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Bible Dictionaries
Sennacherib
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or SENNACHERIB (Assyr. [Note: Assyrian.] Sin-akhç-erba, i.e. ‘Sin [the Moon-god] has increased the brothers’), son of Sargon, succeeded him on the throne of Assyria, on the 12th of Ab, b.c. 705. He was at once faced by troubles in Babylon, where Merodach-baladan had re-established himself. Sennacherib expelled him and placed Bçlibni of the Babylonian seed royal on the throne as a vassal king. After wars against the Kassites and Elamites in b.c. 701, Sennacherib set out to reduce the West to order. The king of Tyre fied to Cyprus, Sidon and the rest of PhÅ“nicia were taken or submitted, and placed under a king Ethbaal. Ashdod, Ammon, Moab, Edom sent tribute. Ashkelon and Ekron were captured, and Hezekiah had to restore Padi to the throne of Ekron after keeping him some time in prison. The Egyptians and their allies who had moved to support Hezekiah were defeated at Eltekeh. Then Sennacherib devastated Judæa, capturing 46 cities and 200,150 prisoners. Hezekiah seems to have attempted to bribe him to retreat, sending immense tribute to Sennacherib while he was besieging Lachish. Lachish fell, and the Tartan, the Rab-sbakeh and Rab-saris were sent to demand the surrender of Jerusalem ( 2 Kings 19:8 ff.). The miraculous dispersion of his army compelled Sennacherib to retreat without accomplishing the capture of Jerusalem. There is some reason to think that the Biblical accounts refer partly to a second campaign of Sennacherib after b.c. 690. His annals, however, do not extend so far. Troubles in Babylonia led him to recall Bçl-ibni and set his own son Ashur-nâdin-shum on the throne. He then had once more to expel Merodach-baladan from Lower Babylonia. Building a fleet on the Tigris and Euphrates, he pursued the Chald¿an to the mouth of the Eul¿us, and there captured and destroyed the Chald¿an stronghold, thus invading Lower Elam. He was too far from his base, and the Elamites fell on his rear and captured Babylon, carried off Ashur-nâdin-shum to Elam, making a Chald¿an Nergal-ushçzib king in his stead; b.c. 694. The Assyrians soon re-asserted their supremacy, but a fresh rebellion placed a Babylonian on the throne of Babylon. In b.c. 691Samennacherib brought both Elamites and Babylonians to bay at Khalule. Two years later he invaded Elam. In b.c. 689 Babylon was captured and razed to the ground. From that time till b.c. 681, when Sennacherib was murdered ( 2 Kings 19:37 ), we have no history of his reign. His great achievement was the creation of Nineveh as a metropolis of the Empire. He built the great palace of Kouyunjik and the great wall of Nineveh. Cf. Adrammelech.
C. H. W. Johns.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Sennacherib'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/s/sennacherib.html. 1909.
