2 Kings 18 | |
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![]() The pages containing the Books of Kings (1 & 2 Kings) Leningrad Codex (1008 CE). | |
Book | Second Book of Kings |
Hebrew Bible part | Nevi'im |
Order in the Hebrew part | 4 |
Category | Former Prophets |
Christian Bible part | Old Testament |
Order in the Christian part | 12 |
2 Kings 18 is the eighteenth chapter of the second part of the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible or the Second Book of Kings in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. [1] [2] The book is a compilation of various annals recording the acts of the kings of Israel and Judah by a Deuteronomic compiler in the seventh century BCE, with a supplement added in the sixth century BCE. [3] This chapter records the events during the reign of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, a part of the section comprising 2 Kings 18:1 to 20:21, with a parallel version in Isaiah 36–39. [4]
This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language. It is divided into 37 verses.
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), Aleppo Codex (10th century [lower-alpha 1] ), and Codex Leningradensis (1008). [6]
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; B; 4th century) and Codex Alexandrinus (A; A; 5th century). [7] [lower-alpha 2]
This chapter introduces Hezekiah as a 'ultra-righteous king' who relied on YHWH (verses 1–8), [9] the most David-like king since David (verse 3, cf. verse 7 with 1 Samuel 18:14). [10] It is contrasted to the apostate northern kingdom which was then destroyed by the Assyrians (verses 9–12). Prompting by Hezekiah's rebellion (verse 7), Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, came to attack Judah, [11] and even after given large amount of tribute (verses 13–16) still demanded Jerusalem to surrender with convincing argumentation (verses 17–37). [12]
The narrative of the Assyrian siege on Jerusalem in chapter 18 and 19 is presented in a parallel structure: [13]
From 18:17 onwards the editors seem to insert another source, which is also used in the Book of Isaiah, that indicates the Assyrians breaking their word after receiving the tribute and putting further pressure on Hezekiah in Jerusalem (cf. 1 Kings 20:1–7 for the equivalent chain of events). [14]
This section highlights Hezekiah's religious reforms which may contribute to an exceptional evaluation: he and Josiah (2 Kings 22:2 ) alone are comparable to David. [15] The destruction of the Nehushtan, a snake-shaped cultic image traced back to Moses (cf. Numbers 21:9 ), can really be attributed to Hezekiah, despite little details were reported, among other acts of piety (verses 6–7). [15] Next are Hezekiah's early foreign political activities: he liberated the kingdom of Judah from Assyrian subservience and conducted successful campaigns against the Philistines (verses 7–8). An Assyrian source noted that Hezekiah was the 'leader of an anti-Assyrian coalition from 705 BCE onwards', and he even 'arrested a pro-Assyrian king of Ekron in this capacity'. [15] The editors included the description of the northern Israel kingdom's defeat to the Assyrians (cf. verses 9–11 with 2 Kings 17:3–6 ), as well as the cause of it, namely, the 'entire population's lack of loyalty to the Torah' (verse 12). [15]
The Assyrians stormed Judah, likely in response to Hezekiah's rebellion (verse 7) in 701 BCE. [11] In a short time many cities of Judah were occupied and Jerusalem was besieged. King Sennacherib depicted his victory over Lachish in a stone relief in his palace at Nineveh (Lachish reliefs, now in the British Museum) and described Hezekiah's desperate situation on several victory monuments (Sennacherib's Annals): [15]
The Bible text records that Hezekiah initially tried to free himself from Assyrian pressure by conceding defeat and paying a heavy tribute, which also conforms with Sennacherib's record:
Sennacherib decided that the tribute from Judah is not enough, so he sent his "big guns", his main officers, consisting of: 'Tartan, Rabsaris, and Rabshakeh' to force the capitulation of Jerusalem verse 17). [57] The Assyrians started by using psychological warfare, [14] with Rabshakeh speaking directly to the people of Jerusalem at the wall of the city using the Hebrew language and employing shrewd rhetoric on Israelite faith while undermining it. [13]
The Rabshakeh is not a common messenger, as he is a 'propagandist and skill negotiator' with the ability of speaking the 'language of diplomatic disputation', with a purpose to divide the people of Judah along calls lines (verse 27 ). The envoy delivered two speeches: one directed to King Hezekiah and his officers/negotiators, including Shebna and Eliakim, (verses 19–25) and one to 'the (warring) people on the city walls' (verses 27–35). Rabshakeh's well-crafted speeches alternate between promises of good things from the Assyrian king and warnings not to trust YHWH nor Hezekiah to protect them: [13]
He states four seemingly excellent arguments for capitulation: [58]
Rabshakeh hammers on the issue of trust, which is a key issue in 2 Kings 17, as spoken by the prophets, but here he offers the theological challenge: Hezekiah's acts of destroying places of worship provoke the displeasure of YHWH, and the implication: neither Hezekiah nor Egypt nor YHWH can be trusted to deliver the people. He ends his speech with an audacious claim that Sennacherib, not Hezekiah, is doing the will of God (verse 25) and that the Assyrian king will be the shepherd-king for Israel, a composite of Moses, Joshua and Solomon, to bring the people to a land full of prosperity (verse 32). [59] Brueggemann observes a structure in the speech mocking YHWH's power to emphasize that 'YHWH is only one among many gods': [60]
Rabshakeh's argument rises from the polytheistic worship system of the empire with the boast that Assyria has the king 'before whom no gods can stand'. [59] This leads to the confrontation and the display of YHWH's power in chapter 19. [61]
Other than in the Books of Kings, Ahaz is mentioned in the Book of Isaiah, Books of Chronicles, Gospel of Matthew (1:9), and Assyrian inscriptions (ANET 282–284 [74] ), such as the " Nimrud Tablet K.3751", which is the first ancient record for the name "Judah" (Yaudaya or KUR.ia-ú-da-a-a) and "Ahaz" (written as "Jeho-ahaz"). [75]
Several bullae with the printed name of Ahaz have been found:
Extra-biblical sources specify Hezekiah by name, along with his reign and influence. "Historiographically, his reign is noteworthy for the convergence of a variety of biblical sources and diverse extrabiblical evidence often bearing on the same events. Significant data concerning Hezekiah appear in the Deuteronomistic History, the Chronicler, Isaiah, Assyrian annals and reliefs, Israelite epigraphy, and, increasingly, stratigraphy". [80] Archaeologist Amihai Mazar considers the tensions between Assyria and Judah "one of the best-documented events of the Iron Age" and "Hezekiah's story is one of the best to cross-reference with the rest of the Mid Eastern world's historical documents". [81]
Several bullae bearing the name of Hezekiah have been found:
Other artifacts bearing the name "Hezekiah" include LMLK stored jars along the border with Assyria "demonstrate careful preparations to counter Sennacherib's likely route of invasion" and show "a notable degree of royal control of towns and cities which would facilitate Hezekiah's destruction of rural sacrificial sites and his centralization of worship in Jerusalem", [80] with the evidence suggesting the use throughout Hezekiah's reign, [84] and the Siloam inscription. [85]
An inscription bearing the name "Shebnayahu" was discovered on the lintel above the entrance of a rock-cut tomb which suggests the connection to Shebna, the court officer mentioned in 2 Kings 18:18 and 2 Kings 19:2 . [86] [87] [88]
The accounts of Sennacherib of Assyria, including his invasion into the Kingdom of Judah, especially the capture of Lachish and the siege of Jerusalem, are recorded in a number of ancient documents and artifacts: [89]
Hezekiah, or Ezekias, was the son of Ahaz and the 13th king of Judah according to the Hebrew Bible.
Ahaz an abbreviation of Jehoahaz II, "Yahweh has held" was the twelfth king of Judah, and the son and successor of Jotham. Ahaz was 20 when he became king of Judah and reigned for 16 years.
Pekah was the eighteenth and penultimate king of Israel. He was a captain in the army of king Pekahiah of Israel, whom he killed to become king. Pekah was the son of Remaliah.
The Assyriansiege of Jerusalem was an aborted siege of Jerusalem, then capital of the Kingdom of Judah, carried out by Sennacherib, king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The siege concluded Sennacharib's campaign in the Levant, in which he attacked the fortified cities and devastated the countryside of Judah in a campaign of subjugation. Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem, but did not capture it.
The Kings of Judah were the monarchs who ruled over the ancient Kingdom of Judah, which was formed in about 930 BCE, according to the Hebrew Bible, when the United Kingdom of Israel split, with the people of the northern Kingdom of Israel rejecting Rehoboam as their monarch, leaving him as solely the King of Judah.
Matthew 1:10 is the tenth verse of the first chapter in the Gospel of Matthew in the Bible. The verse is part of the section where the genealogy of Joseph, the father of Jesus, is listed.
Matthew 1:9 is the ninth verse of the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the Bible. The verse is part of the non-synoptic section where the genealogy of Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, is listed, or on non-Pauline interpretations the genealogy of Jesus. The purpose of the genealogy is to show descent from the line of kings, in particular David, as the Messiah was predicted to be the son of David, and descendant of Abraham.
Sennacherib's Annals are the annals of the Assyrian king Sennacherib. They are found inscribed on a number of artifacts, and the final versions were found in three clay prisms inscribed with the same text: the Taylor Prism is in the British Museum, the Oriental Institute Prism in the Oriental Institute of Chicago, and the Jerusalem Prism is in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
The Lachish reliefs are a set of Assyrian palace reliefs narrating the story of the Assyrian victory over the kingdom of Judah during the siege of Lachish in 701 BCE. Carved between 700 and 681 BCE, as a decoration of the South-West Palace of Sennacherib in Nineveh, the relief is today in the British Museum in London, and was included as item 21 in the BBC Radio 4 series A History of the World in 100 Objects by the museum's former director Neil MacGregor. The palace room, where the relief was discovered in 1845–1847, was fully covered with the "Lachish relief" and was 12 metres (39 ft) wide and 5.10 metres (16.7 ft) long. The Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal sequence was found in the same palace.
Isaiah 7 is the seventh chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah and is one of the Books of the Prophets.
Isaiah 30 is the thirtieth chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. The Jerusalem Bible groups chapters 28-35 together as a collection of "poems on Israel and Judah". The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges describes this chapter as "a series of Oracles dealing with the Egyptian Alliance and its consequences; the present state and future prospects of Israel, and the destruction of the Assyrians".
Isaiah 36 is the thirty-sixth chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. The text, describing the invasion of the Assyrian king Sennacherib to the Kingdom of Judah under Hezekiah.
Isaiah 37 is the thirty-seventh chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets.
2 Kings 16 is the sixteenth chapter of the second part of the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible or the Second Book of Kings in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is a compilation of various annals recording the acts of the kings of Israel and Judah by a compiler in the seventh century BCE with a supplement added in the sixth century BCE. This chapter records the events during the reign of Ahaz, the king of Judah.
2 Kings 19 is the nineteenth chapter of the second part of the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible or the Second Book of Kings in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is a compilation of various annals recording the acts of the kings of Israel and Judah by a Deuteronomic compiler in the seventh century BC, with a supplement added in the sixth century BC. This chapter records the invasion of Assyrian to Judah during the reign of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, a part of the section comprising 2 Kings 18:1 to 20:21, with a parallel version in Isaiah 36–39.
2 Kings 20 is the twentieth chapter of the second part of the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible or the Second Book of Kings in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is a compilation of various annals recording the acts of the kings of Israel and Judah by a Deuteronomic compiler in the seventh century BCE, with a supplement added in the sixth century BCE. This chapter records the events during the reign of Hezekiah and Manasseh, the kings of Judah.
2 Chronicles 32 is the thirty-second chapter of the Second Book of Chronicles the Old Testament in the Christian Bible or of the second part of the Books of Chronicles in the Hebrew Bible. The book is compiled from older sources by an unknown person or group, designated by modern scholars as "the Chronicler", and had the final shape established in late fifth or fourth century BCE. This chapter belongs to the section focusing on the kingdom of Judah until its destruction by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar II and the beginning of restoration under Cyrus the Great of Persia. The focus of this chapter is the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah.
2 Kings 15 is the fifteenth chapter of the second part of the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible or the Second Book of Kings in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is a compilation of various annals recording the acts of the kings of Israel and Judah by a Deuteronomic compiler in the seventh century BCE, with a supplement added in the sixth century BCE. This chapter records the events during the reigns of Azariah (Uzziah) and his son, Jotham, the kings of Judah, as well as of Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah and Pekah, the kings of Israel. Twelve first verses of the narrative belong to a major section 2 Kings 9:1–15:12 covering the period of Jehu's dynasty.
2 Kings 17 is the seventeenth chapter of the second part of the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible or the Second Book of Kings in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is a compilation of various annals recording the acts of the kings of Israel and Judah by a Deuteronomic compiler in the seventh century BCE, with a supplement added in the sixth century BCE. This chapter records the events during the reigns of Hoshea the last king of Israel, the capture of Samaria and the deportation of the northern kingdom population by the Assyrians.
2 Kings 21 is the twenty-first chapter of the second part of the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible or the Second Book of Kings in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is a compilation of various annals recording the acts of the kings of Israel and Judah by a Deuteronomic compiler in the seventh century BCE, with a supplement added in the sixth century BCE. This chapter records the events during the reign of Manasseh and Amon, the kings of Judah.