year, n.o. 701. The date, -therefore, in eh. xviii. 13 must be an error; and the choice would seem to lie between regarding it as a corruption-'' four- teenth" for" twenty-seventh "-and viewing it as th~ marginal note of a. commentator which has crept into the text. After an interval (2 Chron. xxxii. 9), which may not have exceeded a few months, and which certainly cannot have exceeded a year or two, Sennacherib attacked Hezekiah for the second time. It probably vexed him that he had not insisted on occupying Jerusalem with a garrison, and he may also have received fresh provocation from Hezekiah, if that monarch had made an application to Egypt for aid, as he seems to have done (eh. xviii. 24; Isa. xxx. 1-4). At any rate, Sennacherib proceeded once more to threaten Jerusalem, sent a force against it under three of his chief officials (eh. xviii. 17), attempted to stir up disaffection among the soldiers of the garrison (eh. xviii. 17-36), and announced his intention of coming against the city in person and" destroying it utterly" (eh. xix.10-13). At the same time, he laid siege to various towns in Southern Palestine, and contemplated invading Egypt, where Tirhakah was collecting an army to oppose him (eh. xix. 9). But at this point of his career his ambition received a signal check. In a single night, silently and suddenly-as the J ewe believed, by the direct action of the .A.Imighfy 1 ( eh. xix. 35 ; 2 Chron. xxxii. 21; Isa. xxxvii. 36)-almost his whole army was destroyed; and nothing remained for him but to relinquish his hopes of further con- quest in the south-west, and to make a hurried retreat to his capita.I (eh. xix. 36). The later years of Sennacherib were inglorious. In B.O. 694 Babylonia revolted from him, and succeeded in re-establishing its independence. Between this date and his death the only expeditions which can be probably assigned to him are one into Cilicia and another into Edom.9 He certainly made no attempt to recover the laurels which he had lost in Palestine and on the borders of Egypt, but allowed Manasseh in Judrea, and Tirhakah in the valley of the Nile, to remain unmolested. Domestic troubles probably occupied the later portion of his reign, which was terminated by his murder in 681 B.O. (eh. xix. 37), after he had held the Assyrian throne for the space of twenty-four years. Sennacherib's murder is not distinctly mentioned in the .Assyrian records, but "Esarhaddon appears as his son and successor, and there are traces 8 of this prince having had at first to contend £or the crown wit.h his half. brothers, Adrammelech and Sharezer (eh. xix. 37). The scene of the conflict was Armenia; and after it was over, Esarhaddon appears to havo 1 The catastrophe has been attributed to the simoom (Milman, 'History of the Jews,' Tol. i. p. 307), to a plague (Gesenius, Winer, eto.), to a sudden storm (Vitringa, Stunley), and even to a night attaok of 1he enemy (Michaelis): but the words of the narrative dis- tinctly point to that silent, sudden extincLion wltioh English law calls "the visitRtion of God." • 'Ancient Monarchies,' vol. ii. pp. 175-177. • Ibid., p. 186. xiv INTRODUCTION TO
made an expedition into Syria, where Sidon bad revolted,1 and, after crushing the revolt, to have established his authority over the whole of Phamicia, Palestine, and the adjacent countries. Manasseh, the weak son of Hezekiah, was at this time forced to become a tributary and subject- monarch, as were also the kings of Edom, Moab, and Amnion, of Tyre, Gebal, and Arvad, of Gaza, Ekron, Ascalon, and Ashdod.11 Assyria's dominion was at once extended and consolidated, and the way was paved for aggressions upon Egypt, which began about n.c. 672, in Esarhaddon's ninth year. 8 The offence given by Manasseh to his sovereign, on account of which he was arrested a:nd carried captive to Babylon (2 Chron. xxxiii. 11), may be probably assigned to the reign of Esarhaddon, who alone 0£ all the Assyrian kings maintained a residence in that city. And we may conjecture that his restoration to his kingdom (2 Cbron. xxxiii. 13) had a connection with Esarhaddon's Egyptian projects, since it would have been only prudent to secure the :fidelity of J ernsalem before the perils of an Egyptian campaign were affronted. Esarhaddon carried on war with Tirhakah successfully between B.C. 673 and B.C. 670; but in 11.c. 669 or 668 the fortune of war turned against him, and Tirhakah once more established his authority over the whole of Egypt.' It is somewhat remarkable that Scripture makes no mention of Esar- haddon's son and successor, .Asshur-bani-pal, who mounted the Assyrian throne in B.C. 668, and reigned till B.C. 626. This prince must have been contemporary with Manasseh for twenty-five years, with .Amon, and with Josiah. In the early part of his reign he made at least two expeditions against Egypt, and must have repeatedly passed through Palestine at the head of powerful armies.6 In his later years be warred successfully with Elam, Babylon, Armenia, Phc:enicia, and .Arabia. It was about the middle of his reign that the decline of .Assyria began. .A great Scythic invasion swept over Western .Asia, and spread everywhere ruin and desolation.' Assyria's distant dependencies, Egypt, Palestine, Lydia, detached them- selves. Before she bad time to recover from her depressed condition, her conquest was taken in hand by the combined Medes and Babylonians.7 Nineveh £ell about B.C. 616, or a little earlier,8 and Western .Asia became a field wherein rival ambitions met and collided. Media, Babylonia, Lydia, and Egypt, all of them : sought to profit by the downfall of the great power so long dominant over the Oriental world, while even such petty states as Judrea took the opportunity to aggrandize themselves (eh. xxiii. 15-20; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 6). So far as Judrea was concemed, the world-powers which took the place
1 • Eponym Canon,' p. 137. • Ibid., p. 139, lines 13-18. • Ibid., p. 69. • Ibid., p. 202. • 'Ancient llfona.rchiee,' vol. ii. pp. 201-203; • Herod., i. 103---106; comp. • Anciont Monarchies,' vol. ii. pp. 221-228. • Herod., i. 106; Abydenue a.p. Eueeb., 'Chron. Can.,' i. 9; Polyliietor. a.p. eund., i. 5, • The Assyrian Eponym list continues down to n.c. 617 (' Eponym Oanon,' p. 71). THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. xv