The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander, his chief officer, and his field commander, along with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. – 2 Kings 18:17a

Today's Scripture Reading (June 7, 2026): 2 Kings 18

There was a day when Kings went out to war with their troops. They were armed, and while the King was often positioned at the back of the battle formation, the King's purpose on the battlefield was to send out commands to the soldiers under their control in real time. King David is criticized at the beginning of the Bathsheba saga for not being with his troops when they went to war. The warrior King stayed home and sent his commander, Joab, to fight against the Ammonites. Because he was home, he was tempted by the beauty of Bathsheba, something that wouldn't have happened if he had been out in the field, fighting with his men.

The Book of Kings clarifies that King Sennacherib accompanied his men onto the battlefield in Judah. "In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah's reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them" (2 Kings 18:13). What is less clear is whether Sennacherib went to Jerusalem for the siege of Judah's capital city. In fact, it appears he didn't, at least not at the beginning of the blockade against the Judean Capital. Isaiah argues that, as the siege begins, Sennacherib decides to send a field commander with a large army rather than go himself. Maybe Sennacherib understood that the blockade would be long and boring, and he didn't need to be there for all of it. Or maybe Sennacherib had more pressing duties elsewhere.

Whatever the reason, Sennacherib stayed behind, maybe in Lachish. Lachish was an important city thirty miles southwest of Jerusalem. During the First-Temple period, Lachish was Judah's second most important city, second only to Jerusalem. Because of its importance, it appears that Sennacherib led the effort to defeat Lachish and end the conquest in the area, defeating Lachish just before he turned the full force of his military on the Judean Capital.

Archaeologists have discovered a pit dating back to the attack on Lachish by Sennacherib. The pit contained 1,500 casualties from the attack. They also found a carving detailing how the Assyrians had laid siege to the city.

The Siege of Lachish became the launching ground for the attack on Jerusalem. Sennacherib may not have been at Jerusalem at the beginning of the siege of the Capital, either because he was busy cleaning up in Lachish, or because he was called back to Nineveh to deal with problems in the Empire. Wherever Sennacherib was, Lachish was the last victory that Assyria would experience in Judah. Jerusalem would be put under siege, but it would not fall, at least not at the hands of Sennacherib and the Assyrian army. The eventual fall of Jerusalem was still over a century away.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 32

See also Isaiah 36:2