"The eastern expedition of Sennacherib occupied his third year, and at the close of this year, his sonthern and eastern borders being secure, he had leisure to turn his attention to the afl'aifs of Palestine. Encouraged by the king of Egypt, Hezekiah, king of Judah, had thrown oft" the Assyrian yoke, several of the smaller sovereigns had either voluntarily joined him or been forced to submit to the king of Judah, and Lulia (the Elulius of Josephus), kins of Tyre and Zidon, had also rel)elled against Sen- nacherib. The Assyrians had lost their hold ou all the country from Lebanon to Arabia, and Sennacherib re- solved to reconquer this region. Crossing from his capi- tal into Syria, which he calls the land of the Hittites, he attacked first Lulia, king of Zidon; but this prince was not prepared to resist Sennacherib, so he embarked on one of his vesssls from the city of Tyre, and set sail for the land of Yatnau (the island of Cyprus), abandoning his country to the mercy of the Assyrians. Sennacherib now besieged and took the various Phoenician towns: Tyre, the strong city, appears to have successfully resisted him, but he captured Zidunnurabu (great Zidon, Josh, xix, 28) and the lesser Zidon ; then coming south, Bit- zitte and Zariptu (Zarephath, 1 Kings xvii, 9), Mahalliba Usu (Hosah, Josh, xix, 29), Akzibi (Achzib, ver. 29), and Akku (Accho, Judg. i, 31). The sea -coast of Phoenicia, down to the land of the Philistines, was now in the hands of Sennacherib, and he raised a man named Tubahal to the throne of Zidon, and fixed upon the country an an- nual tribute. The success of Sennacherib along the coast, and the failure of Egyptian aid, now brouarht nearly the whole of Palestine to his feet, and the various rulers sent envoys with tribute, and tokens of submission to present before the Assyrian monarch. Meuahem, who ruled at Samaria ; Tubahal, the newly made king of Zidon ; Abdili- hiti, king of Arvad; Urumelek, king of Gebal; Metinti, king of Ashdod ; and Buduil, king of the Ammonites ; Ke- Miosh-natbi, king of tne Moabites ; and Airamniu, king of Edom, now made their peace, and Askelon, Ekron, and Judah alone remained in rebellion. Sennacherib started from Akku, and keeping along the coast, invaded Aske- lon, and capturing Zidqa, the revolting king, sent him, his wife, his sons and daughters, his brothers, and other relatives, captive to Assyria. The cities of Askelon, Bit- daganna (Beth-dagon, Josh, xv, 41), Yappu (Joppa, Jonah i, 3), Benai-barqa (Beue-berak, Josh, xix, 45), and Azuru weie successively captured, and Sennacherib placed Saru- ludari, the son of Pnkibti, (ui the throne. Movinj; from Askelon, Sennacherib attacked Eknm : he tells us that Padi, king of Ekron, had been faithful to his pledges to As- syria, and the priests, princes, and peo- ple of Ekron had conspired against him and revolted, and, putting their king in bonds, had delivered him into the hands of Hezekiah, king of Judah, to be kept prisoner at Jerusalem. The revolters at Ekron relied on the assist- ance of Egypt ; and when Sennacherib advanced against the city, a force under the king of Egypt came to their assistance. The Egyptian army was from the kings of Egypt (the plural being used), and from the king of Mi- ruhha, or Ethiopia. To meet the army of Egypt, Sennach- erib turned aside to Altaqu (Eltekeh, ver. 44), where' the two forces met, and the Egyptians were defeated. See So. The overthrow of the "Egyptian army was followed by the capture of Altaqu and Tamna (Timnah, xv, 10), and Sennacherib again marched to Ekron, and put to death the leading men of the city who had led the revolt, and severely treated the people. Their king, Padi, was de- manded of Hezekiah, king of Judali, and, being delivered up, was once more seated on the throne. The last part of the expedition given in the Assyrian annals consists of the attack on Hezekiah. The king of Judah was the most important of the tributaries who had thrown ofl' the yoke of Assyria, and was reserved for the last operations. Af- ter settling the aff"airs of Ekron, Sennacherib marched against Judah, and captured forty-six of the fortified cities of Hezekiah, agreeing with the statement of the Scripture (2 Kings xviii, l.S-16) tliat he came up against all the fenced cities of Judah and took them : all the smaller places round them were destroyed, and Sennacherib car- ried into captivity 200,1.')0 people of all sorts, together with horses, mules, asses, camels, oxen, and sheep in
ir-i-ba
SENNACHERIB
531
SENNACHERIB
Throue of Sennacherib before Lachish (q. v.). (From the Monuments.)
great numbers. Sennacherib goes on to relate that he shut np Hezekiah in Jerusalem lilie a caged bird, and built towers round the city to attack it. Sennacherib now began to portion off and dispose of the territory which he had conquered. The towns along the western side he detached from Judah, and divided them between Metinti, king of Ashdod, Saru-ludari, king of Askelon, Padi, king of Ekron, and Zilli-bel, king of Gaza, the four kings of the Philistines who were now in submission to Assyria, and he increased the amount of the tribute due from these principalities. Hezekiah and his principal men, shut up in Jerusalem, now began to fear, and resolved on submis- sion. Meanwhile the soldiers of Sennacherib were attack- ing Lachish, one of the last remaining strong cities of Ju- dah. The pavilion of this proudest of the Assyrian kings was pitched within sight of the city, and the monarch sat on a magnificent throne while the Assyrian army assault- ed the city. Lachish, the strong city, was captured, and thence Sennacherib dictated terms to the humbled king of Judah. Hezekiah sent by his messenger and made submission, and gave tribute, including thirty talents of gold, 800 talents of silver, precious stones of various sorts, couches and thrones of ivory, slvina and horns of buf- faloes, girls and eunuchs, male and female musicians. According to the record of Sennacherib, he returned to Nineveh in triumph, bearing with him this tril)uie and spoil, and not a single shadow of reverse or disaster ap- pears in the whole narrative.