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The Assyrian monarch Sennacherib's military campaign against King Hezekiah of Judah is one of the best-documented and most discussed events in the history of ancient Israel. The late-eighth-century B.C.E. encounter is reported in both Kings (2 Kings 18:1319:37) and Chronicles (2 Chronicles 32:123). It is likely the backdrop for several prophetic teachings (for example, Isaiah 1:4-9, 22:1-14; Micah 1:10-16). In addition, we have a detailed cuneiform account of the campaign in the annals of Sennacherib (his third campaign).I We even have a relief from Sennacherib's palace in Nineveh depicting his conquest of Lachish,2 a visual account complemented by archaeological finds from the site south of Jerusalem.3
One might think that with this wealth of data, scholars would have arrived at a satisfactory reconstruction of the course of events, the battles and their results. But scholars have not reached a consensus because of the contradictions in the Biblical and Assyrian accounts regarding the outcome of the campaign. According to the Bible, Sennacherib withdrew after his army was decimated by Yahweh's angel (2 Kings 19:35), while Sennacherib's annals claim that Hezekiah surrendered and paid the Assyrian king an extremely large tribute.
For close to a century and a half, scholars have debated these conflicting accounts. Several historians have suggested a novel way to resolve this contradiction: They surmise that the reports relate to two separate campaigns: one in 701 B.C.E., in which Sennacherib emerged as victor and collected a large tribute from Hezekiah as the price for his remaining in office; and a second campaign sometime after 688 B.C.E., in which Sennacherib suffered a major setback in the land of Judah.4
In a recent article in BAR, William Shea, a scholar of ancient Near Eastern studies, sought to defend this two-campaign theory.* On closer examination, however, it is indefensible.
Unfortunately, the Assyrian annals from 689 B.C.E. until Sennacherib's assassination in 681 B.C.E. have not survived-or at least they have not yet been found, if indeed any were written. Since Assyrian sources cannot confirm a second campaign in Judah, some scholars, including Shea, have sought support in Egyptian sources. In 2 Kings 19:9 the Egyptian pharaoh Taharqa is said to have engaged the Assyrian army in the Judahite Shephelah.** Since Taharqa did not ascend the throne until...