Read 2 Kings 18 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
18:1-8 {p} The reign of Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah/ he held fast to YHVH God
18:9-12 {p} Shalmaneser king of Assyria besieged Samaria and carried Israel away captive because they did not obey God
18:13-16 {p} Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against Judah/ Hezekiah sent him his tribute
18:17-19:14 {p} Sennacherib’s commander and his threat against Jerusalem: do not trust in YHVH
Under King Shalmaneser, Assyria came up to besiege Samaria, after Hoshea, king of Israel, did not send tribute (it had been discovered that he was allied with Egypt against Assyria). The siege lasted three years. During that time, kingship in Assyria had passed from Shalmaneser to Sargon II; at the end of three years Assyria overcame the capital, ending the northern kingdom of Israel, and deporting its people to Assyrian peripheral territories east and west, and the cities of the Medes (BC 722).
“In my first year of reign, I besieged and conquered Samaria (Sa-me-ri-na). I carried off 27,290 of its inhabitants as spoil. I took from them 50 chariots, but left the rest of their belongings. I appointed my governor over them and imposed upon them the tribute and tax of the former king.” – Sargon II (Adapted from Ancient Near Eastern Texts , ed. Pritchard, p. 284.)
About twenty-one years later, Hezekiah, king of Judah, had rebelled against Assyrian overlordship: he did not send tribute, and sought an alliance with Egypt. The Assyrian king was Sennacherib, who launched a campaign to reassert control over Judah. He took all of Judah’s fortified cities, most prominently Lachish, and assessed Hezekiah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold, which he paid. (2 Kin 18:13-16). Sennacherib recorded this campaign in his Annals:
“As for Hezekiah the Judahite, 19 who did not submit to my yoke: forty-six of his strong, walled cities, as well as 20 the small towns in their area, 21 which were without number, by levelling with battering-rams 22 and by bringing up siege-engines, and by attacking and storming on foot, 23 by mines, tunnels, and breeches, I besieged and took them. 24 200,150 people, great and small, male and female, 25 horses, mules, asses, camels, 26cattle and sheep without number, I brought away from them 27and counted as spoil. (Hezekiah) himself, like a caged bird 28 I shut up in Jerusalem, his royal city. 29 I threw up earthworks against him— 30 the one coming out of the city-gate, I turned back to his misery. 31 His cities, which I had despoiled, I cut off from his land, and 32 to Mitinti, king of Ashdod, 33 Padi, king of Ekron, and Silli-bêl, 34 king of Gaza, I gave (them). And thus I diminished his land. 35 I added to the former tribute, 36 and I lad upon him the surrender of their land and imposts—gifts for my majesty. 37 As for Hezekiah, 38 the terrifying splendor of my majesty overcame him, and 39 the Arabs and his mercenary troops which he had brought in to strengthen 40 Jerusalem, his royal city, 41 deserted him. In addition to the thirty talents of gold and 42 eight hundred talents of silver, gems, antimony, 43 jewels, large carnelians, ivory-inlaid couches, 44 ivory-inlaid chairs, elephant hides, elephant tusks, 45 ebony, boxwood, all kinds of valuable treasures, 46 as well as his daughters, his harem, his male and female 47 musicians, which he had brought after me 48 to Nineveh, my royal city. To pay tribute 49 and to accept servitude, he dispatched his messengers.” – Sennacherib, The Sennacherib Prism, housed at the Oriental Institute of Chicago; see The Annals of Sennacherib, translated by Daniel David Luckenbill.
Sennacherib’s palace in Nineveh was decorated with bas-relief panels depicting the siege and capture of Lachish, illustrating typical Assyrian military tactics when laying siege to a fortified city. The Assyrian military was one of the most advanced of its time, known for its size and organization. They were able to mobilize large, disciplined forces, including infantry, archers, cavalry, and charioteers. The army was supported by engineers who built siege works, ramps, and battering rams for attacking fortified cities like Samaria and Lachish. They were experts in siege warfare, a craft they honed with precision.
Beginning in 2 Kin 18:17, Sennacherib sent a great army with his top officials—the Tartan, Rabsaris, and Rabshakeh—from Lachish to Jerusalem, to demand Hezekiah’s submission to the Assyrian yoke.
Now the Assyrians were feared for their brutality in pursuing their conquests. They exiled whole peoples, displayed executed rebels, often prominent citizens, on stakes in central squares and along the city’s perimeter, and leveled cities who resisted them to the ground. They invented crucifixion as a method of execution. The Assyrians took advantage of this fear, and employed propaganda and psychological warfare to weaken their enemies’ resolve, as can be seen by the Rabshakeh’s speech to Jerusalem’s defenders.
The key players on the Assyrian side were the Tartan, the commander-in-chief of the military, second-in-command only to the king himself; the Rabsaris, a senior court official who oversaw the king’s administrative concerns in relation to the campaign, and the Rabshakeh, a senior diplomat or administrative spokesman, skilled in intimidation, propaganda, and negotiation. That he addressed the defenders of Jerusalem in their native tongue reveals the extent of his skill in his role. That all three were deployed to the seige of Jerusalem reveals the importance Sennacherib placed on conquering the City of David.
The key players on the Judean side were of course, King Hezekiah; Eliakim, the chief-of-staff, if you will, of the palace; Shebna, the official scribe, perhaps akin to a secretary of state; and Joah, the court recorder. And soon, we will meet Isaiah the prophet of God.
Leave a Reply