Assyrian Siege of Jerusalem
Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them (vs 1). This follows Assyria’s assault and conquering of Samaria seven years earlier. Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. Israel and Judah had split in the reign of Solomon’s son Rehoboam (1 Kings 12:16-17). In the fourth year of Hezekiah’s being king of Judah, Assyria came to besiege Samaria. At this point in history Assyria was a powerful empire. The siege and exile of Israel by Assyria transpired in 725-722 BC. Assyria trounced Samaria, ending a three-year siege. The northern kingdom’s “ten lost tribes” of Israel, as they are now called, never returned (except perhaps since 1948 AD in our modern era). After Assyria had defeated the northern kingdom, they came with the intent to defeat Judah. But unlike with Israel, God intervenes to save the southern kingdom of Judah. Assyria had already taken all the fortified cities of Judah but one: Jerusalem (vs 1). Seven years after Hezekiah had watched Samaria fall, Assyria was now at his doorstep. This was, in part, because Hezekiah rebelled against the king of Assyria by not paying tribute or taxes (2 Kings 18:7). The Samaritans of the New Testament were descendants of the few remaining Israelites in the northern kingdom, who intermarried with the Assyrians (or others). They were despised by the Jews from Judah as a result, which carried into the time of the New Testament.
