For the teacher
•
This Lesson Starter can be used with preteens,
teens, and adults to introduce a lesson about King
Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah in the days of King
Hezekiah.
•
This Lesson Starter is a “What is it?” activity.
(1) Start with slide 3. Show slides 4 through 10 and
simply ask the students, “What is it?” Let them
guess.
(2) Next read the Scripture slides together, slides 1114. Do the students now know what these things
are about?
(3) Finally, look at the answers together, slides 1537.
Palace-fort
compound
Palace
Storerooms
Houses
Inner
gatehouse
Outer
gatehouse
Ramp to
city
gates
Outer
Inner wall
wall
Brigham Young University Idaho, Bruce K. Satterfield website
BAR, Mar/Apr 1984, p.58.
David Knight Writes Blog Spot
Jewish Magazine website
Elliott Lawrence Lewis Blog Spot
British Museum, London
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Oriental Institute, Chicago
Bible History website
Isaiah 36:1 Now it came to pass in
the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah,
that Sennacherib king of Assyria
came up against all the defenced
cities of Judah, and took them. 2 And
the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh
from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king
Hezekiah with a great army.
Isaiah 37:33 Therefore thus saith the
LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He
shall not come into this city, nor shoot an
arrow there, nor come before it with shields,
nor cast a bank against it. 34 By the way that
he came, by the same shall he return, and
shall not come into this city, saith the
LORD. 35 For I will defend this city to save
it for mine own sake, and for my servant
David’s sake.
Isaiah 37:36 Then the angel of the LORD went
forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a
hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when
they arose early in the morning, behold, they were
all dead corpses. 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria
departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at
Nineveh. 38 And it came to pass, as he was
worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that
Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him
with the sword; and they escaped into the land of
Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his
stead.
Palace-fort
compound
Palace
Storerooms
Houses
Inner
gatehouse
Outer
gatehouse
Ramp to
city
gates
Outer
Inner wall
wall
Brigham Young University Idaho, Bruce K. Satterfield website
Brigham Young University Idaho, Bruce K. Satterfield website
“Tel Lachish, viewed from the southwest. Cultivated
fields of an Israeli moshav, or cooperative village,
frame the rectangular mound, 30 acres at its base
and 18 acres on its flat summit. One of the most
prominent of all the Biblical tels in Israel, Lachish
commands an uninterrupted view from the Judean
hills in the east to the coastal plain in the west. At
the end of the eighth century B.C., Tel Lachish was
one of the most formidable citadels in Judah. … Its
fortified gate, outer city wall with sloping glacis
against it, and palace-fort protected a large and
populous city.”
Biblical Archaeology Review, March/April 1984, p.56.
Defenders
of the
city gate
Sling
stones
Fire
brands
Jewish
captives
Water!
Battering
ram
Assyrian
siege
engine
BAR, Mar/Apr 1984, p.58.
“The second book of Chronicles states
that when Sennacherib invaded Palestine
he established his headquarters in front
of Lachish. … Neither the Old Testament
nor his own Annals say more about the
fate of Lachish, but a long series of reliefs
from his palace at Nineveh illustrate what
happened to it.
(continued)
“These sculptures lined the walls of Room
XXXVI in the palace. This main room (the
Lachish Room) was situated in a prominent position. … This suggests that to
Sennacherib
this
was
a
significant
conquest.”
T. C. Mitchell, The Bible In The British Museum, Interpreting The Evidence,
The British Museum Press, 2004, p.67.
David Knight Writes Blog Spot
Sennacherib receives the
surrender of Lachish
Another sculpture from Sennacherib’s Palace, Nineveh
The cuneiform inscription at the upper
left of the relief reads ‘Sennacherib, king
of all, king of Assyria, sitting on his
throne while the spoil from the city of
Lachish passed before him.’
Biblical Archaeology Review, March/April 1984, p.65.
Jewish Magazine website
In 1849 the young
British adventurer Sir
Austen Henry Layard
rediscovered the lost
palace of Sennacherib
with its 71 rooms and
colossal bas-reliefs.
Artifex Original Photography
website
Wikipedia, Nineveh
Jerusalem
under siege
Elliott Lawrence Lewis Blog Spot
Isaiah 36:2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh
from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a
great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper
pool in the highway of the fuller’s field. 3 Then came
forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah’s son, which was
over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah,
Asaph’s son, the recorder. 4 And Rabshakeh said unto
them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great
king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this
wherein thou trustest? 5 I say, sayest thou, (but they
are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for
war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest
against me?
20 km
PC Bible Atlas for Windows,
Parsons Technology
British Museum, London
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Oriental Institute, Chicago
The Sennacherib Prisms
Three clay cylinders have been found on
which Sennacherib recorded his military
exploits against Judah in c. 701 BC. On
the left, the Taylor Prism, discovered by
Colonel R. Taylor in 1830, now in the
British Museum, London. At center, the
Sennacherib Prism of the Israel Museum,
Jerusalem, and on the right the Sennacherib Prism at the Oriental Institute,
Chicago.
(continued)
Sennacherib’s boast against Hezekiah:
‘As for Hezekiah the Judahite, who did not submit
to my yoke: forty-six of his strong, walled cities,
as well as the small towns in their area, which
were without number, by leveling with batteringrams and by bringing up siege-engines, and by
attacking and storming on foot, by mines,
tunnels, and breeches, I besieged and took them.
200,150 people, great and small, male and
female, horses, mules, asses, camels, cattle and
sheep without number, I brought away from them
and counted as spoil.
(continued)
Sennacherib’s boast against Hezekiah:
‘(Hezekiah) himself, like
a caged bird I shut up in
Jerusalem, his royal city.’
Bible History website
Psalm 124 answers the proud boast of Sennacherib:
Psalm 124:6 Blessed be the LORD,
who hath not given us as a prey to
their teeth. 7 Our soul is escaped as a
bird out of the snare of the fowlers:
the snare is broken, and we are
8
escaped. Our help is in the name of
the LORD, who made heaven and
earth.
Bible History website
Nabonidus Stele
“This basalt stele records the
assassination of Sennacherib by his
sons in 681 B.C … This event
happened just after Sennacherib
had his unsuccessful campaign
against Jerusalem and is recorded
in the Bible: 2 Kings 19:35-37.”
Bible History website
http://www.bible-history.com/assyria_archaeology/sennacherib_murder_nabonidus_marduk.jpg
Babylonian Chronicles
“In the passage dealing with the
events of 681 BC it gives the very
concise statement ‘on the 20th day of
the month Tebetu, Sennacherib king
of Assyria, his son killed him in a
rebellion’ [right-hand column, lines
34-5].”
T.C. Mitchell, The Bible In The British Museum, Interpreting The Evidence,
The British Museum Press, 2004, p.73.
The pictures in this presentation:
Slides 3, 15 – Google Image, Artist’s rendition of ancient Lachish
URL* = http://fontes.lstc.edu/~rklein/images2/lachmode.jpg
Also Brigham Young University Idaho, Bruce K. Satterfield website
URL* = http://emp.byui.edu/SATTERFIELDB/Rel302/Lachish/Lachish%20Diagram.jpg
Slides 4, 18 – Lachish Siege Relief, Biblical Archaeology Review,
March/April 1984, p.58.
Slides 5, 21 – Google Image, Sennacherib Receives the Capitulation of
Lachish Relief, David Knight Writes Blog Spot
URL* = http://3.bp.blogspot.com/VTbjDNa564A/TWJhpxP_O_I/AAAAAAAAAlw/T2YHydf9iYU/s1600/Sennacherib.jpg
Slides 6, 23 – Google Image, Sennacherib Palace, Jewish Magazine
website
URL* = http://www.jewishmag.com/56mag/lachish/sennacherib.jpg
Also Brigham Young University Idaho, Bruce K. Satterfield website
URL* = http://emp.byui.edu/SATTERFIELDB/Rel302/Lachish/sennacherib%20palace.jpg
Slides 7, 25 – Google Image, Jerusalem Wall, Elliott Lawrence Lewis Blog
Spot
URL* = http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xbElL7Jlvs/TANhgKYVFjI/AAAAAAAABcI/h1vcwRvZHKs/s1600/walls.jpg
(continued)
The pictures in this presentation:
Slides 8, 28 – Google Image, Taylor Prism, British Museum, London;
Sennacherib Prism, Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Google Image,
Sennacherib Prism, Oriental Institute, Chicago
Online Bible School website
URL* = http://www.generationword.com/images/bible_school/ sennacherib_prism_textbox2.jpg
Biblical Archaeology Review, Mach/April 1984, p.48, picture courtesy of Israel Department of
Antiquities and Museums
Jesus Walk website
URL* = http://www.jesuswalk.com/greatprayers/images/sennacherib_prism267x400.jpg
Slides 9, 33 – Google Image, Sennacherib Murder, Bible History website
URL* = http://www.biblehistory.com/assyria_archaeology/sennacherib_murder_nabonidus_marduk.jpg
Slide 16 – Google Image, Tel Lachish, Brigham Young University Idaho,
Bruce K. Satterfield website
URL* = http://emp.byui.edu/SATTERFIELDB/Rel302/Lachish/lachish-aerial.jpg
Slide 24 – Google Image, Austen Henry Layard, Artifex Original
Photography website, after a painting by H. W. Phillips,
URL*= http://imagecache5.art.com/p/LRG/17/1745/8ML3D00Z/austen-henry-layard-archaeologistand-diplomat.jpg
(continued)
The pictures in this presentation:
Slide 27 – PC Bible Atlas for Windows, Parsons Technology, © 1998
Slide 35 – Sennacherib Murder
T. C. Mitchell, The Bible In The British Museum, Interpreting The
Evidence, The British Museum Press, 2004, p.73
* URLs = picture locations at the time this presentation was prepared, April, 2011. The
pictures at these addresses are not necessarily the property of the websites that use them.