Why Sennacherib Came against Jerusalem
Tomos 4. “And it came to pass in the fourteenth year of the reign of Hezekiah that Sennacherib king of the Assyrians came up against the fortified cities of Judea and took them. And the king of the Assyrians sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah, with a great army; and he stood by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road of the fuller's field” (Isaiah 36:1-2).
The account is plain to all who love to learn history; yet I will tell it, as briefly as I can. While Ahaz was reigning in Jerusalem, Pekah son of Remaliah and Rezin king of Syria were besieging Judea and planning to lay their hands on Jerusalem itself. Ahaz, too weak to resist, sent an embassy and called to his aid Tiglath-pileser king of the Assyrians, and with many gifts persuaded him to help him and to check the greed of the kings who had banded together against him, I mean the king of Samaria and the king of Syria (2 Kings 16:5-9).
When this was done, those who were making war on him perished. For the Assyrian took Damascus and Syria; and Ahaz came under his hand, and from then on under tribute and taxes. He was one of the very worst. He was an idolater and hateful to God, and perhaps surpassed all the others in his perversity toward God.
When Ahaz ended his human life, Hezekiah reigned in his place. He was his son, but a man dear to God, who had won the glories of the highest righteousness and piety. He, it says, “rebelled against the king of the Assyrians” (2 Kings 18:7); for he would not let his kingdom be brought under tribute, as Ahaz of course had done.
For this reason Sennacherib king of the Assyrians, as though he had the right to hold all Judea, and its very kingdom, under tribute, was inflamed with anger. He laid waste Samaria and sent his army against the cities of Judea, and when he had taken many of them, he then sent Rabshakeh against Jerusalem itself, not to take up arms for the time being by the law of war, but rather to lure the common people with threats and with promises of gentle treatment.
“And there went out to him Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the steward, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder” (Isaiah 36:3).
Greek
ΤΟΜΟΣ ∆ʹ.}1 9Καὶ ἐγένετο τοῦ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτου ἔτους βασιλεύοντος Ἐζεχίου, ἀνέβη Σεναχειρεὶμ βασι- λεὺς Ἀσσυρίων ἐπὶ τὰς πόλεις τῆς Ἰουδαίας τὰς ὀχυρὰς, καὶ ἔλαβεν αὐτάς. Καὶ ἀπέστειλε βασι- λεὺς Ἀσσυρίων Ῥαψάκην ἐκ Λαχῆς εἰς Ἱερουσαλὴμ πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα Ἐζεχίαν, μετὰ δυνά- μεως πολλῆς, καὶ ἔστη ἐν τῷ ὑδραγωγῷ τῆς κολυμβήθρας τῆς ἄνω, ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ τοῦ ἀγροῦ τοῦ γναφέως.9 Ἐναργὴς μὲν ἅπασι τοῖς φιλομαθεστέροις τῆς ἱστορίας ὁ λόγος· ἐρῶ δ' οὖν ὅμως βραχυλογήσας ὡς ἕνι. Βασιλεύοντος τοῦ Ἄχαζ ἐν τοῖς Ἱεροσολύ-μοις, εἶτα Φακεὲ τοῦ Ῥωμελίου, καὶ τοῦ Ῥαασσὼν τοῦ βασιλέως Συρίας ἐκπολιορκούντων τὴν Ἰου- δαίαν, καὶ αὐτοῖς δὲ τοῖς Ἱεροσολύμοις ἐπαφεῖναι τὴν χεῖρα βουλευσαμένων, ἀτονήσας πρὸς ἀντίστασιν ὁ μνημονευθεὶς, πρεσβείαν ἐστέλλετο, καὶ δὴ καὶ ἐκά- λει πρὸς ἐπικουρίαν τὸν Θεγλαφαλλασὰρ Ἀσσυρίων βασιλέα, καὶ δώροις αὐτὸν ἀναπείθει πολλοῖς ἐπαμῦ- ναί τέ οἱ, καὶ τὰς τῶν ἐπ' αὐτὸν συμπεφωνηκότων βασιλέων, τοῦ τε τῆς Σαμαρείας φημὶ, καὶ τοῦ τῆς Συρίας ἀνακόψαι πλεονεξίας. Οὗ δὴ γεγονότος, διολώ- λασι μὲν οἱ πολεμοῦντες αὐτῷ. Εἷλε γὰρ τήν τε ∆α- μασκὸν, καὶ τὴν Συρίαν ὁ Ἀσσύριος, γέγονε δὲ ὑπὸ χεῖρα τὴν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὑπὸ δασμὸν καὶ τέλη λοιπὸν ὁ ‹70.757› Ἄχαζ. Ἦν δὲ τῶν ὅτι μάλιστα φαυλοτάτων. Εἰδω-λολάτρης τε γὰρ καὶ θεομισὴς καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους τάχα που νενικηκὼς ἅπαντας ταῖς κατὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ δυστρο- πίαις. Καταλύσαντος δὲ τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον τοῦ Ἄχαζ, βεβασίλευκεν ἀντ' αὐτοῦ Ἐζεχίας, υἱὸς μὲν ὢν αὐτοῦ, πλὴν ἀνὴρ θεοφιλὴς, καὶ τῆς ἀνωτάτω δικαιοσύνης καὶ εὐσεβείας ἀνημμένος τὰ αὐχήματα. Οὗτος ἠθέτησεν, φησὶ, ἐν τῷ βασιλεῖ Ἀσσυρίων. Οὐ γὰρ ἠνέσχετο τὴν ἑαυτοῦ βασιλείαν ὑπὸ δασμοὺς ἐᾶσαι γενέσθαι, καθάπερ ἀμέλει καὶ Ἄχαζ. Ταύτης ἕνεκα τῆς αἰτίας ὁ Σεναχειρεὶμ ὁ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων βασιλεὺς, ὡς ὀφείλων ἔχειν ὑπὸ δασμοὺς τήν τε Ἰουδαίαν ἅπασαν, καὶ αὐτήν τε τὴν παρ' αὐτοῖς βασιλείαν, ἀνεκαίετο μὲν εἰς ὀργὰς, καταδῃώσας δὲ τὴν Σαμάρειαν καὶ ταῖς κατὰ τὴν Ἰουδαίαν πόλεσιν ἐπηφίει τὴν στρατιὰν, ἑλὼν δὲ πολλὰς, ἐπ' αὐτὰ λοιπὸν τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα πέμπει τὸν Ῥαψάκην, οὐχ ὅπλα τέως κινήσοντα πολέμου νόμῳ, ἀπειλαῖς δὲ μᾶλλον, καὶ ὑποσχέσεσι ταῖς εἰς ἡμερότητα 278 δελεά- σοντα τὸ δημοτικόν. 9Καὶ ἐξῆλθε πρὸς αὐτὸν Ἐλιακεὶμ ὁ τοῦ Χελ- κίου ὁ οἰκονόμος, καὶ Σομνὰς ὁ γραμματεὺς, καὶ Ἰωὰχ ὁ τοῦ Ἀσὰφ ὁ ὑπομνηματογρ