Shalman

Shalman is named once in scripture, in Hosea, as the figure whose destruction of Beth-arbel becomes the prophet's image of the catastrophe coming on Israel.

The Destroyer of Beth-arbel

Hosea sets Shalman's act inside an oracle of judgment against the northern kingdom. "Therefore will a tumult arise among your people, and all your fortresses will be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces with her sons" (Hos 10:14). The comparison runs in two stages: Israel's fortresses will fall as Beth-arbel fell, and the day-of-battle horror at Beth-arbel — mother dashed in pieces with her sons — is named as the measure of what is coming. Shalman is identified only by this deed; the text gives no further notice of him, his nation, or the date of the campaign.