Sargon the Second thus reigned for almost eighteen years. He was a war-loving monarch, and that eighteen year reign was one continuous, unbroken series of foreign campaigns. Combining his forces with the small host of the Philistines, he joined battle with the Egyptians at Raphia. Going directly to this campaign, after the termination of his campaign against Samaria, he administered a crushing defeat to the forces of So and had no further difficulty with this pharaoh during the balance of his reign.
In the British Museum, Table Case “B,” which occupies a section of the second Northern gallery of the Assyrian Room, contains some magnificent baked clay cylinders which are the original annals of Sargon. These priceless records came from the ruins of a tremendous building excavated by M. Botta at the ancient site of Khorsabad, which was later proved to have been the palace of Sargon. Most of the sculptured objects from this discovery are in the Museum at Paris. These written records, however, which are of infinitely more value to the student, are fortunately on deposit in the British Museum.
In the Assyrian Saloon of the British Museum the interested student will also behold an inscription bearing the identification number 12, whereupon are recorded the names and titles of Sargon the Second, together with a brief and epitomized account of his conquests in various sections along the coast lands of the Mediterranean, including his famous victory in Judah.
A more complete record is found in the Assyrian Room. In Table Case “E,” exhibits 11 and 12, are two nine-sided prisms containing a graphic account of the expeditions of Sargon. All of his campaigns in Palestine are covered and include his conquest of Israel, which he calls “Omri land.” (These exhibits are identified by the Museum numbers 22,505 and 108,775.)
A further record of Sargon’s bearing upon the text of the Old Testament will be found in the Assyrian Room in wall case No. 9. Exhibits 1-11 are fragments of an eight-sided cylinder containing part of the records of Sargon, particularly recording the campaign against Ashdod, which is also preserved for us by Isaiah in the twentieth chapter, verse one. The people of Ashdod had made a league with Judah and this outburst of Isaiah’s was a stern reproof against this procedure. The prophet objected chiefly because the league depended upon the strength of Egypt. To the end of his life, Isaiah never gave up his justified distrust of that country. This, in a brief summary, presents the records of Shalmaneser and Sargon as they authenticate the Biblical account of the conduct of the wretched So. Sargon recounts that Azuri, who was king of Ashdod, had refused to pay the tribute that was due to the Assyrians. Consequently he was deposed by Sargon, who elevated his brother Akhimiti to the place of dominion. Whereupon the people of Ashdod rebelled and raised Yamini to the throne. They then entered into a conspiracy with Philistea, Edom, Moab, Egypt, and Judah. Sargon recounts their defeat and the bringing back under the sway of his yoke the cities and peoples who joined the conspiracy.
A graphic and significant story is contained in the brief and short words of Sargon’s own record—“Samaria, I looked at. I captured. 27,280 families who remained therein I carried away.” The tragic end of Hoshea and all of his noble counselors and advisers is thus summed up in a brief and terrible sentence.
Sargon the Second was followed in turn by Sennacherib, of whom a great deal is known from his monuments. Their testimony coincides with the story of the Southern Kingdom during the reign of Hezekiah. Three years after the ascension of Hoshea to the throne of Israel, Hezekiah began to reign over Judah at Jerusalem. He had a long and interesting reign, occupying the throne for twenty-five years. In the course of his reign, Sargon the Second died, and Sennacherib inherited the throne.
Encouraged by the success of his predecessor Sargon in foreign campaigns, Sennacherib invaded Judah to round out his empire. Hezekiah accepted his yoke without offering resistance, and paid him a vast tribute.
We are now in the eighteenth chapter of II Kings which repeats part of the events of the tragedy in Israel as they were observed by the scribe in Judah. The invasions of Shalmaneser and Sargon are recapitulated and the carrying away of the people of Samaria by Sargon is again authenticated. But the scribe is more interested in recording the events that make so stirring a chapter in the closing days of the kingdom of Judah. In verses thirteen to seventeen, the story of this first invasion and the surrender of Sennacherib, is told in these words:
“Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.
“And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
“And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king’s house.
“At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.”