Difference between revisions of "Sennacherib"

<p> King of Assyria, son and successor of Shalmaneser, began to reign B. C. 710, and reigned but a few years. [[Hezekiah]] king of Judah having shaken off the yoke of the Assyrians, by which [[Ahaz]] his father had suffered under Tigloth-pileser, [[Sennacherib]] marched an army against him, and took all the strong cities of Judah. Hezekiah, seeing he had nothing left but Jerusalem, which he perhaps found it difficult to preserve, sent ambassadors to Sennacherib, then besieging and destroying Lachish, to make submission. Sennacherib accepted his tribute, but refused to depart, and sent [[Rabshakeh]] with an insolent message to Jerusalem. Hezekiah entreated the Lord, who sent a destroying angel against the [[Assyrian]] army, and slew in one night 185,000 men. Sennacherib returned with all speed to Nineveh, and turned his arms against the nations south of Assyria, and afterwards towards the north. But his career was not long; within two or three years from his return from Jerusalem, while he was paying adorations to his god Nisroch, in the temple, his two sons [[Adrammelech]] and [[Sharezer]] slew him and fled into Armenia. Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead, &nbsp;2 Kings 18:1-19:37 &nbsp; 2 Chronicles 32:33 . </p> <p> A most remarkable confirmation of the above Bible history has been found in the long buried ruins of ancient Nineveh. The mound called Kouyunijik, opposite Mosul, has been to a good degree explored, and its ruins prove to be those of a palace erected by this powerful monarch. The huge stone tablets which formed the walls of its various apartments are covered with bas-reliefs and inscriptions; and though large portions of these have perished by violence and time, the fragments that remain are full of interest. One series of tablets recounts the warlike exploits of Sennacherib, who calls himself "the subduer of kings from the upper sea of the setting sun to the lower sea of the rising sun," that is, from the [[Mediterranean]] to the [[Persian]] Gulf. </p> <p> The most important of these mural pages to Bible readers, are those recounting the history of his war against Syria and the Jews, in the third year of his reign. [[Crossing]] the upper part of Mount Lebanon, he appears to have conquered [[Tyre]] and all the cities south of it on the seacoast to Askelon. In this region he came in conflict with an [[Egyptian]] army, sent in aid of King Hezekiah; this host he defeated and drove back. See &nbsp;2 Kings 19:9 &nbsp; Isaiah 37:1-38 . The inscription then proceeds to say, "Hezekiah king of Judah, who had not submitted to my authority, forty-six of his principal cities, and fortresses and villages dependant upon them, of which I took no account, I captured, and carried away their spoil. The fortified towns, and the rest of his towns which I spoiled, I severed from his country, and gave to the kings of Askelon, Ekron, and Gaza, so as to make his country small. In addition to the former tribute imposed upon their countries, I added a tribute the nature of which I fixed." Compare &nbsp;2 Kings 18:13 &nbsp; Isaiah 36:1 . He does not profess to have taken [[Jerusalem]] itself, but to have carried away Hezekiah's family, servants, and treasures, with a tribute of thirty talents of gold and eight hundred talents of silver. The amount of gold is the same mentioned in the Bible narrative. The three hundred talents of silver mentioned in [[Scripture]] may have been all that was given in money, and the five hundred additional claimed in the [[Ninevite]] record may include the temple and palace treasures, given by Hezekiah as the price of peace. </p> <p> In another apartment of the same palace was found a series of wellpreserved bas-reliefs, representing the siege and capture by the [[Assyrians]] of a large and strong city. It was doubly fortified, and the assault and the defense were both fierce. Part of the city is represented as already taken, while elsewhere the battle rages still in all its fury. Meanwhile captives are seen flayed, impaled, and put to the sword; and from one of the gates of the city a long procession of prisoners is brought before the king, who is gorgeously arrayed and seated on his throne upon a mound or low hill. They are presented by the general in command, very possibly Rabshakeh, with other chief officers. Two eunuchs stand behind the king, holding fans and napkins. Above his head is an inscription, which is thus translated: "Sennacherib the mighty king, king of the country of Assyria, sitting on the throne of judging at the gate of the city Lachisa; I give permission for its slaughter." The captives are stripped of their armor, ornaments, and much of their clothing, and are evidently Jews. </p> <p> Little did Sennacherib then anticipate the utter of his ruin of his own proud metropolis, and still less that the ruins of his palace should preserve to this remote age the tablets containing his own history, and the image of his god [[Nisroch]] so incapable of defending him, to bear witness for the God whom he blasphemed and defied. See NINEVEH, NISROCH, SHALMANESER, and [[So]] . </p>

<p> On the monuments Τzin-akki-irib , "Sin (the "moon goddess") increases brothers," implying Sennacherib was not the firstborn; or else "thanking the god for the gift." Sargon's son and successor. [[Ascended]] the throne 704 B.C., crushed the revolt of Babylon, and drove away [[Merodach]] Baladan, made Belibus his officer viceroy, ravaged the Aramaean lands on the [[Tigris]] and Euphrates, and carried off 200,000 captives. In 701 B.C. warred with the tribes on Mount Zagros, and reduced the part of Media previously independent. In 700 B.C. punished Sidon, made Tyre, Arad, and other Phoenician cities, as also [[Edom]] and Ashdod, tributary. [[Took]] Ashkelon, warred with Egypt, took [[Libnah]] and [[Lachish]] on the frontier; and having made treaty with Sabacus or So ''(The [[Clay]] [[Seal]] Of So Found In Sennacherib'S [[Palace]] At Koyunjik Was Probably Attached To This Treaty)'' , he marched against Hezekaih of Judah who had thrown off tribute and intermeddled in the politics of [[Philistine]] cities against Sennacherib (&nbsp;2 Kings 18:13). (See [[Hezekiah]] : ASSYRIA; NINEVEH.) </p> <p> Hezekiah's sickness was in his 14th year, but Sennacherib's expedition in his 27th, which ought to be substituted for the copyist's error "fourteenth." On his way, according to inscriptions ''(G. Smith, In [[Palestine]] Exploration Quarterly Statement, October 1872, P. 198)'' , Sennacherib attacked Lulia of Sidon, then took Sidon, Zarephath, etc. The kings of Palestine mentioned as submitting to Sennacherib are [[Menahem]] of Samaria, [[Tubal]] of Sidon, Kemosh Natbi of Moab, etc. He took Ekron, which had submitted to Hezekiah and had delivered its king Padi up to him; Sennacherib reseated Padi on his throne. Sennacherib defeated the kings of Egypt and [[Ethiopia]] at Eltekeh. Sennacherib took 46 of Judah's fenced cities including Lachish, the storming of which, is depicted on his palace walls. He shut up Hezekiah, ''(Building [[Towers]] Round Jerusalem)'' , who then submitted and paid 30 talents of gold and 800 of silver. </p> <p> Sennacherib gave part of Judah's territory to Ashdod, Ekron, Gaza, and Ashkelon. It was at his second expedition that the overthrow of his host by Jehovah's Angel took place (&nbsp;2 Kings 18:17-37; &nbsp;2 Kings 18:2 Kings 19). This was probably two years after the first, but late in his reign Sennacherib speaks of an expedition to Palestine apparently. "After this," in &nbsp;2 Chronicles 32:9; &nbsp;2 Chronicles 32:17 years after his disaster, in 681 B.C., his two sons Adrammelech and Sharezer assassinated him after a reign of 22 years, and [[Esarhaddon]] ascended the throne 680 B.C. Esarhaddon's inscription, stating that he was at war with his half brothers, after his accession, agrees with the Bible account of Sennacherib's assassination. Moses of Chorene confirms the escape of the brothers to Armenia, and says that part was peopled by their descendants. </p> <p> Sennacherib's second invasion of [[Babylon]] was apparently in 699 B.C.; he defeated a Chaldaean chief who headed an army in support of Merodach Baladan. Sennacherib put one of his own sons on the throne instead of Belibus. Sennacherib was the first who made [[Nineveh]] the seat of government. The grand palace at Koyunjik was his, covering more than eight acres. He embanked with brick the Tigris, restored the aqueducts of Nineveh, and repaired a second palace at Nineveh on the mound of Nebi Yunns. Its halls were ranged about three courts, one 154 ft. by 125 ft., another 124 ft. by 90 ft. One hall was 180 ft. long by 40 ft. broad; 60 ft. small rooms have been opened. He erected memorial tablet at the mouth of the nahr el Kelb on the [[Syrian]] coast, beside an inscription recording [[Rameses]] the Great's conquests six hundred years before; this answers to his boast that "he had come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon." </p>

<p> [[Sennacherib]] (''Sen-Nak'E-Rĭb,'' or ''Sĕn-Na-Kç'-Rib'' ), ''Sin,'' the moon, ''Increases Brothers,'' was the son and successor of Sargon. In the third year of his reign, b.c. 700, Sennacherib turned his arms toward the west, attacked Sidon, and finally marched against Hezekiah, king of Judah. "Sennacherib came up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them." &nbsp;2 Kings 18:13. There can be no doubt that the record which he has left of his campaign against "Hiskiah" in his third year is the war with Hezekiah so briefly touched in &nbsp;2 Kings 18:13-16. In the following year. b.c. 699, Sennacherib made his second expedition into Palestine. Hezekiah had revolted, and claimed the protection of Egypt. Sennacherib therefore attacked Egypt, and from his camp at Lachish and Libnah he sent an insulting letter to Hezekiah at Jerusalem. &nbsp;2 Kings 19:14. In answer to Hezekiah's prayer the Assyrians lost, in a single night, by some awful manifestation of divine power, 185,000 men! The camp immediately broke up; the king fled. &nbsp;2 Kings 19:35-37. Sennacherib reached his capital in safety, engaged in other wars, though he seems to have carefully avoided Palestine, and was slain by two of his sons, 15 or 20 years after his flight from Jerusalem. &nbsp;Isaiah 37:38. He reigned 22 years, and was succeeded by Esar-haddon, b.c. 680. Sennacherib was one of the most magnificent of the Assyrian kings. He seems to have been the first who fixed the seat of government permanently at Nineveh, which he carefully repaired and adorned with palaces and splendid buildings. </p>