It is needless to say that the above long account differs considerably from that given in the Bible (2 Kings xviii. 13; Isa. xxxvi. 1 ff.), and it is very difficult to reconcile the two narratives. According to the account [pg 377] in Kings, Sennacherib came and took all the fenced cities of Judah, but there is no statement as to the reason why. The Assyrian king justifies his invasion of the country by stating that Hezekiah had sided with the inhabitants of Ekron in the deposition of their king, whom he had received from them and kept in prison. He even states that he brought him forth from Jerusalem and replaced him on the throne. That this circumstance is not referred to in the Biblical account, cannot be held to indicate that the Assyrian king's story is wrong, and only shows that the writer of the 2nd Book of the Kings did not think it of sufficient importance to record. In all probability, Hezekiah did not know at the time that Padî was an Assyrian vassal, otherwise he would not have incurred the risk of an invasion of his country by the dreaded Assyrians. The Biblical account then states that Hezekiah sent to the king at Lachish, saying that he had offended, and asking for terms, a fact which indicates that he was aware of having done something at which the king of Assyria might justly take offence. The answer was, the fixing of the amount of tribute which Hezekiah had to pay—300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold, this latter item agreeing with the statement of Sennacherib himself, though the amount of silver which he mentions—800 talents—is much greater. The sacrifice which Hezekiah made on this occasion (he had to strip off the gold from the doors of the Temple, and also from the pillars which he had overlaid, to make up the sum) was considerable. Concerning a siege of Jerusalem at this point, however, there is not a single word in the Biblical account, and the general opinion is, that the Assyrian king has purposely combined two accounts to give an appearance of success to what, in 2 Kings xix. 35-37, appears to have been a serious disaster to the Assyrian arms.
It is worthy of note, however, that Josephus makes [pg 378] the siege of Jerusalem to have taken place when Sennacherib was returning from Egypt, where he had spent a long time besieging Pelusium (Ant. x. i. 4), which was regarded as the key of Egypt. In support of this he quotes Herodotus, who, according to him, made a great mistake “when he called this king not king of the Assyrians, but of the Arabians.” This, however, is not quite correct, as Herodotus really says (book ii. 141), “Sennacherib king of the Arabians and of the Assyrians.” That it took place on his return from Egypt, however, is also stated by Berosus, whom Josephus quotes in full, as follows—
“Now when Sennacherib was returning from his Egyptian war to Jerusalem, he found his army under Rabshakeh in great danger, for God had sent a pestilential distemper upon his army; and on the very first night of the siege, a hundred and eighty-five thousand, with their captains and generals, were destroyed. So the king was in a great dread, and in a terrible agony at this calamity; and being in great fear for his whole army, he fled with the rest of his forces to his own kingdom, and to his city Nineveh, and when he had abode there a little while, he was treacherously assaulted, and died by the hands of his elder sons, Adramelech and Sarasar, and was slain in his own temple which was called Araske. Now these sons of his were driven away on account of the murder of their father, by the citizens, and went into Armenia, whilst Assarachoddas took the kingdom of Sennacherib.”
This would seem to be conclusive, especially as Sennacherib, according to his own records, made no expedition to Egypt before or at the time of that against the land of Ḫatti, which took place in the eponymy of Mitunu, prefect of Isana, i.e. 700 b.c., or the year immediately preceding. Now as Sennacherib died in 681 b.c., nearly twenty years elapsed between the campaign of which the account is above translated [pg 379] and his death. Berosus, however, states that, after the siege of Jerusalem, which ended so disastrously for him, he abode at Nineveh only “a little while” before he was murdered. There is then no doubt that there were two campaigns, and the events referred to in 2 Kings xviii. 13-xix. 37, though they seem to follow each other with little or no break, must have extended over a considerable period, the widest gap being in all probability between the sixteenth and seventeenth verses of ch. xviii. It is noteworthy that, at this point, the Hebrew indicates the end of a paragraph, though not a change of subject.
Affairs in Babylonia now occupied the attention of Sennacherib for many years, in consequence of the many revolutions there, which were largely fomented, aided and abetted by the Elamites. In 703 b.c., two pretenders, Marduk-zakir-šumi and Marduk-âbla-iddina, held the throne in succession for a few months, but Sennacherib put an end to this rule by setting on the throne a Chaldean named Bêl-ibnî (Belibus).[111] This took place when he defeated Merodach-baladan, before the campaign against the West. Evidently, however, he was not satisfied with the rule of his nominee, who had probably been plotting against him, and therefore entered the country again in 699 b.c., carried away Bêl-ibnî prisoner, and set on the throne his own eldest son, Aššur-nadin-šum. After this seems to have occurred his fifth expedition, which was to the mountainous region where lay the cities Tumurru, Šarum or Šarma, Ezema, Kibšu, Ḫalbuda, Qûa, and Qana, in the neighbourhood of Cilicia, his objective being the city Ukku, which was taken and spoiled.
Whilst absent on this expedition, however, the Elamites seem to have been again plotting against the Assyrians in Babylonia. This being the case, Sennacherib went in “ships of the land of Ḫatti” to [pg 380] the place where Merodach-baladan[112] had taken refuge, namely, “Nagitu of Elam.”[113] On this occasion, he claims to have captured Šûzubu (otherwise Nergal-ušêzib), and carried him in chains to Assyria. This led to reprisals on the part of the Elamites, who invaded Babylonia, carried Aššur-nadin-šum, the king, Sennacherib's son, prisoner, and set on the throne Nergal-ušêzib, who, if he be the Šûzubu referred to by Sennacherib, must have escaped from the custody of the Assyrians. This was in 693 b.c.
Nergal-ušêzib only ruled for a year or eighteen months, and was captured (? again) by the Assyrians. The Assyrian king now ravaged Elam “from Râš to Bît-Burnaki,” but his army would have been better employed in watching over affairs in Babylonia, where another pretender, Mušêzib-Marduk, sat on the throne, and ruled for four years. During this time he, too, found that his seat was not altogether a bed of roses, for Menanu, king of Elam, after a battle with the Assyrians,[114] captured Mušêzib-Marduk with an army composed of Elamites and Babylonians, and delivered him to the Assyrians. Sennacherib now again (688 b.c.) became king of Babylonia, and it is thought that, on taking possession of the capital again, out of revenge for the loss of his son, and on account of the trouble he had had in consequence of the Babylonians running after the many pretenders, with which the land seems to have teemed, he destroyed [pg 381] the city of Babylon, committing such cruelties that they were remembered to the end, and sowed the seeds of that hatred which were to bring forth for Assyria that deadliest of all fruit—her own destruction.
In the eight years which passed between his assuming the reins of power in Babylonia and his death, must be placed that expedition to Egypt spoken of by Berosus and Herodotus. The version of the former, which refers principally to the siege of Jerusalem, is quoted above (p. [378]); the following is the account of the latter—
“After this, Sanacharib, king of the Arabians and of the Assyrians, marched a great host against Egypt. Then the warriors of the Egyptians refused to come to the rescue, and the priest (Hephaistos, whose name was Sethos),[115] being driven into a strait, entered into the sanctuary of the temple and bewailed to the image of the god the danger which was impending over him; and as he was thus lamenting, sleep came upon him, and it seemed to him in his vision that the god came out and stood by him and encouraged him, saying that he should suffer no evil if he went forth to meet the army of the Arabians, for he would himself send him helpers. Trusting in these things seen in sleep, he took with him, they say, those of the Egyptians who were willing to follow him, and encamped in Pelusion, for by this way the invasion came; and not one of the warrior class followed him, but shopkeepers and artisans and men of the market. Then after they came, there swarmed by night upon the enemies mice of the fields, and ate up their quivers and their bows, and moreover the handles of their shields, so that on the next day they fled, and being without defence of [pg 382] arms great numbers fell. And at the present time this king stands in the temple of Hephaistos in stone, holding upon his head a mouse, and by letters inscribed he says these words, ‘Let him who looks upon me learn to fear the gods.’ ”
Josephus's quotation from Herodotus differs somewhat from the above, in that he makes the Egyptian king to pray to God (and not before his image), and omits all reference to the dream. This was doubtless to make the parallel with the case of Hezekiah more striking.