Sennchareb's Seige on Jeresulem

Sennacherib’s Siege of Jerusalem, an attack on the cities of Judah and an attempted sacking of Jerusalem in 701 B.C., was a failed attack by Sennacherib, the Assyrian king. Although insignificant in a geographical sense, the siege of Jerusalem allows one to read various historical points of views about the war, presenting a fuller view of what happened while also bringing some controversy. The three texts provided: Prism of Sennacherib, Chapters 18-20 of Two Kings, and Isaiah Chapters 36-38, the latter of which are located in the Oxford Study Bible are able to provide a more thorough account of what occurred during the siege.

The first text, titled The Siege of Jerusalem and taken from the Prism of Sennacherib, gives an account of the War with Judah from the perspective of Sennacherib himself. Sennacherib’s story of what happens differs heavily from the two texts in the bible. His account starts off with him talking about his third march against other kings. Sennacherib first lists all the names of the kings, and the cities, he conquered in his third campaign. He says, “I marched against Hatti” then says, “In the continuation of my campaign I besieged Beth-Dagon, Joppa, Banna-Barqa” (269-270). Sennacherib explains how he was given gifts and installed leaders upon thrones who would then pay tribute to him. It is only until the second to last paragraph that Sennacherib addresses Hezekiah. Sennacherib states that for holding Padi, the previous king of Jerusalem, hostage, he “laid siege to 46 of his strong cities…conquered (them) by means of well stamping…drove out 200,150 people” (271). He then goes onto say that he made Hezekiah “a prisoner in Jerusalem…like a bird in a cage” (271). He ends his account stating that after he took away Hezekiah’s cities, yet failing to mention his failure of sacking Jerusalem, Hezekiah sent him many gifts including 800 talents of silver and his daughters.

Sennacherib’s account differs extremely from that of the biblical texts. Chapters 18-20 of Two Kings, and chapters 36-38 of Isaiah cover the Siege of Jerusalem but from the point of view of Hezekiah. The first difference starts with Padi. Mentioned in Prism of