SERIES N --- THE EXILE --- LESSON 10

HEZEKIAH REBELS

HEZEKIAH AND SENNACHERIB

From 2 Kings 18:1-16; 2 Chronicles 32:1-7

King Hezekiah did much to please Adonai, as his ancestor David had done. He destroyed the high places, broke down the pillars and idols. He even destroyed the bronze serpent which Moses had made, for the people had been burning incense to it. Hezekiah called it Nehushtan, which means [A Piece of Bronze.] Hezekiah trusted in Adonai more than any of the kings before or after him. He kept the Commandments which Adonai had given Moses, so Adonai helped him in everything he did. Furthermore, Hezekiah refused to serve the heathen king of Assyria or to pay tribute to him. On the contrary, he conquered the Philistines as far as Gaza and its surrounding territory, taking cities as small as a watchtower and as large as a fortified city. During the fourth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, which was also the seventh year of King Hoshea’s reign in Israel, King Shalmaneser of Assyria invaded Israel and besieged Samaria, its capital city. Three years later the Assyrians captured Samaria and forced the people of Israel to move to distant lands. Some they took to Halath and others they settled along the Habor River in Gozan. Still others were placed in the cities of the Medes. This happened because the people had stubbornly refused to listen to Adonai and had turned away from His Covenant, all that Moses Adonai’s servant had commanded. They neither listened to the Law of Moses nor practiced it. A few of the people were left in the land of Israel and we have already learned something about them. Ten more years passed before King Sennacherib of Assyria invaded Judah and captured its fortified cities. Hezekiah sent a peace message to King Sennacherib, who at the time was at Lachish, not far from Jerusalem. [I have been wrong not to pay you tribute,] he said. [Tell me how much you want in order to leave us alone.] In reply Sennacherib demanded six hundred thousand dollars in silver and nine hundred thousand dollars in gold. Hezekiah gathered all the silver stored in the temple and in the palace treasuries. In order to gather the amount of gold Sennacherib demanded, he had to strip the gold from the temple doors and doorposts. Even though Hezekiah sent Sennacherib all this gold and silver, the report soon came back that the Assyrian king was going to attack Jerusalem anyway. King Hezekiah assembled his high officials and they decided to cut off the water supply in the springs just outside the city. A large work crew cut off both the springs and the brook running through the fields. [Why should we provide water for the king of Assyria when he comes?] they asked. The wall of Jerusalem was repaired and towers were erected on it. The king also built a second wall outside, rebuilt the fortress of Millo in the City of David section of Jerusalem and made many weapons and shields. King Hezekiah appointed officers over the fighting men and called for an assembly of the troops in the open place near the city gate. [Be strong and courageous,] he told his people. [Do not fear the king of Assyria with his great army, for Adonai our YHVH is with us to help us and to fight our battles.] The people were encouraged when they heard what their king said.

COMMENTARY

SENNACHERIB: KING OF ASSYRIA

Sennacherib was king of Assyria from 705 B.C. until his death twenty-four years later. During his rule, calm marked the Empire’s borders to the east, north and in Syria, but serious revolts broke out in Babylonia and Palestine. When Merodach-baladan, a deposed king of Babylon, stirred up trouble in Ammon, Moab, Edom, Palestine, Tyre and Egypt, Sennacherib broke up their alliance. The defeated kings, including Hezekiah of Judah, paid heavy tribute. When attempts to suppress revolts in Elam and Babylonia failed, Sennacherib invaded Babylon and destroyed the city’s temples, palaces and walls and massacred the people. But his successors rebuilt Babylon, helping to restore the very people that would eventually conquer Assyria. Sennacherib’s rule saw the maturing of Assyrian culture. Unlike his father Sargon II, he spent less time in battle and more on building new temples, public buildings and waterworks. He bestowed a great deal of attention on Nineveh, his capital city. Sennacherib strengthened Nineveh’s walls and gates to a height of one hundred feet, adding ramparts and a deep moat to the east. The northern palace was restored and enlarged and the southern one converted into a military arsenal. A vast park of herbs and fruit trees beside the palace was irrigated with water from mountain streams, diverted by the largest, most complex aqueduct in that part of the ancient world. When Sennacherib chose his youngest son, Esarhaddon, as crown prince, the jealous brothers murdered their father. Esarhaddon was forced to conquer in battle the throne he had inherited by law.