Seder Olam: C26b- Sennacherib
- Albert Benhamou
- Mar 15
- 19 min read
Updated: Mar 20
BIBLICAL CHRONOLOGY
Generation 26: Hebrew years 3000 to 3120 (760-640 BCE)
Year 3048 – 712 BCE – Campaign against the kingdom of Judah
It was in the 14th year of the reign of Hezekiah that Sennacherib campaigned again in the region, this time against the kingdom of Judah from which he conquered all the cities.
As for Hezekiah [Ha-za-ki-a-u] the Judean [Ia-u-da-ai], who did not submit to my yoke, 46 of his strong walled cities as well as small cities in their neighborhood, which were without number, [I destroyed?] by levelling with battering rams and by bringing up siege engines, and by attacking and storming on foot, by mines, tunnels and breaches. (The Annals of Sennacherib, transcription by Danial David Luckenbill, University of Chicago, published 1924)
The Assyrian text is corroborated by the Biblical account. Hezekiah sent him a tribute to spare Jerusalem:
Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fortified 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 you put 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 Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the door-posts which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria. (II Kings 18:13-16)
The tribute sent by Hezekiah to spare Jerusalem is also mentioned in the Annals of Sennacherib:
As for Hezekiah, the terrifying splendor of my majesty overcame him, [...] In addition to the 30 talents of gold and 800 talents of silver, [also] gems, antimony, jewels, large sand-stones, couches of ivory [probably the royal throne, see below], elephant hide, ivory, ebony, boxwood, all kinds of valuable treasures, as well as his daughters, his harem, his male and female musicians, he had [them] sent after me to Nineveh, my royal city. (The Annals of Sennacherib, op. cit.)
It is amazing to note the exact number of talents of gold in both texts: 30! As of the talents of silver, we may suppose that there was a transcription mistake by the scribes who confused 800 (the Annals) with 300 (the Bible). Unless the 800 talents of silver included the value of all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house, valuables that the Bible mentions in addition to the talents (coins).
Sennacherib had invaded the land and camped facing the Judean city of Lachish at the time of this tribute. Many reliefs have been found in the archaeological digs of the site of Tel Lachish and are preserved in the British Museum. They show the assault on this city, the deportation or execution of prisoners, and the booty.
Year 3048 – 712 BCE – The throne of Solomon
Another scene of this important collection depicts Sennacherib sitting on a throne. This was not any usual throne: it was the throne of King Solomon ! The description of this throne in the Bible is as follows:
Moreover, the king made a big throne of ivory and overlaid it with the finest gold. There were six steps to the throne, and the top of the throne was round behind; and there were arms on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the arms. And twelve lions stood there on one side and on the other upon the six steps; there was not the like made in any kingdom. (I Kings 10:18-20)
The similarities between the above Biblical description and the actual relief of Sennacherib are:
there are six steps, three for the feet and three for the sitting body
there are twelve figures, on each side along the six steps
the throne was made of ivory
The 12 figures are described in translations of the Bible as "lions". This is because the word in Hebrew in verse I Kings 10:20 is written אֲרָיִים, but there is no such word in Hebrew because the plural of the word 'lion' should have been אֲרָיוֹת , as mentioned just before in verse I Kings 10:19. So, this is to signify that there is a difference: the two lions described in verse 19 were indeed lions (they don't show in the relief of Sennacherib maybe because they had been removed from the throne since the time of King Solomon), whereas the so-called “lions” of verse 20 refer to something else. On the relief of Sennacherib, they resemble to people sustaining the throne with their arms up, so they may represent the 12 tribes of Israel being considered as “lions”.
As for the throne of Sennacherib, which was said to be decorated with ivory, was it a material used in Assyria in his time? Not sure, but we know for certain that the throne of Solomon was indeed made of ivory (I Kings 10:18) and this makes sense because we know from the Biblical narrative that Solomon had sent fleets to various parts of the world to bring rare species and materials such as ivory.
Year 3049 – 711 BCE – The siege of Jerusalem
The kingdom of Judah with its 2 remaining tribes of Judah and Benjamin, although a tribal state at the time, was not fully conquered after the fall of Lachish. Sennacherib, not satisfied with a tribute, resumed the war by sending his army chief, Rab-Shakeh, who spoke Hebrew, to besiege the capital of Judah.
Rab-Shakeh was probably an army commander hired from the one of the Israelite tribes previously exiled by Sargon II. His existence is confirmed by an archaeological item called the Assyrian eponym list. It is a clay tablet, kept in the British Museum and from which only a fragment remains, that gives the names of officials in the time of Shalmaneser; one of the name is indicated as Rab-Saqê:
Rab-Shakeh spoke to the population of Jerusalem from the walls and tried to turn the people against their king Hezekiah:
Then Rab-Shakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spoke, saying: “Hear you the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. Thus says the king: Let not Hezekiah beguile you; for he will not be able to deliver you out of his hand; neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying: The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Hearken not to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig-tree, and drink you every one the waters of his own cistern; until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive-trees and of honey, that you may live, and not die; and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuades you, saying: The Lord will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who are they among all the gods of the countries that have delivered their country out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?”
But the people held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king's commandment was, saying: “Answer him not.” (II Kings 18:28-36)
Archaeological evidence exists of King Hezekiah having been contemporary to Sennacherib, as shown in one clay cylinder kept at the British Museum that clearly states Hezekiah of Judah, Jerusalem his royal city.
In Jerusalem, King Hezekiah was desperate and genuinely prayed to God (II Kings 19:15). The Prophet Isaiah came to him to announce that his prayer had been received and pronounced God’s commandment not to listen to the king of Assyria, that He will put a spirit in him to the effect that he will return to his land and be murdered there. This took place in a Sabbatical year before a Jubilee year because of the following mention from Isaiah:
And this shall be the sign unto you: you shall eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs of the same; and in the third year sow you, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. (II Kings 19:29; also in Isaiah 37:30)
Indeed, the Hebrew year 3049 was Sabbatical and moreover it was the last Sabbatical out of the cycle of seven Sabbatical cycles, thus the 49th year of a Jubilee cycle. The following year, Hebrew year 3050, was the 50th year (Jubilee Year) of that cycle. It was the 11th Jubilee cycle since the start of the First Jubilee in Hebrew year 3050 (see document C21). The instructions of the Prophet, about what to eat from the land over two consecutive years, are following the instructions for a final Sabbatical (49th) and a Jubilee year (50th).
As God had made it known to Hezekiah through the words of Isaiah, one morning the besieged people of Jerusalem saw that the entire Assyrian camp was abandoned. Their king Sennacherib had hastened back to his capital Nineveh, the capital he had rebuilt in Assyria.
The Assyrian army that besieged Jerusalem was struck by the arm of God, probably by an epidemic that killed them (II Kings 19:35):
Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: “He shall not come unto this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with shield, nor cast a mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come unto this city,” says the Lord. “For I will defend this city to save it, for My own sake, and for My servant David's sake.” And the angel of the Lord went forth and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. (Isaiah 37:33-36)
The disaster that fell upon Sennacherib’s army is also recorded by historians such as Herodotus, who wrote his work about 150 years after the event. He could only gather some of the facts, mixed with legends. The text however shows that the disaster did occur and was recorded in the memory of men in his time:
On their arrival at Pelusium, so immense a number of mice infested by night the enemy's camp [Assyrians’ camp], that their quivers and bows, together with what secured their shields to their arms, were gnawed in pieces. In the morning the Arabians, finding themselves without arms, fled in confusion, and lost great numbers of their men. (Herodotus, The Histories, book II – Euterpe, section 141)
According to Herodotus, this event occurred in the city of Pelusium which was located at the entrance of Egypt but there is no record of the Assyrian having campaigned there at this time. The kingdom of Judah is more likely to be the place that he called the entrance of Egypt and Pelusium is likely to have been Jerusalem, the only city of the region with a renowned name in these times. When Herodotus wrote his work, Jerusalem and its temple no longer existed, because it will be destroyed by the Babylonians, so this may have caused his confusion about the place, attributing the event as a failed attempt to conquer Egypt. He noted that Sennacherib’s army was composed of Arabians, probably foreign mercenaries who served in his army.
Upon his return to Nineveh, Sennacherib took revenge against the Israelites who dwelt in the city for his failure in Judah. Tobit, a practicing Jew from the tribe of Naphtali, who had been among the deportees to Assyria at the time of Sargon II, gave the following account. This text is part of the Apocrypha, which is a collection of documents that was added to the first translation of the Bible (see document C30, Septuagint) but were not considered part of the canonical authorized Hebrew Bible. Although these documents do not have a religious value for Jews, they nonetheless contain some interesting historical details:
And in the time of Enemessar [Sargon II], I gave many alms to my brethren, and gave my bread to the hungry, and my clothes to the naked: and if I saw any of my nation dead, or cast about the walls of Nineveh, I buried him. And if the king Sennacherib had slain any, when he was come and fled from Judea, I buried them privily; for, in his wrath, he killed many; but the bodies were not found when they were sought for of the king. And when one of the Ninevites went and complained of me to the king that I buried them and hid myself; understanding that I was sought for to be put to death, I withdrew myself for fear. (Apocrypha, Tobit 1:16-19)
Year 3049 – 711 BCE – The last years of Hezekiah
After the siege of Jerusalem, some illness severely struck Hezekiah:
In those days Hezekiah was sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said unto him: “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order; for you shall die, and not live.” (Isaiah 38:1)
Why was said you shall die and not live? It seems redundant. The commentary of the Prophet’s words was that Hezekiah will die in this world and will not deserve (live) in the next world (meaning the world of the Righteous, after the venue of the Messiah). This seems to have been a harsh curse on the good king Hezekiah ! The reason why this virtuous king fell ill is so explained in the Talmud:
He [Isaiah] replied: Because you did not try to have children – He [Hezekiah] said: The reason was because I saw by the Holy Spirit that the children issuing from me would not be virtuous – He said to him: What have you to do with the secrets of the All-Merciful? You should have done what you were commanded, and let the Holy One, blessed be He, do that which pleases Him. – He said to him: Then give me now your daughter; perhaps through your merit and mine combined virtuous children will issue from me. – He replied: The doom has already been decreed. (Talmud, Berachot, 10a)
Because of Hezekiah's new decision to endeavor to have a child, God granted him another 15 years to live (II Kings 20:6).
But Hezekiah made a terrible mistake. The king of Babylon, called Berodach-Baladan in the Bible otherwise known as Marduk-Apla-Idina II, sent an emissary to Hezekiah, as he wanted to bring up a coalition against Assyria and free Babylon from the yoke of the Assyrians.
But this mission to Judah raised the Babylonian’s greed:
At that time Berodach-Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent a letter and a present unto Hezekiah; for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and showed them all his treasure-house, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures; there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not.
Then came Isaiah the prophet unto King Hezekiah, and said unto him: 'What said these men? And from whence came they unto you?' And Hezekiah said: 'They are come from a far country, even from Babylon.' And he said: 'What have they seen in your house?' And Hezekiah answered: 'All that is in my house have they seen; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.'
And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah: 'Hear the word of the Lord. Behold, the days come, that all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, says the Lord. And of your sons that shall issue from you, whom you shall beget, shall they take away; and they shall be officers in the palace of the king of Babylon.' (II Kings 20:12-18)
The king of Judah had been sinful to boast the religious treasures in front of foreigners who would wait the first opportunity to take them away from him. This attitude was blamed as one of the three mistakes that Hezekiah did:
Our Rabbis taught: Six things King Hezekiah did; in three they [the Sages] agreed with him, and in three they did not agree with him — He dragged his father's bones [corpse] on a rope bier (because his father Ahaz was wicked), and they agreed with him; he crushed the brazen serpent (the one that Moses had made, as explained in Numbers 21:8-9, and that the Israelites called Nehushtan; they later used to worship it as an idol, as explained in II Kings 18:4 - see document C26a, Hebrew year 3035), and they agreed with him; [and] he hid the book of remedies (this lost sacred book used to bring speedy recovery to the ill, and thus it failed to promote contrition and humility, an attitude that the sages denounced), and they agreed with him.
And in three they did not agree with him: He cut [the gold off] the doors of the Temple and sent them to the King of Assyria (during the siege of Lachish), and they did not agree with him; and he closed up the waters of Upper Gihon (in preparation of the Assyrian siege against Jerusalem, see document C26a, Hebrew year 3035), and they did not agree with him; and he intercalated [the month of] Nisan in Nisan, and they did not agree with him. (Talmud, Pesachim, 56a)
The reason why the Sages did not agree with Hezekiah on the two first issues was that it meant he mistrusted God to act and protect His holy city. As for the third issue, it was because Hezekiah had decreed that one month of Nisan would be counted as a second month of Adar so that Nisan, and thus Passover, would be displaced for another month (II Chronicles 30:1-3). This act was considered as an interference in God’s orders about the time for the festival.
About Year 3064 – 696 BCE – Jonah and the repentance of Sennacherib
It was during the reign of Sennacherib, after he returned from the siege of Jerusalem, that the second prophetic mission of Jonah took place.
Indeed, the Prophet had been ordered a first time, during the reign of Jeroboam II king of Israel, to prophesize against Nineveh (see document C25), but Jonah fled from his mission at that time. God protected the kingdom of Israel nonetheless and waited another time to renew the mission to Jonah to announce to the inhabitants of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, that their great city will be destroyed.
But the reaction of the city was not what Jonah had expected:
And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he proclaimed, and said: 'Yet forty days (for Jewish symbolism of the numbers, click here), and Nineveh shall be overthrown.'
And the people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
And the tidings reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, laid his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by decree of the king and his nobles, saying: 'Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, nor drink water; but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and beast, and let them cry mightily unto God; yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows whether God will not turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger that we perish not?'
And God saw their acts, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, which He said He would do unto them; and He did it not. (Jonah 3:4-9)
So, God spared the great city at that time. But which king, head of the most powerful empire at the time, would make amend to the voice of an unknown Israelite person who came to announce a forthcoming destruction of the greatest city?
Only Sennacherib himself could have been that repentant king because he had experienced first-hand the power of the god of the Jews during the siege of Jerusalem. Unlike any other Assyrian king, he would not have undervalued the divine decree pronounced by one of their prophets. So, he repented and ordered his capital to repent with him.
Moreover, there is belief that Sennacherib even changed his own god and cult and adopted religious practice that was foreign to the Assyrian religion. Ii is possible that God gave another 15 years to Sennacherib to live, as He had granted this duration to Hezekiah too.
According to Tradition, Jonah the Prophet died and was buried in Nineveh, which is modern-day Mosul (Kurdistan, northern Iraq), during the reign of Sennacherib's son, Esarhaddon. Because of his two missions, the lifetime of Jonah was about 120 years, as he prophesized in Jeroboam's reign (831-790 BCE) and again in Sennacherib's time (696 BCE). We may therefore assume that Jonah was born in about 815 BCE and died about 695 BCE, soon after his second mission to Nineveh. His first mission was given to him when he was 20 years old, about 795 BCE during the reign of Jeroboam II.
Jonah's tomb is in Mosul, the ancient Nineveh, and locally known as a mosque called al-Nabi Yunus (meaning the Prophet Jonah). The tomb was vandalized on 9 July 2014 (11 Tammuz 5774) by Muslim jihadists aiming to restore a Muslim Caliphate (to read related article, click here) and completely destroyed it on 24 July 2014 (27 Tammuz 5774). But, after this destruction, some excavation work took place and hidden artifacts were found under the tomb of Jonah, of which slabs bearing the name Esarhaddon, the king contemporary to the Prophet (for full article, click here).
Year 3064 – 696 BCE – Manasseh the worst king of Judah
When Hezekiah died after 29 years of reign, he was succeeded by his 12-year-old son Manasseh. The young king had no opportunity to be raised under the good influence of his righteous father, and inevitably fell into sinful behavior when he grew up. He restored the worship of Baal as Ahab king of Israel had done in his time. He went even further by setting a pagan service in the Temple of Solomon, where he sacrificed his own son (II Kings 21:4-5). God was greatly offended, as no other king of Judah had done before:
Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I bring such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever hears of it, both his ears shall tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. And I will cast off the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; because they have done that which is evil in My sight, and have provoked Me, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day.’ (II Kings 21:12-15)
Manasseh however reigned for 55 years (II Kings 21:1). Archaeological evidence has been found about his reign, due to the taxes he levied on his people. Indeed, fiscal bullae in clay were found in digs in the City of David (the ancient Jerusalem at the time of the kingdom of Judah), and they contain names of people and cities which paid their taxes. A related article mentions that at least 19 cities are identified in the paleo-Hebrew inscriptions on the fiscal bullae, representing nine of the 12 districts of Judah listed in Joshua 15:20–63 (to read this article from BAR magazine, click here). This finding obviously confirms the Biblical narrative.
Manasseh's son Amon succeeded him when he was 22 years old and he followed his father in the pagan ways.
About Year 3071 – 689 BCE – Sennacherib destroys Babylon
Sennacherib had to deal with a lot of rebellion from Babylon during his reign and he led several campaigns over time. However, in a campaign around 690 BCE, he did something that no other ruler had done before him: he destroyed the city. This act was considered as a sacrilege because Babylon had a sacred status: it was considered as the oldest city in these times, created by the gods themselves. The rulers would see good omen if they conquered it, but would refrain from damaging it, by fear of upsetting the great gods of the ancient city. But Sennacherib destroyed it all. Why? Because he had adopted another cult and was no longer respectful of the pagan rites he used to follow. This act caused great upset in his empire, and ultimately also his death a few years later.
Year 3079 – 681 BCE – The assassination of Sennacherib
Upon Jonas' prophecy in 696 BCE, Sennacherib had repented, so God delayed his decree against him and against the city of Nineveh and granted him another 15 years to live until he was assassinated in 681 BCE, as He had granted the same number of years to Hezekiah. Sennacherib ultimately fell by the hand of two of his own sons:
And it came to pass, as (Sennacherib סנחריב) he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch (נסרך), his god, that Adrammelech and Sarezer, his sons, smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead. (II Kings 19:36-37)
The reason for the assassination was religious. As the Biblical text states, he was murdered in the temple as he was worshipping his god. The place and time had been carefully chosen on purpose, to restore faith into the old cult of Assyria by proving that Sennacherib's god had not been able to protect him from death even during the worship. His sons fled because their purpose was not to seize power, but only to prove wrong their father’s personal cult.
It is also possible that the personal cult had stemmed from his desire to present himself as godly, like Pharaoh, because the name NiSRoCH (נסרך) uses similar letters as the name SeNaCHeRib (סנחריב). Another explanation is that Sennacherib adopted a form of monotheism, like the Israelite cult, after God spared him and his great city. The Biblical text mentions his god, singular as one single god to worship, and not his gods.
This assassination on religious motives was confirmed by Esarhaddon, the youngest son of Sennacherib:
Thereafter my brothers went mad and whatever was wicked against gods and men they did and plotted evil; they drew the sword in the midst of Nineveh godlessly. (Prism of Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal, found at Nineveh 1917-8, by R. Campbell, Thomson, London, Pl.2, lines 41-43)
Further in the same document, Esarhaddon mentioned that the scoundrels (his brothers) fled to an unknown land (op. cit., line 84). He also mentions Manasseh, as Menasi king of Judah (op. cit., pl. 11, line 55).
Year 3079 – 681 BCE – Esarhaddon, king of Assyria
Esarhaddon, the youngest son and successor to Sennacherib, undertook the task to rebuild Babylon and to restore all the faiths that were previously established in the Assyrian Empire. In the land of the previous Israelite kingdom of Samaria, the new dwellers, who came partly from Babylon and were then known as the Samaritans, also requested from him to be allowed to practice the cult of the Israelites. With the help of an exiled Levite, they learned the fear of God and served Him, but with their own pagan ways including the sacrificing of children:
Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying: 'Carry there one of the priests whom you brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.' So, one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Beth-El and taught them how they should fear the Lord.
Howbeit every nation made gods of their own and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt. And the men of Babylon made Succoth-Benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. So, they feared the Lord, and made unto them from among themselves priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. They feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away. (II Kings 17:27-33)
In Nineveh, Esarhaddon employed a nephew of Tobit in his administration:
And there passed not five and fifty days before two of his sons killed him [Sennacherib] and they fled into the mountains of Ararat; and Sarchedonus [Esarhaddon] his son reigned in his stead; who appointed over his father's accounts, and over all his affairs, Achiacharus my brother Anael's son. And Achiacharus was intreating for me, so I returned to Nineveh. Now Achiacharus was cupbearer, and keeper of the signet, and steward, and overseer of the accounts: and Sarchedonus appointed him next unto him: and he was my brother's son. (Apocrypha, Tobit 1:21-22)
To return to the first part of this generation 26, click here.
To return to the list of chronological generations from Seder Olam Revisited, click here.
Albert Benhamou
Private Tour Guide in Israel
Adar 5785 - March 2025