is shown on the second register:
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1848-1104-1
In 2 Kings 9-10, the prophet Elisha anoints Jehu as the next King of Israel, and commands him to purge the entire house of King Ahab, one of his predecessors. Ahab and his wife Jezebel were so wicked in their idolatry and persecution of the prophets that God wanted every male member of Ahab’s family to be killed.
Jehu would wind up killing the king of Israel and the king of Judah, as well as numerous sons.
King Jehu reigned for 28 years and during that time, he paid tribute to the dominant power, the nation of Assyria. It was either pay or get destroyed.
British Museum Street View: https://artsandculture.google.com/streetview/british-museum/AwEp68JO4NECkQ?sv_lng=-0.1269666007429464&sv_lat=51.51877525694562&sv_h=47.62304210232429&sv_p=-2.585206104178411&sv_pid=VKt-2XQPBUELK8sKUITLnQ&sv_z=1
Jehu is depicted bowing down to Shalmaneser under the watchful eyes of the Assyrian gods: Assur (left, winged sun disk), Ishtar (right, 6-pointed star)
This is perhaps the only image we have of an Israelite king due to the second commandment, which prohibited idol-making. The Israelites did not create any images of anyone for fear of violating this commandment, so we only have outsider depictions of the kings.
