Today’s Scripture Reading (February 27, 2020): Isaiah 31
In 1830, at the ruins of Nineveh, the Capital city of the Assyrian
Empire under Sennacherib, a hexagonal tube was found, which has become known as
“The Sennacherib Prism.” The prism recounts the efforts of the Assyrian Empire
to defeat Judah in 701 B.C.E. It tells the story of Judah’s defeat. According
to the Prism, Sennacherib routed the Judeans. He laid siege to forty-six of
Judah’s cities, and one by one, the cites fell beneath his power and might. He even
laid siege to the city of Jerusalem, trapping Hezekiah, the Judean King, “like
a caged bird.” The Judean campaign was a huge success. Later, Sennacherib says
that he was even able to send an envoy to demand tribute of Hezekiah, and
Hezekiah willingly emptied his treasury and robbed the temple so that Judah
would not have to stand against the Assyrians ever again.
Of course, Assyrian records tend to read a little like national propaganda.
They tell a story that benefits them. The biblical story is a bit different
from the one presented in Sennacherib’s Prism, but there are common points of
agreement between the two stories. First, Sennacherib did lay siege to the
cities of Judah, including Jerusalem. And, second, Hezekiah did pay a massive tribute
to the Assyrians to stop the siege. But the timing of the tribute is a little different.
According to 2 Kings, Hezekiah emptied the treasury before the siege of Jerusalem.
Sennacherib took the money and laid siege to the capital city anyway.
Both accounts agree that all of the cities, save Jerusalem, fell because
of the attack of Sennacherib. The story of Jerusalem differs a little.
The Bible says that Hezekiah realized that Sennacherib was coming,
and he plugged up or diverted all of the freshwaters outside of the city. The plan
was to ensure that the city had water, but that there would be none for the
Assyrian Empire to drink during the siege. Sennacherib arrived and did exactly as
he was expected to do; he laid siege to the city. And then the accounts divide.
According to the Bible, Hezekiah was trapped “like a caged bird.” There was nothing
that he could do. And every day, it was Isaiah who stood beside the king, encouraging
Hezekiah to not reach out to Egypt and to understand that what was going to
happen next was going to happen because of God, and not because of military
strength. The Assyrian account agrees, even describing the flight of the
mercenaries Hezekiah had hired to guard the city once the Assyrian siege began.
The “what happened next,” according to the Bible, was that 185,000
Assyrian soldiers died in one night. What happened is anyone’s guess. The
Sennacherib Prism does not mention any deaths at Jerusalem, but that is not
surprising. The annals of the Assyrian Empire tend to speak about those who
died on the other side of the conflict and not the Assyrian soldiers who died
in the battle. A likely source of the deaths reported in the Bible would be disease
brought on by the mice and rats that were attracted to the camp and the garbage
that it produced, or illness brought on by a lack of clean drinking water. Some
have argued that Sennacherib’s ascension to the throne had not been smooth, and
the siege of Jerusalem took place early in his reign (during the fourth year)
and that maybe an internal Assyrian conflict had called Sennacherib and his
troops home.
But the outcome in both reports is the same. According to the
Bible, Sennacherib left, but not because of any “human sword.” According to “The
Sennacherib Prism,” forty-five cities are declared to have been sieged and captured,
but beside Jerusalem is just the word “sieged.” There is no mention of capture.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah
32
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