Bible Dictionaries
Siege

Holman Bible Dictionary

Battle tactic in which an army surrounds a city and cuts off all supplies so that the enemy army is forced to surrender for lack of food and water. Deuteronomy 28:53-57 described the horrible actions to which siege leads (compare Jeremiah 19:9 ). Ezekiel 4:1 describes the prophet's symbolic act of building a miniature city of Jerusalem under siege. Preparing for siege, a city stored water inside the city walls and repaired the walls ( Nahum 3:14 ). One response was to “gather up your goods and flee the country” (Jeremiah 10:17 REB). To remain under siege was to “give yourselves over to die by hunger and by thirst” ( 2 Chronicles 32:11 NAS). This was the major tactic used in Near Eastern wars. Judah suffered siege from Sennacherib ( 2 Kings 18-19 ) and from Nebuchadrezzar (2 Kings 24-25 ).