cyberjosh
Member
"The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold" - Lord Byron
Thus began the famous poem by Lord Byron poeticizing the infamous destruction of Sennacherib's army. This account of Sennacherib's clash with Hezekiah and the God of Israel has from the beginning inspired awe and wonder and become a story of great fascination to many. And interestingly enough there have been several accounts and artifacts of historical value which have been found that give details about this period in time during Sennacherib's rule which corroborate the Biblical story. One such artifact is the Taylor Prism.
The artifact known as Sennacherib's Prism, or the Taylor Prism, is a 38cm tall, hexagonal prism containing a personal account of Sennacherib written in cuneiform, in which he boasts of his exploits against his enemies. Sennacherib was an Assyrian king who laid siege to Jerusalem in 701 B.C. and executed a military campaign in Palestine to put down insurrections against Assyrian rule and attempts to break off vassalship to Assyria. At the time Judah was under the rule of Hezekiah who was a rather strong King among the neighboring nations, and possibly provoked Sennacherib's wrath when the Philistines overthrew their own King Padi (King of Ekron - appointed by Assyria) and had him imprisoned in Jerusalem during Hezekiah's reign. This could have been viewed as an attempt to throw off Assyrian vassalage and defer preference to the king of Judah, as a military ally against Assyria. This account though of Assyria's invasion into Palestine is one of more well documented events in history and has many avenues of corroboration and has spurred many discussions as the details of the amazing sequence of events as recorded in the Bible.
Let's first look at the Bible's account of the event that the Taylor Prism also records:
The Taylor Prism:
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Now observe Sennacherib's account on the prism:
There are three main extra-biblical explanations given for this catastrophe (and I will give an 4th one proposed recently, later in another post), two being historical accounts (from Herododus and Berosus, both quoted by Josephus) and one modern speculation:
1. Herodotus, from the perspective of an Egyptian legend, recorded that mice gnawed through the soldiers quivers, bowstrings, and shield-straps, making them vulnerable to their enemies (Antiquities 10.1.4 / bible-history).
2. Josephus also quoted Berosus who recorded: "Now when Sennacherib was returning from his Egyptian war to Jerusalem, he found his army under Rabshakeh his general in danger [by a plague], for God had sent a pestilential distemper upon his army; and on the very night of the siege, a hundred fourscore and five thousand, with their captains and generals, were destroyed." (Antiquities 10.1.5).
3. The third, more modern, speculation is that a meteor struck the Assyrian camp, but is unlikely, and contradicts the Biblical and historical accounts.
But it is clear that in history something devastating happened to the Assyrian army that caused Sennacherib's campaigns around the Mediterranean to cease and cause him to return to his own land.
The Bible was even correct on how Sennacherib died. A clay tablet that now resides in the British Museum records: 'On the twentieth day of the month Tebet Sennacherib king of Assyria his son slew him in rebellion... Esarhaddon his son sat on the throne of Assyria.' Josephus, once again, comes through on this topic and also records: "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, Adrammelech and Seraser, 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, while Assarachoddas took the kingdom of Sennacherib." And this proved to be the conclusion of this Assyrian expedition against the people of Jerusalem. (Antiquities 10.1.5). There is amazing correlation between these multiple historical accounts and the Bible. Thus we can the story of Sennacherib in 2 Kings is soundly set in historical fact.
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold" - Lord Byron
Thus began the famous poem by Lord Byron poeticizing the infamous destruction of Sennacherib's army. This account of Sennacherib's clash with Hezekiah and the God of Israel has from the beginning inspired awe and wonder and become a story of great fascination to many. And interestingly enough there have been several accounts and artifacts of historical value which have been found that give details about this period in time during Sennacherib's rule which corroborate the Biblical story. One such artifact is the Taylor Prism.
The artifact known as Sennacherib's Prism, or the Taylor Prism, is a 38cm tall, hexagonal prism containing a personal account of Sennacherib written in cuneiform, in which he boasts of his exploits against his enemies. Sennacherib was an Assyrian king who laid siege to Jerusalem in 701 B.C. and executed a military campaign in Palestine to put down insurrections against Assyrian rule and attempts to break off vassalship to Assyria. At the time Judah was under the rule of Hezekiah who was a rather strong King among the neighboring nations, and possibly provoked Sennacherib's wrath when the Philistines overthrew their own King Padi (King of Ekron - appointed by Assyria) and had him imprisoned in Jerusalem during Hezekiah's reign. This could have been viewed as an attempt to throw off Assyrian vassalage and defer preference to the king of Judah, as a military ally against Assyria. This account though of Assyria's invasion into Palestine is one of more well documented events in history and has many avenues of corroboration and has spurred many discussions as the details of the amazing sequence of events as recorded in the Bible.
Let's first look at the Bible's account of the event that the Taylor Prism also records:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Taylor Prism:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now observe Sennacherib's account on the prism:
Notice how there are three main correlations between those accounts: Hezekiah did not surrender to Sennacherib or "submit to [his] yoke" (he heeded the words of Isaiah), Sennacherib besieged Judah and seized its cities (except for Jerusalem), and Hezekiah tried to appease Sennacherib by paying him a lot of tribute, though still refusing to submit to him. Also there is a small correlation between the tribute amounts, though Sennacherib records the extra tribute that he exacted from Hezekiah along with the silver. But also note that Sennacherib never says that he took Jerusalem. This is because a catastrophe struck the Assyrian's camp, which was surrounding Jerusalem.
There are three main extra-biblical explanations given for this catastrophe (and I will give an 4th one proposed recently, later in another post), two being historical accounts (from Herododus and Berosus, both quoted by Josephus) and one modern speculation:
1. Herodotus, from the perspective of an Egyptian legend, recorded that mice gnawed through the soldiers quivers, bowstrings, and shield-straps, making them vulnerable to their enemies (Antiquities 10.1.4 / bible-history).
2. Josephus also quoted Berosus who recorded: "Now when Sennacherib was returning from his Egyptian war to Jerusalem, he found his army under Rabshakeh his general in danger [by a plague], for God had sent a pestilential distemper upon his army; and on the very night of the siege, a hundred fourscore and five thousand, with their captains and generals, were destroyed." (Antiquities 10.1.5).
3. The third, more modern, speculation is that a meteor struck the Assyrian camp, but is unlikely, and contradicts the Biblical and historical accounts.
But it is clear that in history something devastating happened to the Assyrian army that caused Sennacherib's campaigns around the Mediterranean to cease and cause him to return to his own land.
The Bible was even correct on how Sennacherib died. A clay tablet that now resides in the British Museum records: 'On the twentieth day of the month Tebet Sennacherib king of Assyria his son slew him in rebellion... Esarhaddon his son sat on the throne of Assyria.' Josephus, once again, comes through on this topic and also records: "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, Adrammelech and Seraser, 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, while Assarachoddas took the kingdom of Sennacherib." And this proved to be the conclusion of this Assyrian expedition against the people of Jerusalem. (Antiquities 10.1.5). There is amazing correlation between these multiple historical accounts and the Bible. Thus we can the story of Sennacherib in 2 Kings is soundly set in historical fact.
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