Sennacherib on the Bas-relief of Lachish
A barrel-shaped clay cylinder written sometime between 704 and 681BC records the many military campaigns of Sennacherib. Its opening captures in one fell swoop almost every desirable feature of a good king; Sennacherib calls himself a great, strong, and unrivaled king who is also a 'pious' and 'reverent' shepherd. He is a 'guardian of truth who loves justice, render assistance, and strives after good deeds', but he is also a 'virile warrior' who, like a 'bridle', controls those who refuse to obey and 'strikes enemies with lightning', writes Moudhy Al-Rashid in her book "Between two rivers".
What attracted me in his epithet are the words, "virile warrior who like a bridle controls those who refuse to obey and strikes the enemies with lightning".
After his father Sargon-II's death in the campaign against Tabal in 705 BC against its ruler Gurdi or Kurti, Sennacherib took the throne in 704 BC (reign 704 - 681 BC) as king of Assyria. Sargon's death gave way to some vassal kings to break free from the yoke of Assyria. The majority of Sennacherib's military campaigns were directed against Babylonia. Marduk-aplu-iddina-II (703 - 702 BC) along with his Elamite ally rebelled against Assyria, but it was quelled and defeated. In the Bible this defeated king was written as Baladan (Merodach-Baladan or Berodach-Baladan) who sent messengers to see king Hezekiah as goodwill with gifts (2Kings 20:12) when he was recovering from illness. In his place Sennacherib put Bel-ibni on throne of Babylon, who was raised as a child in Assyria, and to put it in Sennacherib's words, 'he was grown up in my palace like a young dog'. Young dog? That's seems to be like boasting, too proud of himself. And there is much more to see of his boasting. With this initial success, Sennacherib steps into Levant. The Assyrian troops made their way to the western Levant in the summer of 701 BC. He regained Sidon, and replaced the king Luli with pro-Assyrian king Tu-Ba'lu. Several former vassals came forward to resume vassalship and paid their tributes. Among them were the leaders of cities from Samsimuruna, Sidon, Arwad, Byblos in Phoenicia, Ashdod in Philistia, Ashkelon, lands of Ammon, Moab, Edom East of Jordan river. However, several pockets of resistance remained.
In the city of Ekron, some 22 miles west of Jerusalem, anti-Assyrian rebels were determined not to back down. According to Sennacherib's account, the revolt in Ekron had started with local officials and other citizens despising their pro-Assyrian ruler, king Padi and handed him over to king Hezekiah of Judah (reigned 715 - 686 BC) bound in chains. King Padi was put in prison. When Ekron's New leaders realized that an Assyrian army was on it's way, they decided to carry on the fight. But they knew they needed outside help, which they found in Egypt. Since the time of king Ahaz of Judah (reigned around 735 - 715 BC), Judah was been a vassal of Assyria, when they took help of king Tiglath-Pileser-III (reigned 745 - 727 BC), when king Rezin of Aram (Syria) and king Pekah of Israel tried to invade Judah. 2Kings 16:7-10, describes all that has happened, however 2Chrinicles 28th chapter gives a different perspective of the whole episode. Even before this incident the northern kingdom Israel has already invaded by Tiglath-Pileser-III, followed by his two sons Shalmaneser-V (reigned 727 - 722 BC) and Sargon-II (reigned 722 - 705 BC) a complete capture. From then on Judah has been a vassal to Assyria. In king Hezekiah's period (reigned 715 -686 BC), Hezekiah revolt against the king of Assyria and refused to pay the tributes (2Kings 18:7). Probably this is the time when king Sargon-II died and some of the vassals wanted break free.
Ramp against the walls of Lachish.
In the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah's rule, which is 701 BC (2Kings 18:13), Sennacherib was concentrating to regain the Levant region. Knowing that Sennacherib is at Lachish, Hezekiah sent a message, probably asking for a pardon, for prisoning king Padi of Ekron, or rebelling against the king of Assyria. And as a token of thankfulness for withdrawing the troops, he sent gold and silver from the Temple and from his palace treasury (2Kings 18:14-16). Lachish was an important garrison city about 30 miles west of Jerusalem. This says that Sennacherib was attacking fortified towns of Judah is true (2Kings 18:13). In 2Kings 19:8, we read that Sennacherib leaving Lachish and was going to attack Libnah, which is another important town which was about 8 miles north-east of Lachish. On both the occasions Sennacherib sents a message and a letter through one of his officials 'Rabshakeh'. Sennacherib sent Rabshakeh, Tartan and Rabsaris to warn Judahites (2Kings 18:17). Rabashakeh is the chief-cupbearer to the king, Tartan is a commander-in-chief and Rabsaris is the chief of eunuchs or a chief court official.
King Hezekiah plead the Lord, "It is true that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations. And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them". Why was king Hezekiah so emotional? It is due to the arrogant speech of the Rabshakeh. This arrogance is not of his own, but this comes out of the confidence in their king Sennacherib and in their or his god Ashur. Here is an example of Sennacherib's boasting. There is a 90 feet bas-relief (the original might be 726 feet) on display at British Museum in London, which display the theme of Sennacherib's siege and conquest of Lachish. Sennacherib through his message and a letter to the people of Jerusalem and king Hezekiah, he boasted that, not to put their confidence in the Pharaoh of Egypt or in their Lord, because none can help them in this situation. He boasted that the gods of all these nations couldn't help them from their defeat. It is your own God who permitted us to invade Judah. This is true in a way, 2Kings 19:25; Isaiah 37:26; 10:5, all read that, "the Lord has decided this decisive battle long ago, and now He is making it to happen". This battle is just the resultant of what the kings of Israel and Judah had brought upon themselves a godless nation, by following idolatry. Verse 7 of Chapter 10 of the Book of Isaiah reads, that "the Assyrian king himself doesn't know that, he is a tool in the hands of God". Not knowing this fact, Sennacherib is boasting as if he is undefeatable. Burning those idols made of wood and stone is the jealousy of the Living Lord. He boasts of sending 2000 horses, if the Judahites can find charioteers in their army (2Kings 18:23). It is such a shame to anyone who is ready for a battle at their doorstep. Sennacherib calls on few cities, Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, Ivvah, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, as an example that the gods of these cities are of no use before the Assyrian gods. This is a ridiculous challenge that Sennacherib tests with. Sennacherib in his Annals, claims that he "confined Hezekiah inside Jerusalem, his royal City, like a bird in a cage" . Sennacherib's confidence is not just of his own, but in his predecessors too who have, arrested, exiled, killed the kings of the conquered areas including Samaria. Demoralizing the citizens of Judah, Sennacherib boasted, "when we put this city under siege, they will suffer of hunger and thirst that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine" (2Kings 18:27). This is just to say to take a lesson, that how they besieged Samaria and how they staged a battle with Samaria for three long years (2Kings 17:5), before they gave up. Probably there could have been a great famine in Samaria as in the past (2Kings 6:24,28-29). All this insult, ridicule, demoralizing, challenging, is to invite either of the three Eiakim, or Shebna or Joah to make a deal or a bargain with their king Sennacherib, before they go through all this disaster.
Now that the king Sennacherib received a report that the ally of king Hezekiah, king Tirhakah of Cush was leading an army to fight him. He left Lachish and went to meet the Egyptians (actually Ethiopians) (2Kings 19:9; Isaiah 37:9). King Tirhakah was the last Pharaoh of the 25th Cushite dynasty of Egypt. They are also called as Black Pharaohs. In Egyptian history He is known as Taharqo, son of Piankhi (reigned 690 - 664 BC). Now there is a confusion. Sennacherib was in battle with Egypt in 701 BC, but the Pharaoh mentioned in the Bible seems to be of a later period? How could this puzzle be solved? To understand this, we need to dig into a little history.
By 740's BC, just as the Cushites were beginning to consolidate their rule over the entire Nile valley (25th Cushite dynasty 747 - 657 BC), the Assyrian empire was being rebuilt under Tiglath-Pileser-III (745 - 727 BC). Shabaqo became King of Cush and Egypt (reign 716 - 702 BC). His cautious diplomacy first came to test when one of Assyrians more rebellious vassals, the king of Ashdod, fled to Egypt seeking political asylum. Shabaqo sent him back. When Sennacherib began a systematic consolidation of his western territories, Shabaqo decided that the covert encouragement of local insurgencies would serve its interests better, and began to stir discontent among the fractious rulers of the Near Eastern city states. Sennacherib invaded Palestine to supress a revolt, whereupon one of the ringleaders, king Hezekiah of Judah, turned to Egypt for military support. Shabaqo could not refuse, he summoned his nephew Taharqo, who was still a prince, to lead the campaign. The two armies met at Eltekeh, 10 miles from Ashdod in 701 BC. Taharqo's army was besieged, then defeated by Assyrians. Withdrawing to a safe distance, he planned to attack the Assyrians from rear once they moved onto Jerusalem to demand Hezekiah's surrender. But Sennacherib recalled his troops from the Judean hills, faced the Egyptian attack, and forced Taharqo to flee back to Egypt. This is mentioned in Toby Wilkinson's, "The rise and fall of ancient Egypt" book.
Herodotus in his work "Histories", in Book-2 (Euterpe), Chapter 141, has a different story to say. Histories was authored some 250 years after Sennacherib's death. But this is worth reading. King Sennacherib had pitched a camp at Pelusium in the eastern Nile delta. The armies of Sethos was ready to meet them in the battlefield. That night in the camp, the field mice in large numbers attacked the arms of Assyrians. The mice gnawed through the strings of Assyrian bows and the handles of Assyrian shields, so the next day the the Egyptian king Sethos (either Shabaqo or Shabitqo is doubtful) scored an easy victory over the unarmed Assyrians. Sennacherib Annals put it, "the king of lower Egypt and the archers, chariots, and horses of the king of Meluhha (Cush), forces without number, came to their aid. Sennacherib considers this as great victory. But some scholars argue that the battle was a stalemate.
The stalemate or negotiated settlement idea was proposed by a Canadian journalist, Henry Aubin in 2002.
There are a few more analysis on this battle and it's outcomes, but I don't want to get into those legends.
Sennacherib now returns back from Egypt to Jerusalem, where his personal cupbearer Rabshakeh is incharge of the sieged city. History is not clear about the days of sige, it might be for a few days or some say it continued for a few months. Whatever may be the time, it is true that the city was besieged. Sennacherib in his Annals, boasts that he "confined Hezekiah inside Jerusalem, like a bird in a cage". The situation is that the Assyrians are ready for the battle at the walls of Jerusalem. Then the Lord spoke to Prophet Isaiah to convey this message to king Hezekiah. The Lord said, "I have heard your prayer about king Sennacherib of Assyria". Though the Lord planned to punish his people for their disobedience against Him, and wanted to use Assyria as a "rod of His anger" (Isaiah 10:5), the Lord seems to have kept this plan aside for a little more time, because He is a God of compassion, mercy, and longsuffering (Psalm 86:15). Whatever may the pressure that exerted by Rabshakeh on the king of Judah, Hezekiah has learnt a lesson from the collection of Proverbs by Solomon, and to follow it at the right time is a character of a wise man. Book of Proverbs Chapter 25, verse 1, reads, "These are the proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied". The lesson is this, "Don't answer the foolish arguments of fools, or you will become as foolish as they are" (Proverbs 26:4). That's the reason why Hezekiah command his men not to answer (2Kings 18:36). Hezekiah took his petitions to the Temple of the Lord (2Kings 19:14), and prayed. He depended on the Lord and wanted the Lord to answer those fools for their foolish arguments, and to prove that their decision to make a war on the Holy City is unwise (Proverbs 26:5). His petition is answered. The Lord accepted the challenge of Sennacherib and said, "Whom have you been defying and ridiculing? Against whom did you raise your voice? At whom did you look with such haughty eyes? It is the Hole One of Israel. I know you (Sennacherib) well - your coming and going. I know the way you have raged against me, your arrogance, which I heard for myself. Now I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth (bridle and bit which controls horses). I will make you return by the same road on which you came" (Isaiah 37:23, 28-29).
The Bible reads, "That night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere" (2Kings 19:35; Isaiah 37:36). My Dad bought me an imported book by Reader's Digest, "The last two million years" revised in 1974 copy, while going through the chapter, "Dawn of civilization in the land of two rivers", I read, "But the Assyrians failed to take Jerusalem before plague forced them to withdraw". As a kid, I never took it seriously, but when I read those lines now, it seems like all things fall in line. Greek historian Herodotus wrote that, the night before the war with Egypt, the field mice attacked the camp of Assyrians at Pelusium in large numbers. "Plague, the bacteria usually spreads through flea bites, it is contagious from other people and animals. Bubonic plague is a pestis infection that travels to your lymph nodes from a flea bites. It makes large, swollen lymph nodes called buboes. Bubonic plague is the most common form of plague. Fleas are highly aggressive, multiply quickly, and easily switch to human hosts when their rodent host dies", writes Cleveland Clinic, a multispecialty academic medical center with research and education, on its website on "Plague" in 01/05/2026 updated journal. It seems that even king Hezekiah was affected by this disease. "About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill" reads 2Kings 20:1. Is it the effect of plague that was came with Assyrians from Egypt? It might be, because after conveying the message of the Lord by prophet Isaiah, he said, "Bring a cake (polutice) of figs. And let the servants take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover" (2Kings 20:7). The word "boil", in Hebrew word boil means, inflamed spot, inflammation, eruption. And more importantly, Marduk-aplu-iddina (reigned 703 -702 BC) (in the Bible "Baladan", 2Kings 20:12) has sent his messengers to greet the king Hezekiah fall in the same timeline. And in addition, according to Herodotus "Histories", Pharaoh Sethos (Shabaqo), the king of Egypt who sent his nephew Taharqo to fight Assyrians, setting up an image of himself in the temple of "Hephaestus" (the Egyptian god Ptah) with a mouse in his hand". Why would an Egyptian pharaoh made such a statue? The travel time on a horse from Egypt to Jerusalem would take 4 to 6 days, and the incubation period of Bubonic plague is 2 to 8 days. By the time Sennacherib and his army reached the walls of Jerusalem, they were already carrying the virus or the pathogen of plague with them. And that night in the camp of Sennacherib, the angel of the Lord went out killing Assyrian soldiers. The Lord did this because the Rabshakeh of Sennacherib challenged God. Challenging God is like inviting an unsuccessful personal fight with Him. For the Lord said, "I will defend this city for My own honor...." (2Kings 20:6).
Did God just stopped by sending an angel unto the camp of Assyrians? No, He promised another thing too. "Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a message (rumor, report) and return to his own land...", says the Lord (2Kings 19:7). "I will make Sennacherib return by the same road on which he came", (2Kings 19:28; Isaiah 37:29). But what kind of spirit is that, that makes the king return to his home at Nineveh, his capital city? Paul's letter to 2Timothy has an answer for this, in Chapter 1, verse 7, "..for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice...". Spirit of Cowardice! Did the king has the spirit of cowardice? Did he fear about something unusual? Yes. Now why do I say this?
In 705 BC or 704 BC, a "tupsarru", a scholar or scribe by name Nabu-zuqup-kenu, who served under Sargon-II and his son Sennacherib, writes the twelfth and the final cuneiform clay tablet of the "Epic of Gilgamesh". By this time the king Sargon-II is dead in the battlefield at Tabal, and his dead body was not recovered and was not found forever. The deceased King was not given his final rites. It is at this time that the epic of Gilgamesh is written down. The two characters in the epic had a final dialogue before one of them is confined to netherworld forever.
Gilgamesh : Did you see the one who was killed in the battle?
Enkidu : I saw him....
Gilgamesh : Did you see the one whose corpse was left lying in the open countryside?
Enkidu : I saw him. His ghost does not rest in the netherworld.
Gilgamesh : Did you see the one whose ghost has no provider of funerary offerings?
Enkidu : I saw him. He eats the scrapings from the pot and crusts of bread that are thrown away in the street.
This seems to be about Sargon-II. Isn't it?
A fragmentary clay tablet from Nineveh was written in the time of king Esarhaddon (reigned 680 - 669 BC), son of Sennacherib, tried to explain the violent deaths of his two predecessors. The modern scholars called it as "Sin of Sargon". Its there on the ORACC (Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus) website. It begins with Sennacherib pronouncing that, while he (Sennacherib) was pondering that the deeds of gods, the death of Sargon-II my father, who was slain in the enemy country and who was not interred in his house occurred to my mind. ..Sennacherib goes on to assemble a number of haruspices, splits them into groups and asks haruspex to perform liver divination to investigate the sin of Sargon my father. The haruspex determined that it was due to Sargon's neglect of the Assyrian gods and his exaggerated enthusiasm for the gods of Babylon that has brought this fate. Sennacherib tried to sought to rectify this, but his diviners prevented him from doing such plans, which might cause him to die, may be a violent death.
However, Sennacherib met a violent death in the temple of god Nisroch later as the Lord spoke through prophet Isaiah (2Kings 19:37). Nisroch represented agriculture, fertility, protection and divine oversight. Or as some scholars think that Nisroch was misspelt for god Nusku, a God of fire and light, who serves as a divine protector and messenger. He protected people from evil demons and stop nightmares. Priests prayed him to clean and heal sick people. Either of two, whoever may be the god, where is this god, and where is his protection when Sennacherib was too worried and feared about his father's fate that befell upon him?
The kings have to interred underground. The burial was commonly in a large stone sarcophagi. Once the king has been laid to rest, with a list of variety of grave goods like a bed, oxen, sheep, precious garments, it ends with a line, "the coffin was carefully closed and sealed". By sealing the coffin the Assyrians sought to prevent people from theft and also wanted to guarantee that the interred King would not be able to leave its final resting place and haunt the living. If they were not properly buried, Assyrians believed, the dead - especially if they had been abandoned on the battlefield after being killed there - would do just that: find their way back to those they had known in life and punish them with sickness, misery, or death. Numerous ritual texts are against ghosts of the dead are found both in Assyria and Babylonia. The inauspicious violent death of Sargon-II loomed large over Sennacherib's time in power. The fear that threatened over his heir. Every year during the month of Du'uzu (between the months of June and July) the people of Assyria and Babylonia celebrated the dead by performing rituals in honor of Tammuz, a deity who died but for those days was allowed to return from netherworld. In this scenario, Sennacherib first left the city Dur-Sharrukin, which happened to be the capital city of his father king Sargon-II. Sennacherib moved to Nineveh and never stepped back to Dur-Sharrukin in fear that the ghost of his dead father would haunt the city. He also tried to appease his father's roaming soul by attacking Gurdi, the person who is responsible for his father's death. He was not ready to accept his father's death. He tried to dedicate the restoration work of the temple of god Ashur in his father's name. He concealed his father's image under the terrace walls. Is it done out of fear or not is a never answered question. Sennacherib sacrificed massive bulls and fat sheep to regain Nergal's favour, the god of war, death and destruction and the husband of Ereshkigal, the terrifying queen of netherworld. He did all this as a kind of redemption, writes Eckart Frahm in his book "Assyria".
What it meant to be the acts of appeasement and redemption for Sennacherib, I call it as acts of fear. Sennacherib has the spirit of cowardice. He depended on sacrifices, haruspices, diviners, decamped, etc out of fear. And now, he is on the way back to Nineveh. Maybe Sennacherib saw that the attack of mice at Pelusium, and the deaths of his soldiers at the camp of Jerusalem as a bad omen. This superstitious call hurried him back to Assyria. A king who called himself great, strong, and unrivaled has met a match in the God of Judah. Not just a match but who put a bridle and a bit in his nose and mouth and haste him decamp the Holy City. A king who boasted as who strikes his enemies with lightning, is now in a lightning speed back to Nineveh.
Paul writes, "God has not given us a spirit of fear..." (2Timothy 1:7). The Greek word translated fear is used in extrabiblical literature to refer to a person who fled from battle. It is a strong term for cowardice. Boldness is the mark of the Holy Spirit (CSB). "We should not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord", (2Timothy 1:8). Maybe the kings of this earth take their stand and the rulers assemble against the Lord and against His Messiah, but the Lord will grant us the Holy Spirit to speak His testimonies with boldness (Acts 4:26,29). Let's close this write-up from the Proverbs of Solomon, which king Hezekiah collected and copied, "The wicked flee when no one is persuing them, but the righteous are as bold as a lion" (Proverbs 28:).
* All the Bible Scriptures are taken from NLT, other than a few from ESV, CSB, and NRSV.
* Pictures are taken from "Life is a Sacred text" website.
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