Sennacherib
SENNACHERIB
King of Assyria, son and successor of Shalmaneser, began to reign B. C. 710, and reigned but a few years. Hezekiah king of Judah having shaken off the yoke of the Assyrians, by which Ahaz his father had suffered under Tigloth-pileser, Sennacherib marched an army against him, and took all the strong cities of Judah. Hezekiah, seeing he had nothing left but Jerusalem, which he perhaps found it difficult to preserve, sent ambassadors to Sennacherib, then besieging and destroying Lachish, to make submission. Sennacherib accepted his tribute, but refused to depart, and sent Rabshakeh with an insolent message to Jerusalem. Hezekiah entreated the Lord, who sent a destroying angel against the Assyrian army, and slew in one night 185,000 men. Sennacherib returned with all speed to Nineveh, and turned his arms against the nations south of Assyria, and afterwards towards the north. But his career was not long; within two or three years from his return from Jerusalem, while he was paying adorations to his god Nisroch, in the temple, his two sons Adrammelech and Sharezer slew him and fled into Armenia. Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead, 2Ki 18:1-19 :37 2Ch 32:33.A most remarkable confirmation of the above Bible history has been found in the long buried ruins of ancient Nineveh. The mound called Kouyunijik, opposite Mosul, has been to a good degree explored, and its ruins prove to be those of a palace erected by this powerful monarch. The huge stone tablets which formed the walls of its various apartments are covered with bas-reliefs and inscriptions; and though large portions of these have perished by violence and time, the fragments that remain are full of interest. One series of tablets recounts the warlike exploits of Sennacherib, who calls himself “the subduer of kings from the upper sea of the setting sun to the lower sea of the rising sun,” that is, from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf.The most important of these mural pages to Bible readers, are those recounting the history of his war against Syria and the Jews, in the third year of his reign. Crossing the upper part of Mount Lebanon, he appears to have conquered Tyre and all the cities south of it on the seacoast to Askelon. In this region he came in conflict with an Egyptian army, sent in aid of King Hezekiah; this host he defeated and drove back. See 2Ki 19:9 Isa 37:1-38 . The inscription then proceeds to say, “Hezekiah king of Judah, who had not submitted to my authority, forty-six of his principal cities, and fortresses and villages dependant upon them, of which I took no account, I captured, and carried away their spoil. The fortified towns, and the rest of his towns which I spoiled, I severed from his country, and gave to the kings of Askelon, Ekron, and Gaza, so as to make his country small. In addition to the former tribute imposed upon their countries, I added a tribute the nature of which I fixed.” Compare 2Ki 18:13 Isa 36:1 . He does not profess to have taken Jerusalem itself, but to have carried away Hezekiah’s family, servants, and treasures, with a tribute of thirty talents of gold and eight hundred talents of silver. The amount of gold is the same mentioned in the Bible narrative. The three hundred talents of silver mentioned in Scripture may have been all that was given in money, and the five hundred additional claimed in the Ninevite record may include the temple and palace treasures, given by Hezekiah as the price of peace.In another apartment of the same palace was found a series of wellpreserved bas-reliefs, representing the siege and capture by the Assyrians of a large and strong city. It was doubly fortified, and the assault and the defense were both fierce. Part of the city is represented as already taken, while elsewhere the battle rages still in all its fury. Meanwhile captives are seen flayed, impaled, and put to the sword; and from one of the gates of the city a long procession of prisoners is brought before the king, who is gorgeously arrayed and seated on his throne upon a mound or low hill. They are presented by the general in command, very possibly Rabshakeh, with other chief officers. Two eunuchs stand behind the king, holding fans and napkins. Above his head is an inscription, which is thus translated: “Sennacherib the mighty king, king of the country of Assyria, sitting on the throne of judging at the gate of the city Lachisa; I give permission for its slaughter.” The captives are stripped of their armor, ornaments, and much of their clothing, and are evidently Jews.Little did Sennacherib then anticipate the utter of his ruin of his own proud metropolis, and still less that the ruins of his palace should preserve to this remote age the tablets containing his own history, and the image of his god Nisroch so incapable of defending him, to bear witness for the God whom he blasphemed and defied. See NINEVEH, NISROCH, SHALMANESER, and SO.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Sennacherib
(Assyrian: the Moon God increases the brothers)
One of the greatest kings of Assyria, warrior, and builder (705-681. B.C.), mentioned in the Bible in connection with Ezechias (4 Kings 18-19; Isaiah 36-37). He invaded Palestine twice; during his second invasion, the bulk of his army was miraculously destroyed, the rest fleeing with him. Shortly afterwards he was assassinated (4 Kings 19).
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Sennacherib
[some Sennache’rib] (Heb. Sancherib’, ; read in the cuneiform as Sinachirib, i.e. Sin [the Moon] increases brothers, thought to indicate that he was not the first born; Sept.: v.r. ; Josephus, ; Herodotus ; Vulg. Sennacherib), a famous Assyrian monarch, contemporary with Hezekiah. The name of Sennacherib (in Assyrian Sin-achi-iriba) is written in various ways; but three forms are most common, of which we present the most usual. It consists of three elements: the first, Sin, or the Moon god; the second, achi, or brothers (); and the third, iriba, or he increased (); the meaning of the whole being the Moon has multiplied brothers. SEE CUNEIFORM.
1. Earlier Annals. Sennacherib was the son and successor of Sargon (q.v.). We know very little of him during his father’s lifetime. From his name, and from a circumstance related by Polyhistor, we may gather that he was not the eldest son, and not the heir to the crown till the year before his father’s death. Polyhistor (following Berosus) related that the tributary kingdom of Babylon was held by a brother who would doubtless be an elder brother of Sennacherib’s, not long before that prince came to the throne (Berosus, Fragm. 12). Sennacherib’s brother was succeeded by a certain Hagisa, who reigned only a month, being murdered by Merodach- Baladan, who then took the throne and held it three months. The details of Sennacherib’s campaigns are given under each year in the cuneiform records of his reign. From these it appears that he began to reign July 16, B.C. 705, and was murdered in December 681 (Smith and Sayce, Cun. Hist. of Senn. [Lond. 1878] p. 8).
His first efforts were directed to crushing the revolt of Babylonia, which he invaded with a large army. Merodach-Baladan ventured on a battle, but was defeated and driven from the country. Sennacherib then made Belibus (Bel-ibni) an officer of his court, viceroy, and, quitting Babylonia, ravaged the lands of the Aramaean tribes on the Tigris and Euphrates, whence he carried off 200,000 captives. In the ensuing year he made war upon the independent tribes in Mount Zagros, and penetrated thence to Media, where he reduced a portion of the nation which had previously been independent.
2. Conquest of Judaea. We give the account of this as condensed from the cuneiform annals by the late George Smith (Hist. of Assyria from the Monuments, p. 117 sq.):
The eastern expedition of Sennacherib occupied his third year, and at the close of this year, his southern and eastern borders being secure, he had leisure to turn his attention to the affairs of Palestine. Encouraged by the king of Egypt, Hezekiah, king of Judah, had. thrown off the Assyrian yoke, several of the smaller sovereigns had either voluntarily joined him or been forced to submit to the, king of Judah, and Lulia (the Elulius of Josephus), king of Tyre and Zidon, had also rebelled against Sennacherib. The Assyrians had lost their hold on all the country from Lebanon to Arabia, and Sennacherib resolved to reconquer this region. Crossing from his capital into Syria, which he calls the land of the Hittites, he attacked first. Lulia, king of Zidon; but this prince was not prepared to resist Sennacherib, so he embarked on one of his vessels from the city of Tyre, and set sail for the land of Yatnan (the island of Cyprus), abandoning his country to the mercy of the Assyrians. Sennacherib now besieged and took the various Phoenician towns: Tyre, the strong city, appears to have successfully resisted him, but he captured Zidunnurabn (great Zidon, Jos 19:25) and the lesser Zidon; then coming south, Bitzitte and Zariptu (Zarephath, 1Ki 17:9), Mahalliba Usu (Hosah, Jos 19:29), Akzibi (Achzib, Jos 19:29), and Akku (Accho, Jdg 1:31).
The sea coast of Phoenicia, down to the land of the Philistines, was now in the hands of Sennacherib, and he raised a man named Tubahal to the throne of Zidon, and fixed upon the country an annual tribute. The success of Sennacherib along the coast, and the failure of Egyptian aid, now brought nearly the whole of Palestine to his feet, and the various rulers sent envoys with tribute, and tokens of submission to present before the Assyrian monarch. Menahem, who ruled at Samaria; Tubahal, the newly made king of Zidon; Abdilihiti, king of Arvad; Urumelek, king of Gebal; Metinti, king of Ashdod; and Buduil, king of the Ammonites; Kemosh-natbi, king of the Moabites; and Airammu, king of Edom, now made their peace, and Askelon, Ekron, and Judah alone remained in rebellion. Sennacherib started from Akku, and keeping along the coast, invaded Askelon, and capturing Zidqa, the revolting king, sent him, his wife, his sons and daughters, his brothers, and other relatives, captive to Assyria. The cities of Askelon, Bitdaganna (Beth-dagon, Jos 15:41), Yappu (Joppa, Jon 1:3), Benai-barqa (Bene-berak, Jos 19:45), and Azuru were successively captured, and Sennacherib placed Saruludari, the son of Rukibti, on the throne. Moving from Askelon, Sennacherib attacked Ekron: he tells us that Padi, king of Ekron, had been faithful to his pledges to Assyria, and the priests, princes, and people of Ekron had conspired against him and revolted, and, putting their king in bonds, had delivered him into the hands of Hezekiah, king of Judah, to be kept prisoner at Jerusalem. The revolters at Ekron relied on the assistance of Egypt; and when Sennacherib advanced against the city, a force under the king of Egypt came to their assistance. The Egyptian army was from the kings of Egypt (the plural being used), and from the king of Miruhha, or Ethiopia.
To meet the army of Egypt, Sennacherib turned aside to Altaqu (Eltekeh, Jos 19:44), where the two forces met, and the Egyptians were defeated. See So. The overthrow of the Egyptian army was followed by the capture of Altaqu and Tamna (Timnah, 15, 10), and Sennacherib again marched to Ekron, and put to death the leading men of the city who had led the revolt, and severely treated the people. Their king, Padi, was demanded of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and, being delivered up, was once more seated on the throne. The last part of the expedition given in the Assyrian annals consists of the attack on Hezekiah. The king of Judah was the most important of the tributaries who had thrown off the yoke of Assyria, and was reserved for the last operations. After settling the affairs of Ekron, Sennacherib marched against Judah, and captured forty-six of the fortified cities of Hezekiah, agreeing with the statement of the Scripture (2Ki 18:13-16) that he came up against all the fenced cities of Judah and took them; all the smaller places round them were destroyed, and Sennacherib carried into captivity 200,150 people of all sorts, together with horses, mules, asses, camels, oxen, and sheep in great numbers. Sennacherib goes on to relate that he shut up Hezekiah in Jerusalem like a caged bird, and built towers round the city to attack it. Sennacherib now began to portion off and dispose of the territory which he had conquered. The towns along the western side he detached from Judah, and divided them between Metinti, king of Ashdod, Sarn-ludari, king of Askelon, Padi, king of Ekron, and Zilli-bel, king of Gaza, the four kings of the Philistines who were now in submission to Assyria, and he increased the amount of the tribute due from these principalities. Hezekiah and his principal men, shut up in Jerusalem, now began to fear, and resolved on submission.
Meanwhile the soldiers of Sennacherib were attacking Lachish, one of the last remaining strong cities of Judah. The pavilion of this proudest of the Assyrian kings was pitched within sight of the city, and the monarch sat on a magnificent throne while the Assyrian army assaulted the city. Lachish, the strong city, was captured, and thence Sennacherib dictated terms to the humbled king of Judah. Hezekiah sent by his messenger and made submission, and gave tribute, including thirty talents of gold, 800 talents of silver, precious stones of various sorts, couches and thrones of ivory, skins and horns of buffaloes, girls and eunuchs, male and female musicians. According to the record of Sennacherib, he returned to Nineveh in triumph, bearing with him this tribute and spoil, and not a single shadow of reverse or disaster appears in the whole narrative.
The accounts of this expedition of Sennacherib given in the Bible relate that after the submission of Hezekiah, the angel of the Lord went through the camp of the Assyrians and destroyed 185,000 men of Sennacherib’s army, and that the Assyrian monarch returned in disgrace to Nineveh (2Ki 19:35-37). This overthrow of Sennacherib’s army is confirmed by a story told to Herodotus (2, 141) by the Egyptian priests. They relate that in the time of an Egyptian king named Sethos, Sennacherib made an expedition against Egypt, and came as far as Pelusium. Sethos went out against him with an inferior army, having invoked the aid of the Egyptian gods and been promised deliverance. In the night, as the two armies lay opposite each other, hosts of field mice came and destroyed the bow strings of the Assyrians, who next morning fled.
The discrepancy in dates between the cuneiform and the Biblical accounts of this invasion are at present irreconcilable (Journ. of Sac. Lit. July, 1854, p. 383 sq.). SEE CHRONOLOGY. There has probably been an error in reading the former, or perhaps an error in the record itself. All attempts to correct the Scripture date are forbidden by the manner in which it is interlaced and confirmed by the context. Rawlinson and others have sought a partial solution of the difficulty by the supposition of a twofold attack by Sennacherib upon Palestine; but neither the Assyrian nor the Biblical annals give any countenance to this view. SEE HEZEKIAH.
3. Later Campaigns and Death. In his fourth year Sennacherib invaded Babylonia for the second time. Merodach-Baladan continued to have a party in that country, where his brothers still resided; and it may be suspected that the viceroy, Belibus, either secretly favored his cause, or, at any rate, was remiss in opposing it. The Assyrian monarch, therefore, took the field in person, defeated a Chaldaean chief who had taken up arms on behalf of the banished king, expelled the king’s brothers, and, displacing Belibus, put one of his own sons on the throne in his stead. In his fifth year he led an expedition into Armenia and Media; after which, from his sixth to his eighth year, he was engaged in wars with Susiana and Babylonia. From this point his annals fail us.
Sennacherib is believed to have reigned at least twenty-two, and perhaps twenty-four, years. The date of his accession appears to be fixed by the canon of Ptolemy to B.C. 702, the first year of Belibus or Elibus; but Col. Rawlinson’s revised computation (in the Athenoeum, No. 1869, Aug. 22, 1863, p. 245) dates the accession in B.C. 704, and the late Assyriologist George Smith makes the reign to have begun in B.C. 705. The Scripture synchronism locates its beginning in B.C. 715. The date of his death seems to be marked in the same canon by the accession of Asaridanus (Esarhaddon) to the throne of Babylon in B.C. 680; but it is possible that an interval occurred between the two. SEE ESAR-HADDON. The monuments are in conformity with the canon, for the twenty-second year of Sennacherib has been found upon them, while they have not furnished any notice of a later year. SEE ASSYRIA.
Of the death of Sennacherib nothing is known beyond the brief statement of Scripture, that as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch (?) his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia (2Ki 19:37; Isa 37:38). It is curious that Moses of Chorene and Alexander Polyhistor should both call the elder of these two sons by a different name (Ardumazanes or Argamozanus); and it is still more curious that Abydenus, who generally drew from Berosus, should interpose a king Nergilus between Sennacherib and Adrammelech, and make the latter be slain by Esarhaddon (Eusebius, Chr. Can. 1, 9; comp. 1, 5; and see also Mos. Chor. Arm. Hist. 1, 22). Moses, on the contrary, confirms the escape of both brothers, and mentions the parts of Armenia where they settled, and which were afterwards peopled by their descendants.
4. Character. Sennacherib was one of the greatest of the Assyrian kings, and also one of the proudest of them. The prophet Isaiah pictures his haughtiness his stout heart, and the glory of his high looks; represents him as boasting, Are not my princes altogether kings? and as ascribing his victories to his strength of hand and his wisdom victories, at the same time, so complete and so easy as when one takes away the eggs of a fowl so scared that it neither fluttered nor peeped (10, 8-14). Sennacherib himself verifies the portrait for he calls himself the great king, king of nations, king of the four regions, first of kings, favorite of the great gods, etc. The accompanying seal depicts him killing a lion, and in one of his inscriptions he boasts of such a conquest. His approaching invasion filled Jerusalem with deep alarm, and Isaiah again and again depicts it. His boasts of previous conquests were not vain ones: ancient monarchies had disappeared before him, opposing armies had perished as grass on the house tops, and his numerous hosts had drunk up rivers on their march. An ideal march is vividly sketched for him by Aiath, Migron, and Michmash, to Geba, and Nob on the northern shoulder of Olivet. Sennacherib did not come by this route, for he wished to prostrate Egypt; but the route sketched might have been taken, and its very difficulties are meant to picture Assyrian intrepidity and perseverance. All the while Sennacherib was only God’s rod, an axe in his hand; and Lebanon, an image of his stately and warlike grandeur, shall fall by a mighty one. The virgin, the daughter of Sion, without armor or prowess, but courageous in her seeming helplessness, laughed him to scorn. Nay, God would do to him as he had done to the captives at Lachish, put a hook into his nose, and ignominiously and easily turn him back by the way he came (Isaiah 37). The stout-hearted are spoiled, they slept their sleep; at thy rebuke, both the chariots and horses were cast into a deep sleep; the earth feared and was still, when God arose to judgment (Psa 76:5-9).
Sennacherib was not only a great warrior, but also a grand builder. He seems to have been the first who fixed the seat of government permanently at Nineveh, which he carefully repaired and adorned with splendid buildings. His great work is the palace of Koyunjik, surpassing in magnificence all the buildings of his predecessors. The royal structure, built on a platform of about ninety feet in elevation, and paved with bricks, covered fully eight acres. Its great halls and chambers were ranged round three courts; one of them 154 feet by 125, and another 124 feet by 90. One of the halls was about 180 feet in length by about 40 in breadth, and sixty smaller rooms have been explored. These rooms are broader than those of his predecessors, probably because he used cedars from Lebanon. He built also, or repaired, a second palace at Nineveh on the mound of Nebbi Yunus, confined the Tigris to its channel by an embankment of brick, restored the ancient aqueducts, which had gone to decay, and gave to Nineveh that splendor which she thenceforth retained till the ruin of the empire. The realistic sculptures of Sennacherib are very instructive; every day scenes of Assyrian life are depicted by them; landscapes and hunting; the various processes of masonry; the carving and transportation of the great bulls; and the slaves working in gangs, and often in the presence of the king. He also erected monuments in distant countries. One of his memorials is at the mouth of the Nahr el-Kelb, on the Syrian coast, verifying his boast that he had come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and there it stands side by side with the tablet which tells of the conquests of Rameses the Great, more than five centuries before the period of Sennacherib. SEE NINEVEH.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Sennacherib
Sin (the god) sends many brothers, son of Sargon, whom he succeeded on the throne of Assyria (B.C. 705), in the 23rd year of Hezekiah. “Like the Persian Xerxes, he was weak and vainglorious, cowardly under reverse, and cruel and boastful in success.” He first set himself to break up the powerful combination of princes who were in league against him. Among these was Hezekiah, who had entered into an alliance with Egypt against Assyria. He accordingly led a very powerful army of at least 200,000 men into Judea, and devastated the land on every side, taking and destroying many cities (2 Kings 18:13-16; comp. Isa. 22, 24, 29, and 2 Chr. 32:1-8). His own account of this invasion, as given in the Assyrian annals, is in these words: “Because Hezekiah, king of Judah, would not submit to my yoke, I came up against him, and by force of arms and by the might of my power I took forty-six of his strong fenced cities; and of the smaller towns which were scattered about, I took and plundered a countless number. From these places I took and carried off 200,156 persons, old and young, male and female, together with horses and mules, asses and camels, oxen and sheep, a countless multitude; and Hezekiah himself I shut up in Jerusalem, his capital city, like a bird in a cage, building towers round the city to hem him in, and raising banks of earth against the gates, so as to prevent escape…Then upon Hezekiah there fell the fear of the power of my arms, and he sent out to me the chiefs and the elders of Jerusalem with 30 talents of gold and 800 talents of silver, and divers treasures, a rich and immense booty…All these things were brought to me at Nineveh, the seat of my government.” (Comp. Isa. 22:1-13 for description of the feelings of the inhabitants of Jerusalem at such a crisis.)
Hezekiah was not disposed to become an Assyrian feudatory. He accordingly at once sought help from Egypt (2 Kings 18:20-24). Sennacherib, hearing of this, marched a second time into Palestine (2 Kings 18:17, 37; 19; 2 Chr. 32:9-23; Isa. 36:2-22. Isa. 37:25 should be rendered “dried up all the Nile-arms of Matsor,” i.e., of Egypt, so called from the “Matsor” or great fortification across the isthmus of Suez, which protected it from invasions from the east). Sennacherib sent envoys to try to persuade Hezekiah to surrender, but in vain. (See TIRHAKAH
This great disaster is not, as was to be expected, taken notice of in the Assyrian annals.
Though Sennacherib survived this disaster some twenty years, he never again renewed his attempt against Jerusalem. He was murdered by two of his own sons (Adrammelech and Sharezer), and was succeeded by another son, Esarhaddon (B.C. 681), after a reign of twenty-four years.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Sennacherib
On the monuments Tzin-akki-irib, “Sin (the “moon goddess”) increases brothers,” implying Sennacherib was not the firstborn; or else “thanking the god for the gift.” Sargon’s son and successor. Ascended the throne 704 B.C., crushed the revolt of Babylon, and drove away Merodach Baladan, made Belibus his officer viceroy, ravaged the Aramaean lands on the Tigris and Euphrates, and carried off 200,000 captives. In 701 B.C. warred with the tribes on Mount Zagros, and reduced the part of Media previously independent. In 700 B.C. punished Sidon, made Tyre, Arad, and other Phoenician cities, as also Edom and Ashdod, tributary. Took Ashkelon, warred with Egypt, took Libnah and Lachish on the frontier; and having made treaty with Sabacus or So (the clay seal of So found in Sennacherib’s palace at Koyunjik was probably attached to this treaty), he marched against Hezekaih of Judah who had thrown off tribute and intermeddled in the politics of Philistine cities against Sennacherib (2Ki 18:13). (See HEZEKIAH: ASSYRIA; NINEVEH.)
Hezekiah’s sickness was in his 14th year, but Sennacherib’s expedition in his 27th, which ought to be substituted for the copyist’s error “fourteenth.” On his way, according to inscriptions (G. Smith, in Palestine Exploration Quarterly Statement, October 1872, p. 198), Sennacherib attacked Lulia of Sidon, then took Sidon, Zarephath, etc. The kings of Palestine mentioned as submitting to Sennacherib are Menahem of Samaria, Tubal of Sidon, Kemosh Natbi of Moab, etc. He took Ekron, which had submitted to Hezekiah and had delivered its king Padi up to him; Sennacherib reseated Padi on his throne. Sennacherib defeated the kings of Egypt and Ethiopia at Eltekeh. Sennacherib took 46 of Judah’s fenced cities including Lachish, the storming of which, is depicted on his palace walls. He shut up Hezekiah, (building towers round Jerusalem), who then submitted and paid 30 talents of gold and 800 of silver.
Sennacherib gave part of Judah’s territory to Ashdod, Ekron, Gaza, and Ashkelon. It was at his second expedition that the overthrow of his host by Jehovah’s Angel took place (2Ki 18:17-37; 2Ki 18:2 Kings 19). This was probably two years after the first, but late in his reign Sennacherib speaks of an expedition to Palestine apparently. “After this,” in 2Ch 32:9; 2Ch 32:17 years after his disaster, in 681 B.C., his two sons Adrammelech and Sharezer assassinated him after a reign of 22 years, and Esarhaddon ascended the throne 680 B.C. Esarhaddon’s inscription, stating that he was at war with his half brothers, after his accession, agrees with the Bible account of Sennacherib’s assassination. Moses of Chorene confirms the escape of the brothers to Armenia, and says that part was peopled by their descendants.
Sennacherib’s second invasion of Babylon was apparently in 699 B.C.; he defeated a Chaldaean chief who headed an army in support of Merodach Baladan. Sennacherib put one of his own sons on the throne instead of Belibus. Sennacherib was the first who made Nineveh the seat of government. The grand palace at Koyunjik was his, covering more than eight acres. He embanked with brick the Tigris, restored the aqueducts of Nineveh, and repaired a second palace at Nineveh on the mound of Nebi Yunns. Its halls were ranged about three courts, one 154 ft. by 125 ft., another 124 ft. by 90 ft. One hall was 180 ft. long by 40 ft. broad; 60 ft. small rooms have been opened. He erected memorial tablet at the mouth of the nahr el Kelb on the Syrian coast, beside an inscription recording Rameses the Great’s conquests six hundred years before; this answers to his boast that “he had come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon.”
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Sennacherib
SENNACHERIB (Assyr. [Note: Assyrian.] Sin-akh-erba, i.e. Sin [the Moon-god] has increased the brothers), son of Sargon, succeeded him on the throne of Assyria, on the 12th of Ab, b.c. 705. He was at once faced by troubles in Babylon, where Merodach-baladan had re-established himself. Sennacherib expelled him and placed Blibni of the Babylonian seed royal on the throne as a vassal king. After wars against the Kassites and Elamites in b.c. 701, Sennacherib set out to reduce the West to order. The king of Tyre fied to Cyprus, Sidon and the rest of Phnicia were taken or submitted, and placed under a king Ethbaal. Ashdod, Ammon, Moab, Edom sent tribute. Ashkelon and Ekron were captured, and Hezekiah had to restore Padi to the throne of Ekron after keeping him some time in prison. The Egyptians and their allies who had moved to support Hezekiah were defeated at Eltekeh. Then Sennacherib devastated Juda, capturing 46 cities and 200,150 prisoners. Hezekiah seems to have attempted to bribe him to retreat, sending immense tribute to Sennacherib while he was besieging Lachish. Lachish fell, and the Tartan, the Rab-sbakeh and Rab-saris were sent to demand the surrender of Jerusalem (2Ki 19:8 ff.). The miraculous dispersion of his army compelled Sennacherib to retreat without accomplishing the capture of Jerusalem. There is some reason to think that the Biblical accounts refer partly to a second campaign of Sennacherib after b.c. 690. His annals, however, do not extend so far. Troubles in Babylonia led him to recall Bl-ibni and set his own son Ashur-ndin-shum on the throne. He then had once more to expel Merodach-baladan from Lower Babylonia. Building a fleet on the Tigris and Euphrates, he pursued the Chaldan to the mouth of the Eulus, and there captured and destroyed the Chaldan stronghold, thus invading Lower Elam. He was too far from his base, and the Elamites fell on his rear and captured Babylon, carried off Ashur-ndin-shum to Elam, making a Chaldan Nergal-ushzib king in his stead; b.c. 694. The Assyrians soon re-asserted their supremacy, but a fresh rebellion placed a Babylonian on the throne of Babylon. In b.c. 691Samennacherib brought both Elamites and Babylonians to bay at Khalule. Two years later he invaded Elam. In b.c. 689 Babylon was captured and razed to the ground. From that time till b.c. 681, when Sennacherib was murdered (2Ki 19:37), we have no history of his reign. His great achievement was the creation of Nineveh as a metropolis of the Empire. He built the great palace of Kouyunjik and the great wall of Nineveh. Cf. Adrammelech.
C. H. W. Johns.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Sennacherib
A well-known enemy of the Church of the living God, We have his history, as far as relates to the church, 2Ki 18:13. His name it should seem is a compound of Sennah, the sword; and Charab, to destroy.
Though I should not have thought it worth the record of even inserting this man’s name in a work of this kind, neither would his name have been remembered in history, had it not been for being connected with the church’s history, yet as that part of his history which relates to the church opens a beautiful lesson, for instruction, I hope the Reader will indulge me with adding a few lines more before that we dismiss the recollection of the impious character of Sennacherib.
We are told that in the Lord’s delivering the church from the threatenings and slaughter of this man, the “angel of the Lord went out that night, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred, four-score, and five thousand; and when they arose in the morning, behold they were all dead corpses.” (2Ki 19:35) By the angel of the Lord we may suppose is meant the messenger of the Lord, for so the word is. It is not necessary to connect the meaning of the passage, as if it was one of those beings of light which are called angels. Some have thought that this visitation from the Lord was by pestilence, or one of those fatal winds which are known to visit those climates, which, wheresoever they come they sweep off with the besom of destruction. And they who have construed the passage in this sense have observed that it is said by the Lord, before the judgment took place. “Behold, I will send a blast upon him.” See the parallel history, Isa 37:1-38. And as it was by night, and the Assyrian camp unprepared for so unexpected a judgment, this blast, like a devouring, fire, entered the camp, commissioned by the Lord, and destroyed them. One circumstance is related which seems very striking-in the morning they were all dead corpses. Those who have witnessed the injury done by this pestilential meteor, or fiery wind, or blast, relate that the bodies so destroyed are quickly after reduced to ashes as if calcined or burnt in an oven. When we consider what is said of the Siroc winds of the warm though milder climates than Africa, I mean Sicily and Malta, we may easily conceive how fatal the Semyel, or Simoon as they are called, of those pestilential climates may be, especially when commissioned by the Lord. And the slaughter of such an army in one night carried with it the fullest and most decided testimony that it was indeed effected by the messenger, the angel of the Lord.
I have introduced this observation of the Lord’s judgment on Sennacherib’s army by way of introducing another; namely, what safety are the people of the Lord brought into when all the creation of God waits as ministering servants to execute the divine judgments on their enemies! “Winds and storms fulfilling his word,” sickness and the word, angels and messengers, all wait to execute the Lord’s commands. “Are they not all (saith the Scripture) ministering spirits, seat forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Heb 1:14) Hence with an eye to Christ, and to his people secured in him, the Lord’s promise runs-“He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness nor for the destruction that wasteth at noon day. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee.” (Psa 91:1-16 throughout.) First spoken to Christ, and then to all the seed of Christ everlastingly secured in him.
Fuente: The Poor Mans Concordance and Dictionary to the Sacred Scriptures
Sennacherib
se-naker-ib (, sanherbh; , Sennacherem, Assyrian Sin-akhierba, the moon-god Sin has increased the brothers): Sennacherib (704-682 BC) ascended the throne of Assyria after the death of his father Sargon. Appreciating the fact that Babylon would be difficult to control, instead of endeavoring to conciliate the people he ignored them. The Babylonians, being indignant, crowned a man of humble origin, Marduk-zakir-shum by name. He ruled only a month, having been driven out by the irrepressible Merodach-baladan, who again appeared on the scene.
In order to fortify himself against Assyria the latter sent an embassy to Hezekiah, apparently for the purpose of inspiring the West to rebel against Assyria (2Ki 20:12-19).
Sennacherib in his first campaign marched into Babylonia. He found Merodach-baladan entrenched at Kish, about 9 miles from Babylon, and defeated him; after which he entered the gates of Babylon, which had been thrown open to him. He placed a Babylonian, named Bel-ibni, on the throne.
This campaign was followed by an invasion of the country of the Cassites and Iasubigalleans. In his third campaign he directed his attention to the West, where the people had become restless under the Assyrian yoke. Hezekiah had been victorious over the Philistines (2Ki 18:8). In preparation to withstand a siege, Hezekiah had built a conduit to bring water within the city walls (2Ki 20:20). Although strongly opposed by the prophet Isaiah, gifts were sent to Egypt, whence assistance was promised (Isa 30:1-4). Apparently also the Phoenicians and Philistines, who had been sore pressed by Assyria, had made provision to resist Assyria. The first move was at Ekron, where the Assyrian governor Padi was put into chains and sent to Hezekiah at Jerusalem.
Sennacherib, in 701 BC, moved against the cities in the West. He ravaged the environs of Tyre, but made no attempt to take the city, as he was without a naval force. After Elulaeus the king of Sidon fled, the city surrendered without a battle, and Ethbaal was appointed king. Numerous cities at once sent presents to the king of Assyria. Ashkelon and other cities were taken. The forces of Egypt were routed at Eltekeh, and Ekron was destroyed. He claims to have conquered 46 strongholds of Hezekiah’s territory, but he did not capture Jerusalem, for concerning the king he said, in his annals, himself like a bird in a cage in Jerusalem, his royal city, I penned him. He states, also, how he reduced his territory, and how Hezekiah sent to him 30 talents of gold and 800 talents of silver, besides hostages.
The Biblical account of this invasion is found in 2 Ki 18:13 through 19:37; Isa 36; 37. The Assyrian account differs considerably from it; but at the same time it corroborates it in many details. One of the striking parallels is the exact amount of gold which Hezekiah sent to the Assyrian king (see The Expository Times, XII, 225, 405; XIII, 326).
In the following year Sennacherib returned to Babylonia to put down a rebellion by Bel-ibni and Merodach-baladan. The former was sent to Assyria, and the latter soon afterward died. Ashurnadin-shum, the son of Sennacherib, was then crowned king of Babylon. A campaign into Cilicia and Cappadocia followed.
In 694 BC Sennacherib attacked the Elamites, who were in league with the Babylonians. In revenge, the Elamites invaded Babylonia and carried off Ashur-nadin-shum to Elam, and made Nergalushezib king of Babylon. He was later captured and in turn carried off to Assyria. In 691 BC Sennacherib again directed his attention to the South, and at Khalute fought with the combined forces. Two years later he took Babylon, and razed it to the ground.
In 681 BC Sennacherib was murdered by his two sons (2Ki 19:37; see SHAREZER). Esar-haddon their younger brother, who was at the time conducting a campaign against Ararat, was declared king in his stead.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Sennacherib
Sennacherib, King of Assyria, who, in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah (B.C. 713), came up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them; on which Hezekiah agreed to pay the Assyrian monarch a tribute of three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. This, however, did not satisfy Sennacherib, who sent an embassy with hostile intentions, charging Hezekiah with trusting on ‘this bruised reed Egypt.’ The king of Judah in his perplexity had recourse to Isaiah, who counseled confidence and hope, giving a divine promise of miraculous aid. Meanwhile ‘Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia,’ and of Thebes in Egypt, had come out to fight against the Assyrians, who had threatened Lower Egypt with an invasion. On learning this, Sennacherib sent another deputation to Hezekiah, who thereon applied for aid to Jehovah, who promised to defend the capital. ‘And it came to pass that night that the angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand; and when they arose early in the morning, behold they were all dead corpses’ (2Ki 18:13, sq.). On this, Sennacherib returned to Nineveh, and was shortly after murdered by two of his sons as he was praying in the house of Nisroch his god (2Ki 19:36 sq.; 2 Chronicles 32; Isaiah 37).
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Sennacherib
[Sennach’erib]
Son and successor of Sargon, king of Assyria. He invaded Syria and Palestine in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign. Hezekiah owned that he had offended, and paid to him a tribute of three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. Sennacherib has left an account of this on a clay tablet. He says he captured forty-six fenced cities, and the fortresses and villages round about them belonging to Hezekiah the Jew, and carried away 200,150 souls, and horses, mules, asses, camels, oxen, and sheep without number, etc. He shut up Hezekiah in his house at Jerusalem like a bird in a cage. Cf. 2Ki 18:13-16; 2Ch 32:1-8.
On Sennacherib’s second invasion, he sent insulting and impious messages to Hezekiah, who apparently was again trusting in Egypt. But an angel of God destroyed the Assyrian army. Of course the monuments say nothing of this. The king returned to Assyria, and did not venture to invade Palestine again. He was eventually murdered by two of his sons, and Esar-haddon, another son, succeeded him. 2Ki 18:17-37; 2Ki 19:1-37; 2Ch 32:9-22; Isa. 36; Isa. 37. Apparently Sennacherib was co-regent with Sargon in B.C. 714 when he invaded Judaea the first time; he reigned alone from B.C. 705 to 681.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Sennacherib
H5576
King of Assyria.
Invades Judah; lays siege to Jerusalem, but abandons the country and returns to Assyria
2Ki 18:17-37; 2Ki 19:8; 2Ch 32:1-23; Isa 36
Death of
2Ki 19:35-37; Isa 37:36-38
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Sennacherib
Sennacherib (sen-nak’e-rb, or sn-na-k’-rib), sin, the moon, increases brothers, was the son and successor of Sargon. In the third year of his reign, b.c. 700, Sennacherib turned his arms toward the west, attacked Sidon, and finally marched against Hezekiah, king of Judah. “Sennacherib came up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.” 2Ki 18:13. There can be no doubt that the record which he has left of his campaign against “Hiskiah” in his third year is the war with Hezekiah so briefly touched in 2Ki 18:13-16. In the following year. b.c. 699, Sennacherib made his second expedition into Palestine. Hezekiah had revolted, and claimed the protection of Egypt. Sennacherib therefore attacked Egypt, and from his camp at Lachish and Libnah he sent an insulting letter to Hezekiah at Jerusalem. 2Ki 19:14. In answer to Hezekiah’s prayer the Assyrians lost, in a single night, by some awful manifestation of divine power, 185,000 men! The camp immediately broke up; the king fled. 2Ki 19:35-37. Sennacherib reached his capital in safety, engaged in other wars, though he seems to have carefully avoided Palestine, and was slain by two of his sons, 15 or 20 years after his flight from Jerusalem. Isa 37:38. He reigned 22 years, and was succeeded by Esar-haddon, b.c. 680. Sennacherib was one of the most magnificent of the Assyrian kings. He seems to have been the first who fixed the seat of government permanently at Nineveh, which he carefully repaired and adorned with palaces and splendid buildings.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Sennacherib
Sennach’erib or Sennache’rib. (sin, the moon, increases brothers). Sennacherib was the son, and successor, of Sargon. See Sargon. His name in the original is read as Tsinakki-irib, the meaning of which, as given above indicates that he was not the first-born of his father. Sennacherib mounted the throne B.C. 702. His efforts were directed to crushing the revolt of Babylonia, which he invaded with a large army. Merodach-baladan ventured on a battle, but was defeated and driven from the country.
In his third year, B.C. 700, Sennacherib turned his arms toward the west, chastised Sidon, and, having, probably, concluded a convention with his chief enemy, finally marched against Hezekiah, king of Judah. It was at this time that “Sennacherib came up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.” 2Ki 18:13. There can be no doubt that the record, which he has left of his campaign against “Hiskiah” in his third year, is the war with Hezekiah so briefly touched in 2Ki 18:13-16.
In the following year, (B.C. 699), Sennacherib made his second expedition into Palestine. Hezekiah had again revolted, and claimed the protection of Egypt. Sennacherib, therefore, attacked Egypt, and from his camp at Lachish and Libnah, he sent an insulting letter to Hezekiah at Jerusalem. In answer to Hezekiah’s prayer, an event occurred which relieved both Egypt and Judea from their danger. In one night, the Assyrians lost, either by a pestilence or by some more awful manifestation of divine power, 185,000 men! The camp immediately broke up; the king fled.
Sennacherib reached his capital in safety, and was not deterred by the terrible disaster, which had befallen his arms from engaging in other wars, though he seems, thenceforward, to have carefully avoided Palestine. Sennacherib reigned 22 years and was succeeded by Esar-haddon, B.C. 680. Sennacherib was one of the most magnificent of the Assyrian kings. He seems to have been the first, who fixed the seat of government permanently at Nineveh, which he carefully repaired, and adorned with splendid buildings. His greatest work is the grand palace, Kouyunjik. Of the death of Sennacherib, nothing is known beyond the brief statement of Scripture that “as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch, his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, smote him with the sword, and escaped into the land of Armenia.” 2Ki 19:37; Isa 37:38.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
SENNACHERIB
king of Assyria
2Ki18:13; 2Ki19:16; 2Ki19:36; 2Ch 32:1; Isa 36:1
Fuente: Thompson Chain-Reference Bible
Sennacherib
king of Assyria, son and successor of Shalmaneser. He began his reign A.M. 3290, and reigned only four years. Hezekiah, king of Judah, having refused to pay him tribute, though he afterward submitted, he invaded Judea with a great army, took several forts, and after repeated, insolent, and blasphemous messages, besieged Jerusalem; but his army being suddenly smitten with a pestilence, which cut off a hundred and eighty-five thousand in a single night, he returned to Nineveh, where he was murdered in the temple of Nisroch by his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer, and was succeeded by his other son, Esar-haddon, 2Ki 19:7; 2Ki 19:13; 2Ki 19:37.