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One bas-relief, of great importance to us at the moment, represents Sennacherib, not in
Assyria, but at Lachish, where the Scripture tells us Sennacherib was at the time referred
to in Isa. 37: 8 and II Kings 18: 17. This important slab can be seen in the
Assyrian Saloon of the British Museum. The King is represented as seated on a throne,
outside the city, in a setting of vines and fig trees. Officers and prisoners stand or kneel
before him.
No such exact description can be penned of, say, Alfred the Great, or even of
William the Conqueror, but Sennacherib is made to live before our eyes. His name, as it
appears on his own monuments, agrees with the Hebrew spelling, Sin-akhi-erib.
Sennacherib's third campaign after ascending the throne was against "the land of Hatti",
which included Judaea. Sidon, Tyre, and Cyprus, "which is in the middle of the sea", are
mentioned. After a lengthy enumeration of towns subdued by him, whose rulers, as
Sennacherib records, "kissed his feet", we come to a mention of Zedekiah: "And
Zedekiah (Sidga), king of the city of Askelon (Isgalluna), who was not submissive to my
yoke . . . . . I removed . . . . ."
After seeing how Sennacherib then swept along the sea coast, overthrowing the
strongholds of the Philistines, we come to the first reference to Hezekiah:
"The prefects, the princes, and the people of Ekron, who had thrown Padi their king,
who was faithful to the agreement and oath of the land of Assur, into fetters of iron, and
given him to Hezekia (Haziqiau) of the land of the Jews (Yaudaa) . . . . . I caused Padi,
their king, to come forth from the midst of Jerusalem (Urusalimmu) . . . . . as for
Hezekiah of the land of the Jews, who had not submitted to my yoke, forty-six strong
cities, fortresses and small towns which were around them, which were innumerable,
with overthrowing by battering rams, and advance of towers, infantry attack, breaching,
cutting and earthworks I besieged and captured . . . . . as for him, like a cage-bird I shut
him up within Jerusalem, the city of his dominion . . . . . with thirty talents of gold,
eight hundred talents of silver . . . . . caused to be brought after me to the midst of
Nineveh . . . . ." (Dr. Pinches' translation).
Be it noticed, Sennacherib says nothing of capturing the city, or of entering it, yet the
Scriptures, silent regarding a regular siege, say that, "The king of Assyria sent Tartan and
Rabsaris and Rab-shakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a great host against
Jerusalem" (II Kings 18: 17). Why, after receiving the tribute from Hezekiah, did
Sennacherib suddenly turn on him in an endeavour to blot out the kingdom of Judah, as
his father Sargon had blotted out the ten tribes? While the Scriptures do not give a
formal answer to the question, their historical account of the times contain the
explanation:
"Hezekiah . . . . . strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken, and
raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Millo in the city of
David, and made darts and shields in abundance" (II Chron. 32: 2-5).
This act of Hezekiah's looked like preparation for a fresh rebellion, and Sennacherib
himself tells us that this was the cause of his assault on Jerusalem: "Siege towns I