As soon as this prince was settled on the throne, he renewed the demand of the tribute exacted by his father from Hezekiah. Upon his refusal he declared war against him, and entered into Judea with a mighty army. Hezekiah, grieved to see his kingdom pillaged, sent ambassadors to him, to desire peace upon any terms he would prescribe. Sennacherib, seemingly mollified, entered into treaty with him, and demanded a very great sum of gold and silver. The holy king exhausted both the treasures of the temple, and his own coffers, to pay it. The Assyrian, regarding neither the sanction of oaths nor treaties, still continued the war, and pushed on his conquests more vigorously than ever. Nothing was able to withstand his power, and of all the strong places of Judah, none remained untaken but Jerusalem, which was likewise reduced to the utmost extremity. At this very juncture,[1022] Sennacherib was informed, that Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, who had joined his forces with those of the king of Egypt, was coming up to succour the besieged city. Now it was contrary to the express command of God, as well as the remonstrances of Isaiah and Hezekiah, that the chief men at Jerusalem had required any foreign assistance. The Assyrian prince marched immediately to meet the approaching enemy, after having written a letter to Hezekiah, full of blasphemy against the God of Israel, whom he insolently boasted he would speedily vanquish, as he had done all the gods of the other nations round about him. In short, he discomfited the Ægyptians, [pg 338] and pursued them even into their own country, which he ravaged, and returned laden with spoil.
It was probably during Sennacherib's absence, which was pretty long, or at least some little time before, that Hezekiah fell sick, and was cured in a miraculous manner;[1023] and that (as a sign of God's fulfilling the promise he had made him of curing him so perfectly, that within three days he should be able to go to the temple,) the shadow of the sun went ten degrees backwards upon the dial of the palace. Merodach-Baladan, king of Babylon, being informed of the miraculous cure of king Hezekiah, sent ambassadors to him with letters and presents, to congratulate him upon that occasion, and to acquaint themselves with the miracle that had happened in the land at this juncture, with respect to the sun's retrogradation ten degrees. Hezekiah was extremely sensible of the honour done him by that prince, and very forward to show his ambassadors the riches and treasures he possessed, and to let them see the whole magnificence of his palace. Humanly speaking, there was nothing in this proceeding but what was allowable and commendable; but in the eyes of the supreme Judge, which are infinitely more piercing and delicate than ours, this action discovered a lurking pride, and secret vanity, with which his righteousness was offended. Accordingly, he instantly informed the king by his prophet Isaiah, that the riches and treasures which he had been showing to those ambassadors with so much ostentation, should one day be transported to Babylon; and that his children should be carried thither, to become servants in the palace of that monarch. This was then utterly improbable; for Babylon, at the time we are speaking of, was in friendship and alliance with Jerusalem, as appears by her having sent ambassadors thither: nor did Jerusalem then seem to have any thing to fear, but from Nineveh; whose power was at that time formidable, and who had entirely declared against her. But the fortune of those two cities was to change, and the word of God was literally accomplished.
But to return to Sennacherib.[1024] After he had ravaged [pg 339] Egypt, and taken a vast number of prisoners, he came back with his victorious army, encamped before Jerusalem, and besieged it anew. The city seemed to be inevitably lost: it was without resource, and without hope from the hands of men; but had a powerful protector in Heaven, whose jealous ears had heard the impious blasphemies uttered by the king of Nineveh against His sacred name. In one single night a hundred and eighty-five thousand men of his army perished by the sword of the destroying angel. After so terrible a blow this pretended king of kings, (for so he called himself,) this triumpher over nations, and conqueror even of gods, was obliged to return to his own country with the miserable remnant of his army, covered with shame and confusion: nor did he survive his defeat more than a few months, only to make a kind of open confession of his crime to God, whose supreme majesty he had presumed to insult, and who now, to use the Scripture terms, having “put a ring into his nose, and a bridle into his mouth,” as a wild beast, made him return in that humbled, afflicted condition, through those very countries, which a little before had beheld him so haughty and imperious.
Upon his return to Nineveh, being enraged at his disgrace, he treated his subjects in the most cruel and tyrannical manner. The effects of his fury fell more heavily upon the Jews and Israelites, of whom he caused great numbers to be massacred every day, ordering their bodies to be left exposed in the streets, and suffering no man to give them burial.[1025] Tobit, to avoid his cruelty, was obliged to conceal himself for some time, and suffer all his effects to be confiscated. In short, the king's savage temper rendered him so insupportable to his own family, that his two eldest sons conspired against him, and killed him in the temple,[1026] in the presence of his god Nisroch, as he lay prostrate before him. But these two princes, being obliged after this parricide to fly into Armenia, left the kingdom to Esarhaddon, their youngest brother.
Esarhaddon. A.M. 3294. Ant. J.C. 710.
Esarhaddon. We have already observed, that after Merodach-Baladan there was a succession of kings at Babylon, of whom history has transmitted nothing but the names.[1027] The royal family becoming extinct, [pg 340] there was an eight years' interregnum, full of troubles and commotions. Esarhaddon, taking advantage of this juncture, made himself master of Babylon, and annexing it to his former dominions, reigned over the two united empires thirteen years.
After having reunited to the Assyrian empire Syria and Palestine, which had been rent from it in the preceding reign, he entered the land of Israel, where he took captive as many as were left there, and carried them into Assyria, except an inconsiderable number that escaped his pursuit. But that the country might not become a desert, he sent colonies of idolatrous people, taken out of the countries beyond the Euphrates, to dwell in the cities of Samaria. The prediction of Isaiah was then fulfilled;[1028] within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be no more a people. This was exactly the space of time which elapsed between the prediction and the event: and the people of Israel did then truly cease to be a visible nation, what was left of them being altogether mixed and confounded with other nations.
This prince, having possessed himself of the land of Israel, sent some of his generals with part of his army into Judea, to reduce that country likewise under his subjection.[1029] These generals defeated Manasseh, and having taken him prisoner, brought him to Esarhaddon, who put him in chains, and carried him with him to Babylon. But Manasseh, having afterwards appeased the wrath of God by a sincere and lively repentance, obtained his liberty, and returned to Jerusalem.
Meantime the colonies, that had been sent into Samaria, in the room of its ancient inhabitants, were grievously infested with lions.[1030] The king of Babylon being told that the cause of this calamity was their not worshipping the God of the country, ordered an Israelitish priest to be sent to them, from among the captives brought from that country, to teach them the worship of the God of Israel. But these idolaters did no more than admit the true God amongst their ancient divinities, and worshipped him jointly with their false deities. This corrupt worship continued afterwards, and was the primary [pg 341] source of the aversion entertained by the Jews against the Samaritans.
Esarhaddon, after a prosperous reign of thirty-nine years over the Assyrians, and thirteen over the Babylonians, was succeeded by his son: