2 Kings 18:13

13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them.

2 Kings 18:13 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 18:13

Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah
Eight years after the captivity of Israel:

did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities
of Judah, and took them;
many of them, the frontier towns, and proceeded as far as Lachish; ambitious of enlarging his dominions, his father having subdued the kingdom of Israel, and being also provoked by Hezekiah's refusing to pay him tribute. Mention is made of this king by name, by Herodotus and other Heathen writers, see the note on ( Isaiah 36:1 ) in the Apocryha:

``Now when Enemessar was dead, Sennacherib his son reigned in his stead; whose estate was troubled, that I could not go into Media.'' (Tobit 1:15)

he is called Sennacherib, and is said to be son of Enemassat, that is, Shalmaneser; however, he succeeded him in his kingdom; though some ^F15 take him to be the same with Shalmaneser: he is said by Metasthenes

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 to reign seven years, and was succeeded by Assaradon, who, according to him, reigned ten years.

F15 Lud. Vives in Aug. de Civ. Dei, l. 18. c. 24.
F16 De Judicio Temp. fol. 221. 2.

2 Kings 18:13 In-Context

11 At that time the king of Assyria exiled the Israelites to Assyria and placed them in colonies in Halah, along the banks of the Habor River in Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

12 For they refused to listen to the LORD their God and obey him. Instead, they violated his covenant—all the laws that Moses the LORD ’s servant had commanded them to obey.

13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them.

14 King Hezekiah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. I will pay whatever tribute money you demand if you will only withdraw.” The king of Assyria then demanded a settlement of more than eleven tons of silver and one ton of gold.

15 To gather this amount, King Hezekiah used all the silver stored in the Temple of the LORD and in the palace treasury.

Footnotes

• [a]. The fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign was 701