Sennacherib and the Siege of Lachish.

In 701BC Sennacherib king of the Assyrian empire came against the land of Judah, ruled by Hezekiah, who had years earlier led a revolt against Assyria and refused to play tribute to the king. Perhaps prompted by the death of Sargon, Sennacherib’s father. Of Hezekiah’s reign, in summary we read…

“The LORD was with him; he prospered wherever he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. He subdued the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.” (2Kings 18 v 7 - 8)

The siege itself at Lachish is only mentioned in passing in the Biblical record.

From “the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah”…

“And in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, "I have done wrong; turn away from me; whatever you impose on me I will pay." And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king's house. At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria. Then the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh from Lachish, with a great army against Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah.”
(1Kings 18 v 13 to 17)

The parallel account in “The Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah” is here, beginning with the words of encouragement to the people in Jerusalem by Hezekiah the King and Isaiah the Prophet…

“Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him; for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles." And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah. After this Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem (but he and all the forces with him laid siege against Lachish), to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all Judah who were in Jerusalem…” (Chronicles 32 v 7 - 9)

There is also an interesting reference to Lachish, and God’s judgement of the city from a contemporary prophet to Isaiah and Hezekiah, Micah. In what appears to be a list of towns and cities destined for defeat by the Assyrians, he has this to say about Lachish:

O inhabitant of Lachish, Harness the chariot to the swift steeds (She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion), For the transgressions of Israel were found in you. (Micah 1 v 132)

Despite Sennacherib’s boasts and threats he was to be defeated and humiliated at Jerusalem (more details here) and chose to glory in his success over the rest of Judea and in particular in his defeat of Judah’s second city: Lachish. The very fact that Lachish is the object of Sennacherib’s boast in his own palace and he chooses to ignore Judah’s principle city, goes a long way to confirm the biblical record of his humiliation outside the walls of Jerusalem.




































































































Sennacherib and the Siege of Lachish.