SENNACHERIB IN SYRIA.
When Babylonia rebelled against Sennacherib, immediately after the
murder of Sargon; when Merodach Baladan, whom Sargon had deprived of the
rule over Babylon, and had finally suffered to remain in South Chaldæa,
succeeded in again making himself master of Babylon; when the Aramæans,
the tribes of Arabia, Elam, and the land of Ellip had taken up arms
against Sennacherib--the regions of Syria also thought of shaking off
the yoke of Assyria. The cities of the Phenicians and of the
Philistines, the kingdom of Judah, over which king Hezekiah had ruled
since the death of Ahaz (728 B.C.), rebelled. The old opponent of
Assyria in the East, Merodach Baladan, sought support in the West; the
West put hope in the successes of the East: Babylonia and Syria entered
into combination.
The Hebrew Scriptures tell us: "Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan,
king of Babel, sent a letter and present to king Hezekiah. And Hezekiah
listened to him, and shewed them all his treasure-house, the silver and
the gold, the spices, and the precious oil, and all the house of his
armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing that
he did not show them in his house, and in his dominion."[270] The
request of Merodach Baladan to make common cause with him, which reached
Hezekiah in the year 704 B.C.,[271] did not find Judah unprepared. Since
Ahaz had purchased the safety of his kingdom before the combined forces
of Damascus and Israel, by submission to the dominion of Assyria, Judah
had been at peace. In nearly thirty years of peace, which had elapsed
since that time, the kingdom had been able to recover her position. The
long siege of Samaria, the fall of the kingdom of Israel, were seen by
Hezekiah without any movement. But the thought of shaking off one day
the yoke of Assyria was not new to him. Sargon has already told us, that
at the time when Ashdod rebelled under Yaman (711 B.C.), the
Philistines, Edom, Moab and Judah, did indeed pay their tribute, but
they thought of treachery, and had sent presents to the king of Egypt
(at that time Shabataka, p. 91). Hezekiah had provided armour, weapons
and shields in abundance; he could now no doubt show a well-furnished
armour-house to the envoys of Merodach Baladan.[272] The neighbours of
Judah, the cities of the Philistines, and Sidon among the Phenicians,
were prepared to make common cause with Hezekiah. In the deepest secrecy
he formed connections with Tirhaka the successor of Shabataka in Egypt
and Meroe, and sent him valuable presents.[273] Beside Babylonia,
Hezekiah could reckon on Egypt; it was much to the interest of Egypt to
nourish the resistance of Syria against Assyria, and to support the
Syrians against Sennacherib as soon as they took up arms.
Isaiah most earnestly warned the king and the people of Judah against
such a rash enterprise--how could any one hope to withstand the crushing
power of the Assyrians? "Woe to the rebellious children," is the cry of
the prophet to the king and his counsellors, "that take counsel without
Jehovah, and make covenants, not in Jehovah's spirit, that they may add
sin to sin; who go down to Egypt and enquire not at the mouth of
Jehovah, to protect themselves with the protection of Pharaoh, and trust
in the shadow of Egypt! The protection of Pharaoh shall be your shame,
and the trust in Egypt your confusion. They will carry their riches on
the backs of asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels to a
people that shall not profit them. Egypt's help is vain and void. I call
Egypt a tempest, which sits still. Woe to them that go down to Egypt for
help, and stay on horses and on chariots because they are many, but look
not unto Jehovah! The Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses
are flesh, and not spirit. The protector stumbles, and the protected
falls to earth.[274] But ye are a rebellious people, lying children, and
will not hear the command of Jehovah. Ye say to the seers, See not; and
to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us true things, speak unto us smooth
things, prophesy deceit.[275] Beware that your bands be not made
stronger.[276] Say not, The overflowing scourge shall not come to us,
for we have made lies our refuge, and under deceit we have hid
ourselves.[277] The overflowing scourge shall tread you down. The Lord
Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel said, In repentance and rest ye shall be
saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength. But ye said,
No; for we will flee upon horses, we will ride upon the swift.[278]
Because ye trust in oppression and perverseness your iniquity shall be
as a watercourse breaking out against a high wall, whose breaking cometh
in an instant.[279] I have heard from Jehovah God of hosts, of a
consumption, even determined upon the whole earth."[280]
"Add ye year to year, let the feasts go round, for I will distress
Jerusalem, saith Jehovah, and encamp against thee round about, and will
lay siege against thee with a mount, and raise forts against thee.[281]
The enemy is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath
laid up his carriages. They are gone over the passage; they have taken
up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled. Lift
up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim; cause it to be heard unto Laish, O
poor Anathoth! Madmenah is removed, and Gebim's inhabitants flee. This
day they shall remain in Nob; then he shall shake his hand against the
mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.[282] What aileth
thee now that thou art wholly gone up to the house-tops, thou that art
full of stirs, a tumultuous city, a joyous city? Elam bears the quiver,
with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovers the shield. Thy
choicest valleys are full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set
themselves in array against the gate. The walls are broken down, and
there is a sound of crying to the mountains."[283]
We saw how Sennacherib succeeded in forcing Merodach Baladan from
Babylon into South Chaldæa, in defeating the Aramæans, in driving back
the Elamites, and subjugating the land of Ellip (704 and 703 B.C.).
After the rebellion in the East was crushed, he turned, in the year 701
B.C., to Syria, to bring again into obedience the rebellious cities and
states.[284] In the inscription on the bulls, and on the cylinders Smith
and Taylor,[285] Sennacherib tells us: "In my third campaign I marched
against the land of the Chatti (the Syrians). Luli (Elulæus), the king
of Sidon, was seized with a mighty terror of my rule, and fled from the
West land (_acharri_) to Cyprus (Yatnan), in the sea. I reduced his land
to subjection. Great Sidon, and Little Sidon, Beth Zitti, Zarephath,
Machallib, Achzib, Akko, his fortified cities, the might of my warriors
and the terror of Asshur overpowered them. They submitted to me. Tubal
(Ithobal) I placed upon the royal throne over them, and the payment of
yearly tribute to my kingdom I imposed upon them as a continuous tax.
Menahem of Samaria (the second of this name, p. 87), Tubal of Sidon,
Abdilit of Aradus, Urumelek of Byblus, Mitinti of Ashdod, Kamosnadab of
Moab, Malikram of Edom--all the kings of the West land, brought their
costly presents and things of price to me, and kissed my feet. But Zidka
of Ascalon, who had not bowed to my yoke, the gods of the house of his
fathers, the treasures, his wife, his sons, his daughters I brought to
Assyria. Sarludari, the son of Rukibti, their former king, I placed over
the people of Ascalon. I imposed upon him the payment of tribute, as the
symbol of subjection to my rule, and he rendered obedience. In
continuing my campaign I marched against the cities of Zidka, Beth
Dagon, Yappa (Joppa), Bene Barak, Azor (Yasur), which had not submitted
to my service, I besieged them. I took them and led away their
prisoners. The chiefs and the nation of Ekron, who had put Padi their
king, who remained true and faithful to Assyria,[286] into iron bonds,
and had handed him over to Hezekiah (Chazakiyahu) of Judah, my enemy.
Their heart was afraid, for the evil deed which they had done. In the
neighbourhood of Eltekeh (Altaku), the battle was drawn out against me;
they encouraged their warriors to the contest. In the service of Asshur
I fought against them and overpowered them. The charioteers and sons of
the king of Egypt, together with the charioteers of the king of Meroe,
my hand took prisoners in the midst of the fight. Eltekeh and Timnath
(Taamna) I attacked, I took, I carried their prisoners away. I marched
against the city of Ekron. The priests,[287] the chiefs, who had caused
the rebellion, I put to death; I set their bodies on stakes on the outer
wall of the city (the inscription of the bulls says: 'I smote them with
the sword'). The inhabitants of the city who had exercised oppression
and violence, I set apart to be carried away; to the rest of the
inhabitants who had not been guilty of faithlessness and rebellion I
proclaimed forgiveness. I brought it about that Padi their king could
leave Jerusalem, installed him on his throne of dominion over them, and
laid upon him the tribute of my rule. Hezekiah of Judah who did not
submit--46 of his fortified cities, and innumerable fortresses and small
places in his kingdom I besieged and took. Two hundred thousand one
hundred and fifty captives, male and female, horses, mules, asses,
camels, oxen, and sheep without number, I took out from them, and
declared to be booty of war. Hezekiah himself I shut up like a bird in a
cage in Jerusalem (Ursalimma), his royal city. I threw up fortifications
and towers against the city; I broke through the exit of the great gate.
His cities which I laid waste I separated from his land, and gave them
to Mitinti the king of Ashdod, and Padi the king of Ekron, and Ismibil
the king of Gaza, and thus I diminished his land. He (Hezekiah) was
overcome with fear before my power, and the Urbi (?) and the brave
warriors whom he had brought up to Jerusalem for defence inclined to
submission. He agreed to pay tribute.[288] Thirty talents of gold, 800
talents of silver, precious stones, chairs of ivory, skins and horns of
Amsi, great treasures, his daughters, the servants of his palace, women
and men, he sent to Nineveh, my royal abode, and his envoy to pay the
tribute and promise submission."[289]
The account of Sennacherib shows that Sidon and Judah stood at the head
of the rising in Syria, that the population of the cities of the
Philistines was more eager than their princes for war with Assyria. The
men of Ascalon had either deposed their prince, who adhered to Assyria,
or raised up Zidka, after him, to oppose Assyria. When Padi, the prince
of Ekron, would not join the rebellion against Assyria, the chiefs, the
priests, and a part of the population of the city, took him prisoner,
and handed him over to Hezekiah. We have already seen from the
statements of the Hebrews, that Hezekiah had made better preparations
for the contest than Hoshea of Israel 25 years before. Not only were
weapons and armour ready for the people; the towers and walls of
Jerusalem had been improved and strengthened. The defensive work between
Zion and the city, Millo, had been secured by new fortifications, a
copious conduit brought into the city. When the danger came, the streams
and springs round the city were filled up, and an outer wall was carried
round the city as a first line of defence. In order to obtain the
materials for this, a number of houses were pulled down in the
city.[290]
The Books of Kings tell us that "Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up
against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. Then Hezekiah
sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, and said: I have sinned, depart
from me; what thou layest upon me I will bear. Then the king of Assyria
laid upon Hezekiah 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold. And
Hezekiah gave all the silver that was in the house of Jehovah, and in
the treasures of the king's house, and cut down the doors and posts of
the temple of Jehovah, which he had overlaid, and gave it to the king of
Asshur. But the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh
from Lachish with a great army against Jerusalem, and when they were
come up, they halted by the conduit of the upper pool which lies by the
street of the fuller's field. And they cried to the king. Then there
went out to them Eliakim, the overseer of the king's house, and Shebnah
the scribe, and Joah the chancellor. And Rabshakeh said to them: Ye
trust in the staff of a broken reed, even Egypt, which passes into a
man's hand and pierces him who leans upon it. How will ye thrust back a
single captain, one of the least of the servants of my master? And
Eliakim, Shebnah, and Joah said: Speak to thy servants in Syriac; we
understand it; speak not in the Jews' language in the ears of the people
that are on the wall. Has my master sent me to thy master and to thee,
said Rabshakeh, and not to those who sit on the wall, who, with you,
shall eat their dung and drink their water? And Rabshakeh came up and
cried with a loud voice, in the Jews' language, towards the wall: Hear
the words of the great king, the king of Assyria: If ye will make peace
with me,--thus he saith to you,--and come forth, ye shall eat every one
of his own vineyard, and fig tree, and drink the water of his well. But
the people remained quiet: for the king had given commandment not to
answer the Assyrians. And Rabshakeh turned back, and found the king of
Assyria warring before Libnah. Here he heard of Tirhaka, king of
Ethiopia, that it was said: See, he has come up to contend with thee.
And he again sent messengers to Hezekiah, and said: Be not deceived by
thy God in whom thou trustest. Have the gods of the nations whom my
fathers overthrew saved them--Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the sons
of Eden and Telassar? (p. 6.) Where is the king of Hamath, and the king
of Arpad, and the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Iva?"[291]
This account of the Hebrews is confirmed, and supplemented by the
inscriptions of Sennacherib, given above. They tell us that the king of
Assyria directed his arms first against Sidon. He takes the smaller
cities of the coast belonging to Sidon, Zarephath, Achsib, Akko. King
Elulæus retires to Cyprus. Sidon opens her gates, and receives a new
prince, Ithobal (Tubal), at the hands of Sennacherib. Aradus and Byblus
bring tribute. It must have been at the time of this campaign in Syria
that Sennacherib caused his image to be engraved on the rocks at the
mouth of the Nahr el Kelb, beside the reliefs which Ramses II. had
caused to be cut there more than 650 years before. The picture
represents him in the usual manner of Assyrian rulers, with the kidaris
on his head, the right hand raised, and inscriptions in cuneiform
letters beside the hieroglyphs of Ramses. The cuneiform inscription is
destroyed to such a degree that only the name of Sennacherib can be
read. From the coast of the Phenicians Sennacherib marches to the South,
along the sea, against the cities of the Philistines. First, the places
subject to Ascalon, Japho, Beth Dagon, Bene Barak, Yasur, are besieged
and taken. Matinti, the prince of Ashdod, pays tribute to Sennacherib.
Ascalon herself appears to have opened her gates while Zidka escaped,
for the inscription only mentions the carrying away of his wife, his
sons and daughters. Sarludari, the son of Rukibti, who had previously
reigned in Ascalon, and remained loyal to Assyria, was placed on the
throne. The prince of Samaria, Menahem II., the princes of Moab and
Edom, bring tribute. Sennacherib turns against Ekron: as already
remarked, the Ekronites had deposed their prince, Padi, and given him up
as a prisoner to Hezekiah. Beside Ekron only Judah remains in arms
against Assyria. The account of the Hebrews says that Sennacherib took
all the fortified cities in Judah. Sennacherib's account says that he
took 46 fortified places, small places without number, and carried away
200,150 men and women. Then, according to the account of the Hebrews,
Hezekiah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish to enter into
negotiations.
Hezekiah was terrified by the overthrow of the cities of the Phenicians
and Philistines, the subjugation of the remaining princes, and the
invasion of his land. As the army of Tirhaka was not yet in Syria, he
despaired under such circumstances of maintaining his position, and paid
the tribute which Sennacherib required--30 talents of gold, and 300
talents of silver, according to the Hebrew account. The statement of
Sennacherib gives 30 talents of gold, and 800 talents of silver. The
difference is explained if we may assume that the amount given by
Sennacherib is founded on the light Babylonian talent, that of the
Hebrews on the heavy Syrian talent; 300 heavy Syrian talents are
equivalent to 800 light Babylonian talents.[292] If Sennacherib states
further that he "brought Padi out of Jerusalem" (p. 126), he, no doubt,
required and obtained the surrender of Padi besides the tribute in this
negotiation with Hezekiah. But Sennacherib was not content with this
demand. It is clear that when the tribute had been paid, and Padi given
up, he made the further request to open the gates of Jerusalem. This
Hezekiah refused. The siege of Jerusalem, which Hezekiah had sought to
avert, commenced. "I shut him up," says Sennacherib, "in Jerusalem, like
a bird in a cage."
As the account of the Hebrews shows, Sennacherib did not appear himself
in person at Jerusalem. Hezekiah's envoys find him at Lachish, in the
south of Judah. A relief of the palace of Sennacherib at Kuyundshik (p.
106) shows us the king in the camp at Lachish. With two arrows in the
right, and the bow in the left hand, he sits in the tent, on a high and
richly-adorned chair; two eunuchs with fans are behind him, fanning him;
before him is a general, and behind the latter, curly-haired and bearded
prisoners, and women among them.[293] The upper inscription says: "Tent
of Sennacherib, king of the land of Asshur." The lower inscription says:
"Sennacherib, king of the nations, king of the land of Asshur, sits on
an exalted throne, to receive the booty from Lachish."[294] As we
gathered from his inscriptions, Sennacherib marched along the coast from
Sidon to the south; he had passed beyond Japho, when the resistance of
Ekron checked him. In order to bring Ashdod and Ascalon to obedience,
and to await the approach of Tirhaka, Sennacherib encamped at Lachish,
to cover the siege of Ekron, and beat back the Egyptians and Ethiopians
who, according to his account, marched to the aid of Ekron. In order to
avoid having any enemy in the rear at the time of Tirhaka's arrival, he
sends his commander-in-chief, Tartan, with a part of his army, to invade
Judah. He was so far successful that Hezekiah paid tribute and
surrendered Padi. The surrender of Jerusalem did not take place. He now
caused Jerusalem to be invested. Under these circumstances the approach
of the Assyrians did not take place, as Isaiah had announced, from the
north, through the pass of Michmash, but from the south. When arrived
before Jerusalem, the leaders of the Assyrians begin to negotiate; they
demand the surrender of the city, "the hope in Egypt is vain." As they
failed to produce an effect on the emissaries of Hezekiah, they attempt
to entice the soldiers on the wall to desert. In order to lend force to
the negotiations the siege is commenced. Meanwhile the Egyptians come
nearer; Sennacherib goes back to Libnah, and the renewed negotiations,
which according to the statements of the Hebrews he here commences with
Hezekiah, show how anxious he was to get Jerusalem into his hands. As
the negotiations failed, he was compelled to attempt to gain the city by
assault, by trenches, and besieging towers.
Isaiah had proclaimed the day of judgment with more earnestness than any
prophet before him. None of them had set himself with such force to take
away every support from the feeling of self-confidence. The Jews were to
look forward with fear and trembling to the day of judgment, that they
might learn to trust in Jehovah alone, and from this renovation of the
heart might spring into blossom the new and better time--the new
kingdom. When all splendour and wealth is destroyed; when the chiefs and
the warriors are overthrown; when "the sinners in Zion quake, and
trembling seizes the godless;" when "the Lord has thus washed away the
lewdness of the daughter of Zion,"[295] and "purged away the dross as
with lye," then "he will be very gracious to his people which dwelleth
in Zion, at the voice of her cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer
thee."[296] But Isaiah had not proclaimed the coming judgment for Judah
only; he had announced without ceasing, that no earthly power, however
great and proud it might be, could stand before Jehovah. In his lofty
conception the judgment over Israel became a judgment over the whole
world, from the cleansing punishment of which would arise the new and
true religion for all, a new life in the fear of God and in piety, in
righteousness and peace. "The day of the Lord of hosts," he says, "shall
be upon every thing that is proud and lofty, and upon every thing that
is lifted up; and it shall be brought low; and upon all the cedars of
Lebanon, and all the oaks of Bashan, upon all the high mountains, and
lofty towers, and upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships of
Tarshish, and all costly pictures. The loftiness of man shall be bowed
down, and the haughtiness of men, and their idols of silver and gold
they shall cast down to the moles and the bats, and Jehovah alone shall
be exalted in that day."[297] Thus Egypt and Ethiopia also will be
smitten, and at length the line will reach even the scourge with which
Jehovah has punished the sins of the others, even the Assyrians. This
great day of judgment, "which avenges their misdeeds on the inhabitants
of the earth," is followed by the restoration, for Jehovah "smites and
heals."[298] As the exiles of Israel shall return from Asshur and the
lost from Egypt (the Israelites who had fled thither before Sargon), and
Israel's power shall be restored, so will Assyria and Egypt be restored,
and Jehovah will say: "Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria, the work
of my hands, and Israel my inheritance."[299] The standard of Jehovah
will be planted on the hill of Zion, and under this banner the people
shall assemble. "All nations shall come to the mount of Jehovah to learn
the way of Jehovah, and walk in his paths, for out of Zion shall go
forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. Then will Jehovah
judge among the nations, and the work of righteousness is peace, and the
fruit of righteousness is rest, so that the nations will beat their
swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks. Nation
shall not raise up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war any
more.[300] The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie
down with the kid. The cow and the lioness shall feed together; the lion
shall eat straw like the ox; the sucking child shall play on the hole of
the asp."[301] But in order that this happy time, "which shall be full
of the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters cover the sea," may be brought
on, Jehovah's worship must be maintained by a remnant of the people
which he has chosen, to which he announced his will since the days of
the patriarchs. Isaiah was, therefore, firmly convinced that Zion and
the temple of Jehovah, "in which he had founded a precious
corner-stone," could not perish;--that "from Jerusalem a remnant would
go forth, and the ransomed from Mount Zion." As Jehovah had punished
Israel only in measure[302] by carrying the people away into captivity,
but had turned aside the complete annihilation of the people, so Isaiah
firmly believed that in the present instance also Judah would not be
entirely destroyed, that Jerusalem would not be taken, and the judgment
of Jehovah would be accomplished by the harrying and devastation of the
whole land by the Assyrians, and the capture of the remaining cities.
This hope was in him the more surely founded as Hezekiah worshipped
Jehovah with zeal and earnestness.
Though the cities of Judah were lost, and Sennacherib lay in the south
of Judah with a mighty army, though hundreds of thousands had been
carried away, and Jerusalem itself was now shut up, Isaiah was
nevertheless more zealous and earnest in urging the people and the king
to resistance than he had previously been in advising them to desist
from the undertaking. The line of destruction would soon reach the
Assyrians, they would not march into Jerusalem; Jehovah would rescue the
remnant of Judah. "Lo! the Assyrian," thus Isaiah represents Jehovah as
saying, "the rod of mine anger and the staff of mine indignation is in
his hand. Against the people of my wrath I will send him to take the
spoil, and to tread them down like the mire of the street.[303] But it
shall come to pass that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon
Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart
of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. For he saith: I
have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures,
and I have put down the princes like a valiant man. My hand hath found
as a nest the riches of the people, and as one gathereth eggs that are
left, have I gathered all the earth; there was none that moved the wing,
or opened the mouth, or peeped. By the strength of my hand I have done
it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent. Shall I not, as I have done to
Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? Shall the axe
boast against him that heweth therewith; or shall the saw magnify
itself against him that shaketh it? As if the rod led him that bears it,
or the staff raised the man. Therefore the Lord of hosts will send a
blight upon his fatness, and a firebrand will destroy his splendour, and
diminish the glory of his forest and his fruitful field, and the remnant
of the trees will be so few, that a child may write them.[304] When thou
shalt cease to desolate, thou shalt be desolated: when thou shalt make
an end to plunder, they shall plunder thee.[305] Jehovah hath determined
it from the days of old, and from distant times he hath established it.
I have suffered it to take place that the Assyrian destroyed the cities
and made them heaps of ruins, and that their inhabitants were put to
shame, of small power, as grass of the field. But I know the insolence
of the mighty, and his going out and coming in, saith Jehovah. For the
sake of his insolence, and because his tumult has come up into my ears,
I will put my ring in his nose, and my bit in his mouth, and carry him
back on the way that he came. O my people that dwelleth in Zion, be not
afraid of the Assyrian. He smote thee with the rod, and lifted up his
staff against thee. Yet a little while and my indignation shall cease,
and mine anger shall turn to their destruction, and in that day his
burden shall be taken from thy shoulder, and his yoke from thy
back.[306] The king of Assyria shall not come into this city, nor shoot
an arrow there, nor come before it with a shield, nor cast a bank
against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return. And I
will defend this city to save it for my own sake, and for the sake of my
servant David.[307] As I have purposed so shall it come to pass. I will
break the Assyrian in my land, and tread him under foot.[308] Lo! a
noise of many nations, which make a noise like the sound of mighty
waters. But Jehovah shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and
shall be chased as the whirling dust before the wind. And behold at
evening trouble, and before the morning they are not. This is the
portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us."[309]
No doubt the Assyrians threw up trenches and besieging towers round the
city; no doubt they endeavoured to destroy the walls and gates. But
Jerusalem was saved. The army of Tirhaka, though it appeared very late
in Syria, did not fail to come. Sennacherib had time to bring the siege
of Ekron to an end, to execute the leaders of the rebellion, to carry
away a part of the population, and set up Padi again as the prince of
Ekron (p. 127), before the Egyptians and Ethiopians came. He retired
before their approach from Libnah to Timnath and Eltekeh, in order, no
doubt, to be nearer the part of his army which was besieging Jerusalem,
and to be able to withdraw troops from it for the decisive battle. Of
this battle, which took place near Eltekeh, he tells us that he was
victorious in it; that he took captive charioteers and sons of the
princes of Egypt, and charioteers of the king of Meroe in the conflict.
But while in other cases the hostile king is invariably mentioned by
name, Tirhaka's name is wanting; Sennacherib speaks quite vaguely of the
kings of Egypt (_sarrani mat Mussuri_) and the king of Meroe (_sar mat
Miluhhi_), who came to aid Ekron, of sons of the kings of Egypt, of
charioteers of the kings of Meroe, whom he captured; captive sons of
princes are also mentioned elsewhere in the inscriptions. Further,
Sennacherib does not tell us, as is usual elsewhere, how many of the
enemy were killed, how many prisoners he took, that the enemy fled, and
that he pursued them. If we add to this that the siege of Jerusalem ends
suddenly according to the account of the Hebrews, that Sennacherib's
army did not appear afterwards in Syria, although he sat for 20 years on
the throne of Assyria after this battle, we cannot fail to see that
Sennacherib, if not completely defeated at Eltekeh, must have suffered
the severest losses--losses of such weight that they compelled him to
retire immediately after the battle, and break off the siege of
Jerusalem on the spot.
This result Sennacherib's inscriptions conceal by speaking very vaguely
of the enemy, and bringing into prominence some captures, which may have
been effected even by the defeated side in the battle. This concealment
was aided by the fact that the rulers who rose again in the districts of
Egypt under Sabakon--the "hereditary lords," who maintained themselves
under Sabakon's successors--could be described as kings, while their
sovereign, Tirhaka, could be kept in the background, and made to appear
as the king of Meroe. Of more importance is the attempt in the annals to
give the appearance of a favourable issue to the campaign in Syria, by
altering the chronology of the events. They represent that, which took
place before the battle of Eltekeh, as taking place after it; the
invasion of Judah, the negotiations with Hezekiah, his payment of
tribute, which according to the account of the Hebrews took place before
the battle at Eltekeh, when Sennacherib was at Lachish, they put after
the battle, so that Sennacherib's campaign appears to close with the
submission of Hezekiah. The inscriptions do not give any false facts:
they even mention the attempt to seduce the soldiers of Hezekiah, saying
that "the good warriors, whom he had brought to Jerusalem for defence,
were inclined to submission;" they only alter the order, and represent
the capture of Ekron, the shutting up and siege of Jerusalem, the
division of the land in the south of Judah among Ashdod, Ekron, and
Gaza, and, finally, the payment of tribute by Hezekiah, as coming after
the battle of Eltekeh, whereas these events preceded it; and in their
usual manner they exaggerate the payments of Hezekiah, when they
represent him as sending "his daughters" to Nineveh. That the
inscription of Nebbi Yunus mentions the subjugation of the land of Judah
(Jehuda) and its king Hezekiah (Chazakiyahu), beside the dethronement of
Luli of Sidon,[310] has no basis beyond the tribute of 330 talents.
To the Hebrews the rescue from the most grievous distress, the sudden
departure of the Assyrians from the walls of Jerusalem, could appear
only as a decree of Jehovah, as the work of his mighty arm. When Isaiah
announced to Hezekiah the word of Jehovah: "I will protect this city,
and save it for my own and my servant David's sake"--the Books of the
Kings continue--"It came to pass in the selfsame night that the angel of
Jehovah went out, and slew in the camp of the Assyrians 185,000
men.[311] And when they arose in the morning, behold, they were all dead
corpses. Then Sennacherib departed, and went and returned, and dwelt in
Nineveh." In most complete contrast to his father Ahaz, who had
sacrificed his son to Moloch, and altered the arrangements of the temple
at Jerusalem after an Assyrian model (p. 78), Hezekiah was sincerely
devoted to the worship of Jehovah. He had "removed the high places,
broken the pillars, and destroyed the Astartes;" he had made thorough
regulations for the purification, arrangement, and elevation of the
worship, and taken measures for the better maintenance of the priests
and Levites.[312] The revision by the prophetic hand, in which we
possess the Books of Kings, naturally derives all the misery which fell
upon Israel and Judah from the idolatry of the kings, who for this
reason, no doubt, are made to sacrifice on the hills more frequently
than was really the case, to offer incense to strange gods, and pray to
all the host of heaven. The more easy was it, on the other hand, to
believe that the sudden, most unhoped-for rescue of the pious king was
brought about by the direct interposition of Jehovah, and the
announcement of the great prophet fulfilled on the spot.
The priests of Memphis, or the interpreter, gave the following account
of the meeting of Sennacherib and the Egyptians to Herodotus: Sethos, a
priest of Hephæstus (of Ptah of Memphis), ruled over Egypt, when
Sanacheribus, the king of the Arabs and Assyrians, led a great army
against Egypt. Of the warriors in Egypt none would go against him, for
Sethos had despised them, as though he had no need of them, treated them
badly, and taken away the plots of land which they had possessed under
former kings. In despair Sethos lamented in the temple before the image
of the god, and the god appeared to him in a dream, and bade him be of
good courage; he would suffer no harm if he marched out against the
enemies; the god would himself send him helpers. So Sethos marched out
with those who would follow of their own will--none of the warriors
followed--and pitched his camp near Pelusium. Then field-mice spread
over the camp of the enemies, and gnawed to pieces their quivers, their
bows, and shield-handles; and when on the next morning they fled away
without arms, many of them were slain. "And now this king," so Herodotus
concludes his narrative, "stands in stone in the temple of Hephæstus (of
Ptah), with a mouse in his hand, and says by his inscription--'Look on
me, and be pious.'"[313] Neither the list of Manetho nor the monuments
mention or know a priest Sethos of Memphis, who ruled over Egypt in the
days of Sennacherib. The opponent of Sennacherib from the Nile, whose
name is passed over in his inscriptions, was Tirhaka, the king of Napata
and Egypt, as the Hebrews tell us, and the statement has been already
confirmed by the monuments of Egypt.
FOOTNOTES:
[270] 2 Kings xx. 12.
[271] Merodach Baladan was, as has been shown (p. 113), driven out of
Babylon in the year 703 B.C.; it is certain that he was ruler there in
704 B.C. If the Books of the Kings do not mention his embassy to
Hezekiah till after the siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrians, they show
by the announcement of Isaiah to Hezekiah, which they put after the
embassy of Merodach Baladan thus: "He will be saved out of the hand of
the Assyrians" (2, xx. 6), that the embassy was at Jerusalem before the
campaign of Sennacherib; cf. Isa. xxxix.
[272] Isa. xxii. 2; 2 Chron. xxxii. 4, 5.
[273] Isa. xxx. 2, 3, 6.
[274] Isa. xxxi. 1-3.
[275] Isa. xxx. 9, 10.
[276] Isa. xxviii. 12.
[277] Isa. xxviii. 15. The deceit is no doubt to be explained by the
secrecy of the negotiations with Egypt.
[278] Isa. xxx. 15, 16.
[279] Isa. xxx. 12, 13.
[280] Isa. xxviii. 22.
[281] Isa. xxix. 1.
[282] Isa. x. 28-32.
[283] Isa. xxi. 1, 2, 5-7.
[284] It is the third warlike enterprise of Sennacherib, which for the
following reasons cannot be placed earlier than 702 B.C. The cylinder
Bellino dates from the seventh month of the third year of Sennacherib,
_i.e._ from the year 703 / 702; it concludes with the subjugation of
Ellip and the tribute of the Medes. Sennacherib, therefore, may have
first marched to Syria in the year 701 B.C. The inscription of the bulls
narrates this campaign, which extends to the establishment of Assurnadin
in Babylon; so the cylinder Smith, which dates from the year 697 B.C.
Hence, as the year of Hezekiah's accession is fixed for the year 728
B.C. (p. 16, _n._), the siege of Jerusalem does not fall in the
fourteenth year of Hezekiah, in which the Books of Kings place it, but
in the twenty-eighth year.
[285] I combine these three accounts, which differ but little from each
other.
[286] Cylinder Smith, "Disc." p. 304.
[287] G. Smith, "Disc." p. 304.
[288] Inscription of the bulls in E. Schrader, "K. A. T." l. 31, s. 187.
[289] E. Schrader, "K. A. T." 171 ff. G. Smith, "Disc." p. 303 ff.
Rodwell, "Records of the Past," 7, 61 ff.
[290] Isa. xxii. 9, 10, 11.
[291] 2 Kings xviii. 13 ff.; 2 Kings xix. 8-13; Isa. xxxvi., xxxvii.; 2
Chron. xxxii.
[292] Brandis, "Münzwesen," s. 98.
[293] Room 36, in Layard.
[294] E. Schrader, "K. A. T." s. 170.
[295] Isa. i. 25.
[296] Isa. xxx. 19.
[297] Isa. ii. 12-22.
[298] Isa. xix. 22.
[299] Isa. xix. 25.
[300] Isa. ii. 3, 4.
[301] Isa. xi. 6-8; cf. xxv. 6-12; xxxv. 5-10. The ideas of the happy
future are not quite consistent in Isaiah. If in one place he extends
the peace of the world down to the beasts of prey, in others he
represents the restored kingdom of David, the united Ephraim and Judah,
as "oppressing their oppressors." "Judah will be a terror for Egypt"
(xix. 17), and the Israelites will "flee to the sea on the shoulders of
the Philistines: together they will plunder the sons of the East, and
subjugate Edom, Moab, and Ammon" (xi. 14). In the same way the new king
of the race of David, who will then rule, appears to him at one time
gifted with the strength of David, and is again described as
participating in the Divine nature, and passes into a general picture of
the happy future.
[302] Isa. xxvii. 8.
[303] Isa. x. 5, 6.
[304] Isa. x. 7-18.
[305] Isa. xxxiii. 1.
[306] Isa. x. 24-27.
[307] 2 Kings xix. 25-33; Isa. xxxvi., xxxvii. 1-34.
[308] Isa. xiv. 24-27.
[309] Isa. xvii. 12-14.
[310] In Ménant, "Annal." p. 231.
[311] 2 Kings xix. 35, 36.
[312] 2 Kings xviii. 4.
[313] Herod. 2, 141.