The Major Campaigns of Assyrian King Sennacherib

The Assyrian Empire (935–612 BC) was a state that emerged in Mesopotamia (the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, now modern-day Iraq). By the late 8th century BC, Assyria had grown powerful, successively conquering eastern Asia Minor, Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, Babylonia, and Egypt. Its capital was established at Nineveh, near modern-day Mosul in Iraq.

The Assyrian Empire was the first state in world history that could truly be called a “military empire,” and its military development was arguably the most advanced of the ancient world. Its kings were almost constantly engaged in expansionist warfare. Among these kings, Sennacherib is the most frequently mentioned in the Bible.

In 705 BC, Sennacherib (reigned 705–681 BC) succeeded his father, Sargon II, as king of Assyria. In 701 BC, after conquering Babylon and Elam, he embarked on a campaign against the Western kingdoms. During his reign, Sennacherib primarily waged war in two regions: the Syro-Palestinian area and Babylonia.

According to the Annals of Sennacherib, the Assyrian army marched through Phoenicia directly south to Philistia. The king of Sidon fled to Cyprus. Various places in Philistia, including Sidqa, Ekron, Beth-dagon, Joppa, Bene-berak, and Azor, were plundered by the Assyrians. At this time, the Egyptian army, which had marched to Eltekeh, was also defeated by the Assyrians. Sennacherib claimed that Sidon, Arvad, Byblos, Ashdod, Ammon, Moab, and Edom all became vassal states and paid him tribute.

Among the many vassal states of the Assyrian Empire, Babylon was the most rebellious. In the time of Isaiah, the Chaldean Merodach-baladan (Isaiah 39:1; 2 Kings 20:12 calls him “Berodach-baladan”), with the support of “Elam,” twice seized the throne of Babylon (721–710 BC and 705–702 BC). He also tried to ally with Hezekiah to rebel against Assyria, posing a major threat. Concurrently, Ashdod revolted against Assyria, expelled the puppet king installed by the Assyrians, and formed an anti-Assyrian alliance with Judah, Egypt, and Babylon.

King Sennacherib of Assyria responded to these challenges from Babylonia and Palestine. In 703 BC, he first led his army to Kish, near Babylon, where he defeated Merodach-baladan’s army and then captured the city of Babylon. The defeated Merodach-baladan was forced to accept terms that allowed Assyrians free access to Babylon.

Following this, in 701 BC, Sennacherib marched west, plundering Phoenicia and Philistia. After capturing Timnah, Ekron, and Lachish, the Assyrians advanced along the Sorek and Elah valleys to the hill country of Judah, trapping Hezekiah in Jerusalem. Sennacherib’s inscriptions (the Sennacherib Prism) claim he captured 200,150 people and seized 46 of Judah’s fortified cities and countless smaller towns. Seeing Sennacherib’s repeated victories and his own precarious situation, Hezekiah offered tribute to Sennacherib at Lachish, totaling 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold (2 Kings 18:13-16). However, Sennacherib then sent officials to Jerusalem, ordering King Hezekiah and its residents to surrender and accept deportation. The envoys Sennacherib sent threatened them, saying, “On what do you base this confidence of yours? You say you have a strategy and military strength for war—but this is just empty talk.” They boasted that the gods of other nations had been powerless to save their people from the mighty Assyrians, and that Yahweh would be just as helpless as those gods (2 Kings 18:17-35). At that time, Taharqa, the Kushite king of Egypt, led his army to Libnah. Sennacherib defeated the Egyptian army and then once again concentrated his forces to attack Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:15-19). However, due to a strike from the Lord God, the massive Assyrian army of over 185,000 was annihilated, and Sennacherib’s plan to conquer Jerusalem failed.

Sennacherib’s troubles were not yet over. Upon his return to Assyria, he had to suppress another Babylonian rebellion led by Merodach-baladan. This time, Sennacherib appointed his son Ashur-nadin-shumi as king of Babylon. Six years later, Sennacherib waged war against the Elamites, but the Elamites quickly retaliated, invading Mesopotamia, capturing Ashur-nadin-shumi, and installing their own king to rule Babylon. Over the next few years, the two armies fought fiercely for control of Babylon. Finally, in an act of revenge, Sennacherib razed Babylon to the ground, and the city was massacred in 689 BC (The Old Testament Background Commentary). Sennacherib’s inscription records this grim vision: he filled the entire city with corpses, burned its buildings, flooded the ruins with massive amounts of water, and “smashed all the sculpted idols to the ground” (Isaiah 21:9).

In 681 BC, as Sennacherib was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer “killed him with the sword,” and they then fled to the land of Ararat (2 Chronicles 32:21; Isaiah 37:37-38). Sennacherib’s son Esarhaddon inherited the throne, and King Sennacherib exited the stage of history.