Sennacherib
The Assyrian king who invaded Judah and besieged Jerusalem in Hezekiah's day, but withdrew after his army was struck.
What we know — and how we know it
Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). — CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
ArchaeologyThe Lachish Reliefs from his palace at Nineveh depict in detail his siege of the Judean city of Lachish — the very campaign of 2 Kings 18.
Livioandronico2013 — CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
Ancient writersHerodotus preserves an Egyptian tale of Sennacherib's army routed overnight before Egypt — a distant echo of the disaster that turned him back from Judah, told in Kings.
Where in scripture
2 Kings2 ChroniclesIsaiahNow in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them.
2 Kings 18:13 — Invades Judah
Incline your ear, Yahweh, and hear. Open your eyes, Yahweh, and see. Hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to defy the living God.
2 Kings 19:16
Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says ‘You have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, and I have heard you.
2 Kings 19:20
So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and lived at Nineveh.
2 Kings 19:36 — Withdraws to Nineveh
After these things and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, entered into Judah, and encamped against the fortified cities, and intended to win them for himself.
2 Chronicles 32:1
When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, and that he was planning to fight against Jerusalem,
2 Chronicles 32:2
After this, Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem, (now he was before Lachish, and all his power with him), to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all Judah who were at Jerusalem, saying,
2 Chronicles 32:9
Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria, “In whom do you trust, that you remain under siege in Jerusalem?
2 Chronicles 32:10
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation.
Family
In their own words — 3 recorded sayings
“For he says, Are not all my captains kings? Will not the fate of Calno be like that of Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus? As my hand has come on the kingdoms of the images, whose pictured images were more in number than those of Jerusalem and Samaria;” — Isaiah 10:8-10
“So, as I have done to Samaria and her images, I will do to Jerusalem and her images.” — Isaiah 10:11
“For he has said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my knowledge, for I am wise: and I have taken away the limits of the peoples' lands, and the stores of their wealth have become mine; and I have made towns low in the dust, sending destruction on those living in them; And I have put my hands on the wealth of the peoples, as on the place where a bird has put her eggs; and as a man may take the eggs from which a bird has gone, so I have taken all the earth for myself: and not a wing was moved, and not a mouth gave out a sound.” — Isaiah 10:13-14
Speaker attribution: Clear Bible MACULA (CC BY 4.0). Wording: Bible in Basic English (public domain).
Events
Places in their life
Photo: Omar Siddeeq Yousif — CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
In art
