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Erich Lessing
Sennacherib’s annals provide an independent (although not identical) account of the Assyrian campaigns in Judah during the reign of the Judahite king Hezekiah (727–686 B.C.E.): “Forty-six of [Hezekiah’s] strong walled towns and innumerable smaller villages I besieged and conquered As for Hezekiah, the awful splendor of my lordship overwhelmed him.”
In the biblical account, there is another player: God. First, we are told that God has instructed the Assyrians “to come up against [Judah], and destroy it” (2 Kings 18:25). Later, God apparently reconsiders, reassuring Hezekiah: “Do not be afraid I myself will put a spirit in him [Sennacherib], so that he shall return to his own land; I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land” (2 Kings 19:6–7). The Israelites understood God as integral to their history, which is why author Paul Hanson suggests that examining their history is necessary for comprehending their God.