question archive Document B: The Book of Kings (Excerpted from Original) Loyal to the LORD, Hezekiah never turned away from him, but observed the commandments which the LORD had given Moses
Document B: The Book of Kings (Excerpted from Original) Loyal to the LORD, Hezekiah never turned away from him, but observed the commandments which the LORD had given Moses
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Document B: The Book of Kings (Excerpted from Original)
Loyal to the LORD, Hezekiah never turned away from him, but observed the commandments which the LORD had given Moses. The LORD was with him, and he prospered in all that he set out to do. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. He also subjugated the watchtowers and walled cities of the Philistines, all the way to Gaza and its territory.
In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea, son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, attacked Samaria, laid siege to it, and after three years captured it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel, Samaria was taken. The king of Assyria then deported the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah, at the Habor, a river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. This came about because they had not heeded the warning of the LORD, their God, but violated his covenant, not heeding and not fulfilling the commandments of Moses, the servant of the LORD.
In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, went on an expedition against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: "I have done wrong. Leave me, and I will pay whatever tribute you impose on me." The king of Assyria exacted three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold from Hezekiah, king of Judah. Hezekiah paid him all the funds there were in the temple of the LORD and in the palace treasuries. He broke up the door panels and the uprights of the temple of the LORD which he himself had ordered to be overlaid with gold, and gave the gold to the king of Assyria.
The king of Assyria sent the general, the lord chamberlain, and the commander from Lachish with a great army to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They went up, and on their arrival in Jerusalem, stopped at the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the fuller's field. They called for the king, who sent out to them Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, the master of the palace; Shebnah the scribe; and the herald Joah, son of Asaph.
The commander said to them, "Tell Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you base this confidence of yours? Do you think mere words substitute for strategy and might in war? On whom, then, do you rely, that you rebel against me? This Egypt, the staff on which you rely, is in fact a broken reed which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it. That is what Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is to all who rely on him. But if you say to me, We rely on the LORD, our God, is not he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, commanding Judah and Jerusalem to worship before this altar in Jerusalem?' "Now, make a wager with my lord, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses if you can put riders on them. How then can you repulse even one of the least servants of my lord, relying as you do on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? Was it without the LORD'S will that I have come up to destroy this place? The LORD said to me, 'Go up and destroy that land!'" . . .
When the commander, on his return, heard that the king of Assyria had withdrawn from Lachish, he found him besieging Libnah. The king of Assyria heard a report that Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, had come out to fight against him. Again he sent envoys to Hezekiah with this message: "Thus shall you say to Hezekiah, king of Judah: 'Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria. You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all other countries: they doomed them! Will you, then, be saved? Did the gods of the nations whom my fathers destroyed save them? Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, or the Edenites in Telassar? Where are the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, or the kings of the cities Sepharvaim, Hena and Avva?'". . .
Then Isaiah, son of Amoz, sent this message to Hezekiah: "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel . . . concerning the king of Assyria: 'He shall not reach this city, nor shoot an arrow at it, nor come before it with a shield, nor cast up siege-works against it. He shall return by the same way he came, without entering the city, says the LORD. I will shield and save this city for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant David.'"
That night the angel of the LORD went forth and struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. Early the next morning, there they were, all the corpses of the dead. So Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, broke camp, and went back home to Nineveh. When he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer slew him with the sword and fled into the land of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon reigned in his stead.
Source: The Book of Kings, written 7th-6th century BCE.
Document B: The Book of Kings from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament)
Sourcing: What type of document is this?
Sourcing - When was it written?
Sourcing - Why do you think it was written?
Close Reading - According to the document, what happened when Sennacherib tried to conquer Jerusalem? Was he successful?
Comparing documents - What about this document that supports the Sennacherib prism, and what about this document that contradict the Sennacherib prism?
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Q1 ANSWER:
The Book of Kings is a religious text/document or primary source of historical records (especially Deuteronomistic history).
Q2 ANSWER:
It was written in 550 BC, during the Babylonian Exile.
Q3 ANSWER:
The Book of Kings recounted the conclusion of the Deuteronomistic history. I believe it was written to give a theological explanation for Babylon's destruction of the Kingdom of Judah (586 BC). It also provides a scriptural description of the foundation for a return from exile as Babylon's captivity formally ended in 538 BC.
The Book of Kings is also an important document that explained God's power and authority. In the book, it was described how the kings who remained faithful to God and His law was given blessings but those who do things otherwise experienced the consequences of their actions (curses). Each king was evaluated by their reactions toward their covenantal responsibility to God's law.
Q4 ANSWER:
According to the Book of Kings, Sennacherib failed to conquer Jerusalem (a city of Judah). Jerusalem's siege came following the rebellions and campaigns against Assyrian rule. When the order was restored, however, Sennacherib (Assyria's Sargonid Dynasty's second king), turned his attention back to Jerusalem although Hezekiah (the king who reigned Judah during Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem) had already paid him a hefty tribute.
Despite Sennachrib's threats, the siege of Jerusalem was lifted through divine intervention. According to the biblical record of the event in the Book of Kings, King Hezekiah of Judah was told to be not afraid by prophet Isaiah. Isaiah promised that God would defend the city against Sennacherib's threats.
In the story, the angel of God was sent out and ordered to kill 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. Due to the dead bodies, Sennacherib and his camp pulled out and retreated back to Nineveh. Meanwhile, Sennacherib's unsuccessful siege of Jerusalem paved the way for the popularity of the Sennacherib Prism.
Q5 ANSWER:
The Sennacherib Prism aka the Taylor Prism of King Sennacherib contains the annals of the Assyrian monarch himself. Even though the prism contained the description of how Sennacherib silenced King Hezekiah of Judah, the Book of Kings maintained that Jerusalem was not among the 46 cities of Judah that fell to the Assyrian rule. (Contradiction between the Book of Kings and Sennacherib's prism)
Furthermore, it was revealed that there were accounts or proofs that decorated the palace of Sennacherib in Nineveh and depicted his campaigns and victories. Although the reliefs included several of those that detailed the siege of Lachish, the destruction of Jerusalem did not appear to be among them.
As for the statement/statements that support (similarities between the prism and the Book of Kings) the Sennacherib Prism, I think the story that recounted King Hezekiah's tribute to Sennacherib is both written in the Book of Kings and in the prism. The Bible's account of the tribute, however, differed in details but not in substance. (See explanation portion for the cited statements)
