must be regarded as a spurious gloss, which a copyist may possibly have transferred from a

marginal note into the text.

** To avoid the multiplication of references, we may state that, as regards the facts of Assyrian

history, we have mainly followed the work of Schrader, previously mentioned.

The long period of rest between the second year of Sargon and the accession of Sennacherib had,

no doubt, been employed by Hezekiah in further improving the condition of the country, possibly

in strengthening the defenses of Jerusalem, and preparing for future eventualities (comp. 2 Kings

20:20; 2 Chronicles 32:5 -30, and other passages). This is not the place to give a detailed account

of the events of the reign of Sennacherib, as we learn them from the Assyrian inscriptions, except

in so far as they bear on the narrative of Scripture. And even here we have to bear in mind that

admittedly the inscriptions designedly give a false impression of what had really occurred in that

war, in which Judaea was overrun and Jerusalem first besieged, and then a second time summoned

to surrender. It will be more convenient to give the story of this expedition, in the first place, as

told in t he Assyrian records, before referring to the Biblical account.

We have many inscriptions of the time of Sennacherib, in Assyrian: Sin -ahi- irib, or Sin -a h i-ir-ba

('Sin,' the lunar god, 'gives many brethren') - famed also for strengthening and fortifying his

capital, Nineveh ('Ninua'), and building there two magnificent palaces, one on each side of the

river. Among the various memorials of his reign four inscriptions are of special importance.*

* We are here again following Professor Schrader (See Keilinschr. u. d. A. Test. pp. 285-338, and

the Art. Sennacherib in Riehm's Hand-Worterb.

Summarizing their contents, which vary only in details, we infer that, in the fourth year of

Sennacherib's reign, another league had been formed of the principal Philistine and Phoenician

cities of Judah and of the Egypto-Ethiopian empire, for the purpose of shaking off the domination

of Assyria. So far as the first-named cities are concerned it comprised Sidon, Ascalon, and Ekron,

the inhabitants of which city, probably at the beginning of the war, if not before it, sent Padi, their

king, who was faithful to Assyria, in chains to Hezekiah, who cast him into prison. On the other

side, Ammon, Moab, and Edom, together with a number of the coast-cities in "the west country" -

notably, Ashdod and Gaza - remained faithful to Assyria. Tidings seem to have reached

Sennacherib before the confederates had time to carry their plans into execution. The Assyrian

army rapidly advanced. Elulaeus, king of Sidon, fled to Cyprus, and Ethobal was appointed in his

place, while the cities along the route of the Assyrian conqueror either submitted to him or were

taken. Sennacherib next advanced against Ascalon, and took it. Zidka, its king, and the royal

family, were transported into Assyria; Sarludari, the son of the previous king, was appointed in his

place; the whole country overrun and, like Sidon, made tributary. It was probably on his march

from Acco to Ascalon -perhaps from Jaffa - that Sennacherib detached a corps into Judah, which

took all the "fenced cities" thereof (comp. 2 Kings 18:13). The Assyrian inscriptions speak of the

capture of forty-six fortified towns and of "innumerable castles and small places," of the

transportation of 200, 150 of their captive inhabitants, men and women; of the taking of immense

booty, and

the annexation - probably only nominal, and, in any case, temporary - of the conquered districts to

the domains of the small potentates on the sea-board, friendly to Assyria. It is to this expedition

that Isaiah 10:28-34 refers, as indeed the whole prophecy in the tenth chapter of Isaiah applies to

the war of Sennacherib against Judah.*