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Missing Years of Tiglath-pileser III

The Bible says that Menahem of Israel paid tribute to the Neo-Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III (also called Pul in the Bible), but in which year of his ten-year reign he paid tribute is not specified. The Iran Stele confirms the payment of tribute by Menahem. Other Assyrian documents indicate that Tiglath-pileser, in the waning years of his reign, appointed Hoshea king of Israel.*

Taken together, those two references show that Tiglath-pileser had a reign that spanned the reigns of all of the kings of Israel from Menahem to its final king Hoshea. Between Menahem and Hoshea, there were two kings of Israel, Pekahiah and Pekah, and the Seder Olam even adds that there was an eight-year period with no king in Israel prior to Hoshea. Traditional Neo-Assyrian history says that Tiglath-pileser III had a reign of eighteen-years. The biblical data, when taken at face value, indicates a longer reign, as follows:

Kings of Israel during the reign of Tiglath-pileser III
King
CASE 1
CASE 2
CASE 3
CASE 4
Menehem
10 yrs.
1 yr. (tribute paid in last regnal year)
1 yr. (tribute paid in last regnal year)
10 yrs. (tribute paid first regnal year)
10 yrs. (tribute paid first regnal year)
Pekahiah
2 yrs.
1.5 yrs.
1.5 yrs.
1.5 yrs.
1.5 yrs.
Pekah
20 yrs.
17.5 yrs.
17.5 yrs.
17.5 yrs.
17.5 yrs.
governor,
no king
n/a
8 yrs.
8 yrs.
8 yrs.
Hoshea
9 yrs.
4 yrs. (until TP III’s death)
4 yrs. (until TP III’s death)
5 yrs. (until TP III’s death)
5 yrs. (until TP III’s death)
Totals
24 yrs.
32 yrs.
34 yrs.
42 yrs.

CASE 1: If Menahem paid tribute in his final year, if Pekahiah ruled for more than one but not more than two years, if Pekahiah was killed by Pekah who then ruled over Israel for about 17+ years (the first two-plus years of his 20-year reign were as a rebel king in Gilead concurrent with the short reign of Pekahiah), and if Hoshea was promoted from governor to king circa 731 BCE, the minimum possible length of Tiglath-pileser III’s reign had to be at least 24 years.
CASE 2: If Menahem paid tribute in his final year, and if the Seder Olam statement that Israel was without a king for eight years prior to Hoshea being appointed king is applied, then the total length of Tiglath-pileser’s reign was 32 years
CASE 3: If the maximum possible years for each Hebrew king during the reign of Tiglath-pileser are totaled without including the eight years with no king mentioned by the Seder Olam, the figure is 33 years.
CASE 4: If the Seder Olam years with no king are added to the absolute maximum, and if Menahem paid tribute in his first regnal year, the figure once again advances, this time to 42 years (and possibly as long as 46 years).

* J. B. Pritchard and D. E. Fleming, The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures (Princeton University Press, 2011); ANET 284, p. 264)

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