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SENNACHERIB

(Heb. sanĕḥērîḇ;
Akk. Sin-aḫḫē-rība)

The king of Assyria (704-681 b.c.e.) who invaded Judah during the reign of Hezekiah. Sennacherib inherited a vast empire from his father Sargon II. While he had to mount some major campaigns, primarily to curb rebellions, nonetheless he was able to turn his attention to other matters, especially great building projects. He rebuilt Nineveh, converted it into a metropolis, and made it Assyria’s capital. Sennacherib is also remembered as having destroyed Babylon in 689. Sources for the reign of this king are abundant, including annals, letters, astrological reports, and legal and administrative texts. Biblical texts relating to this king are found in 2 Kgs. 18:13–19:37; 2 Chr. 32:1-23; Isa. 36–37.

Arguably, the most important event for Judah involving Sennacherib was the Assyrian invasion in 701. Following the death of Sargon II, widespread rebellion broke out throughout the empire — in Anatolia, Babylonia, and Syria-Palestine. As a part of this revolt, Merodach-baladan of Babylon sent envoys to Hezekiah (2 Kgs. 20:12-15). In fact, Hezekiah had been making preparations for the revolt, rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, strengthening and reorganizing his military (2 Chr. 32:5-6), building storehouses for food and stalls for animals (vv. 28-29), and constructing the Siloam tunnel to transport water from the Gihon spring inside the walls (2 Kgs. 20:20; 2 Chr. 32:30; ANET, 321; cf. the lmlk jar handles, dated to the reign of Hezekiah, discovered throughout Judah). Sennacherib’s inscriptions suggest that Hezekiah’s revolt was coordinated with those of other Syro-Palestinian rulers. 2 Kgs. 18:8 notes that Hezekiah attacked Philistine states, probably because of their noncooperation in the rebellion.

Sennacherib spent his early years dealing with the rebellion in Babylon, before he was able to turn his attention to Syria-Palestine in 701. Two inscriptions, the Oriental Institute Prism (ANET, 287-88) and the Rassam Cylinder (ARAB II, §284), describe this campaign in detail. The Assyrian king began by marching down the Phoenician coast without encountering major opposition until he reached Philistine territory. At Ashkelon, he captured its king and his family and deported them to Assyria. The campaign in Philistia continued with the conquest of a number of cities under Ashkelon’s influence. From there, Sennacherib turned his attention toward Hezekiah, first taking Eltekeh, Timnah, and Ekron, cities under Hezekiah’s control. Sennacherib claims to have captured 46 strong walled cities of Hezekiah. One of these would have been Lachish, prominently depicted in reliefs at his palace in Nineveh (ANEP, 371-74). The Assyrian then laid siege to Jerusalem — making Hezekiah prisoner in his royal residence — and plundered surrounding cities, returning them to Philistine control. Inscriptions note that Sennacherib then imposed a huge tribute on Hezekiah. There is general agreement that the content of 2 Kgs. 18:13-16 converges with that described in the Assyrian texts for this campaign (dating the campaign to the 14th year of Hezekiah, generally accepted as 701). The text further describes Sennacherib as having captured “all the fortified cities of Judah,” while making no mention of the capture of Jerusalem, and receiving a huge tribute from Hezekiah.

Discrepancies within the Kings account (between 2 Kgs. 18:13-16 and 18:17–19:37) and between the Assyrian sources and the biblical texts have led scholars to question whether Sennacherib conducted only one campaign against Judah. Given the two divergent courses of action taken by Hezekiah in response to the Assyrian attack — capitulation (2 Kgs. 18:14-15) and resistance (19:19) — and the prominence of the conquest of Lachish in Sennacherib’s relief from Nineveh but with no mention of it in any annalistic narrative of the 701 campaign, it has long been suggested that Sennacherib conducted a second campaign against Judah, perhaps in 688-687. This is the campaign reflected in 2 Kgs. 18:17–19:36, in a new text of Sennacherib, and the Lachish relief. It was during this campaign that the Judean cities of Azekah, Lachish (2 Kgs. 18:17–19:7), and Libnah (19:8) were conquered.

Bibliography. N. Naʾaman, “Sennacherib’s ‘Letter to God’ on His Campaign to Judah,” BASOR 214 (1974): 25-39; W. H. Shea, “Sennacherib’s Second Palestinian Campaign,” JBL 104 (1985): 401-18.

Jeffrey K. Kuan

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SENNACHERIB

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)