Sennacherib's Campaign Against Judah and Jerusalem in 701 B.C.: A Historical Reconstruction

Description

This study offers a reconstruction of Sennacherib’s campaign against Judah and Jerusalem in 701 BC. It contrasts and compares various, partly contradictious readings of this event and challenges established narratives. By giving equal weight to a great variety of different sources, whether literary or archaeological, the author comes to a new and profound understanding of this complex military conflict. Contents Abbreviations Chapter One: Introduction 1. Preliminary remarks 2. Past research 2.1. Scholarly opinions 2.2 Discussion 3. Methodology Part One: Sennacherib’s Third Campaign within the Context of the Assyrian Inscriptions and Reliefs Preliminary remarks Chapter Two: Literary Reading of Sennacherib’s Campaigns 1. Introduction 2. Preliminary considerations 2.1. General notes about the campaigns 2.2. Counting the campaigns 2.3. Texts used in the investigation 3. Presenting Sennacherib’s campaigns 3.1. The campaign against the Kulummeans 3.2. The first campaign against Babylonia in 704 3.3. The campaign against Zagros in 702 3.4. The campaign against the west in 701 3.5. The second campaign against Babylonia in 700 3.6. The campaign against Urartu in 697 3.7. The campaign against Cilicia in 696 3.8. The campaign against Til-Garimme in 695 3.9. The campaign against Elam in 694–693 3.10. The second campaign against Elam in 693 3.11. The third campaign against Babylonia in 692 3.12. The campaign against the Arabs in 690 3.13. The fourth campaign against Babylonia in 689 4. Discussing the common motives and conventions of the campaigns 4.1. Structure and minor themes 4.1.1. Overall structure of the campaigns 4.1.2. The motive of the campaign 4.1.3. The fate of the enemy king or ruler 4.2. The military strategy used in the war 4.3. Economic exploitation 4.3.1. Introduction 4.3.2. The occasions of plundering and receiving tribute 4.3.3. Booty 4.3.3.1. Booty taken from cities after their conquest 4.3.3.2. Booty taken after battle 4.3.3.3. Booty taken after the pursuit of the enemy 4.3.3.4. Booty taken by Sennacherib on his way to Assyria 4.3.4. Tribute 4.3.4.1. Spot tribute 4.3.4.2. Annual tribute 4.3.4.3. Hezekiah’s tribute 4.3.5. Conclusion 5. Conclusion to chapter two Chapter Three: Sennacherib’s Conquest of Lachish in the Reliefs and the Archaeological Evidence 1. Introduction 2. Subject matter of the reliefs 2.1. The architecture of Lachish 2.2. Assyrian military strategy 2.3. The narrative progression 2.4. Conclusion on the subject matter of the reliefs 3. The absence of Lachish in the annals 4. Textual material and the reliefs 4.1. Consulting other reliefs 4.2. Archaeological data 5. Conclusion to chapter three Chapter Four: The Blockade of Jerusalem in the Context of Other Blockaded Cities 1. Introduction 2. Identifying the problem 3. Scholarly opinions about what happened to Jerusalem 4. Discussion and observations 5. Terminological problem 6. What was the tactic of a blockade? 7. Discussion and conclusions about the blockade tactic 8. Where are we to place the Jerusalem blockade? 9. Conclusion to chapter four Conclusion to part one Part Two: Reasons for Sennacherib’s Withdrawal from Jerusalem within the Biblical Narratives Preliminary remarks Chapter Five: The Paying of Tribute to Sennacherib in 2 Kgs 18:13–16 1. Introduction 2. Literary analysis of the tribute episode 2.1. The relationship between 2 Kgs 18:13–16 and 2 Kgs 18:17–19:37 2.2. The rhetoric of vv. 13–16 2.2.1. Seitz and the status of 2 Kgs 18:13–16 2.2.2. The status of v. 13 2.2.3. Questioning the archival origins of vv. 14–16 2.2.3.1. Connecting vv. 14–15 to v. 13 and v. 16 2.2.3.2. Redactional features in vv. 14–15 2.3. Conclusion of the rhetorical analysis of vv. 13–16 3. The ending of the tribute episode 4. Implications for the historicity of the tribute episode 5. Conclusion to chapter five Chapter Six: Three Different Reasons for Sennacherib’s Return in the Prophetic Narrative in 2 Kgs 18:17–19:37 1. Introduction 2. Section One: The Note about the Rumour in 2 Kgs 19:6–7 2.1. Introduction 2.2 The function of the oracle within the narrative 2.3. The literary analysis of 2 Kgs 19:6–7 2.3.1. The form of the oracle in 2 Kgs 19:6–7 2.3.2. Syntax of the oracle 2.3.3. The date and compositional nature of 2 Kgs 19:6–7 2.4. Historical reliability of 2 Kgs 19:6–7 2.5. The sign given by Isaiah in 2 Kgs 19: 29–31 2.5.1. Literary analysis of 2 Kings 19:29–31 2.5.1.1. Analysis of v. 29 2.5.1.2. Analysis of vv. 30–31 2.5.2. Conclusion and dating of 2 Kgs 19:29–31 2.6. Conclusion to section one 3. Section Two: The Role of Egyptian-Kushite Army in 701 3.1. Introduction 3.2. The Egyptian-Kushite presence in the Assyrian and biblical sources 3.3. Scholarly opinions 3.4. Discussing the scholarly views 3.5. The connection between 2 Kgs 19:7 and 2 Kgs 19:9a 3.5.1. Literary analysis of 2 Kgs 19:9a 3.5.2. The role of the Egyptian-Kushite aid in the wider context 3.6. Conclusion to Section Two 4. Section Three: The Angel of the Lord in 2 Kgs 19:35 4.1. Introduction 4.2. What does the note mean? 4.4. Discussion and conclusion to section three 5. Conclusion to chapter six Chapter Seven: Conclusion Bibliography Appendix Appendix Index of Names Index of Ancient places Index of Ancient people