2 Kings 18:13-16

II. A POLITICAL CRISIS: THE ASSYRIAN INVASION OF 701 B.C. 18:13-19:37

In 701 B.C. the Assyrian king Sennacherib was able to turn his attention to the rebellious vassal in Jerusalem. It is not easy to correlate all the details of this section with Sennacherib's own account of the campaign. Some scholars feel that in 2 Kings 18:13 to 2 Kings 19:37 two Assyrian attacks against Jerusalem have been combined without the slightest indication of the time interval of some twenty years between them.[601] However, it is probably best to follow those scholars who assign all the data here given to the 701 B.C. invasion. The author first describes how Hezekiah met the tribute demands of Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:13-16). Next he narrates in some detail how the Assyrian made two efforts to force Hezekiah to surrender (2 Kings 18:17 to 2 Kings 19:7 and 2 Kings 19:8-34). He then relates how God delivered His people from the might of the powerful Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:35-37).

[601] Bright HI, pp. 269ff.

A. HEZEKIAH'S TRIBUTARY PAYMENT TO SENNACHERIB 18:13-16

TRANSLATION

(13) In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria went up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and seized them. (14) And Hezekiah king of Judah sent unto the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; turn from me, that which you require of me I will bear. And the king of Assyria set upon Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. (15) And Hezekiah gave to him all the silver which was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king. (16) At that time Hezekiah stripped the doors of the Temple of the LORD and the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave them to the king of Assyria.

COMMENTS

In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's independent reign (i.e., 701 B.C.) he came under attack by the mighty Assyrian king Sennacherib. On the famous Taylor Prism,[602] the Assyrian royal scribes recount the details of this campaign. The Great King first smashed Tyre, one of the leading cities involved in this western rebellion. Most of the confederates then capitulated, but Ashkelon, Ekron and Judah refused to submit. Sennacherib subdued these plains cities and an Egyptian relief column which attempted to come to their aid. He then apparently launched an attack against the southern Judaean city of Lachish,[603] a city which at this time was actually larger than Jerusalem.

[602] For a translation of this inscription see DOTT, p. 66f. or ANET, p. 287f.
[603] The Assyrian account of this invasion does not specifically mention the siege of Lachish, but wall reliefs depicting the conquest of Lachish were discovered in Sennacherib's fabulous palace-temple at Nineveh.

With his outlying fortified cities under Assyrian control, Hezekiah decided that it was pointless to continue the rebellion. He acknowledged his transgression in rebelling against his overlord, and entreated Sennacherib to withdraw his forces. Whatever penalty the Great King chose to impose upon him, Hezekiah was willing to bear. Sennacherib pretended to be willing to accept Hezekiah's offer of surrender, and imposed upon his rebellious vassal the enormous tribute of three hundred talents of silver ($600,000 BV) and thirty talents of gold ($900,000 BV; 2 Kings 18:14).[604] According to the Assyrian records, Hezekiah was also compelled to (1) make certain territorial concessions; (2) surrender an Assyrian vassal king who was being detained in Jerusalem; and (3) send two or more of his daughters to Nineveh to become part of Sennacherib's harem.

[604] Sennacherib states that he imposed on Hezekiah a tribute of thirty talents of gold and eight hundred talents of silver. Gray (OTL, p. 674) suggests that the three hundred talents mentioned in the Bible was the amount available in stamped ingots, and the extra talents mentioned in the Assyrian inscription is that obtained from other sources, such as the despoliation of the Temple.

In order to meet the tribute demands of Sennacherib, Hezekiah emptied treasuries of both the Temple and the palace (2 Kings 18:15). Only some thirty years before (cf. 2 Kings 16:8) Ahaz had emptied these same treasuries in order to hire the services of Tiglath-pileser. Apparently Hezekiah had little or no gold readily available and so he was forced to strip the gold from the pillars and doors which he himself had overlaid with the precious metal (2 Kings 18:16). Sennacherib relates that in addition to the two large sums of gold and silver, Hezekiah sent to him at this time woven cloth, scarlet, embroidered; precious stones or large size; skins of buffaloes; horns of buffaloes; and two kinds of woods.