Merodach-Baladan, knowing that his own turn would come as soon as Sargon had firmly estab lished his power in Northern Syria, had dispatched ambassadors to the Mediterranean states, urg- . ing them to combine against the common foe.
In Is. xxxix we read of their arrival in Jeru salem, and, although Isaiah had faithfully warned Hezekiah, he listened to the persuasions of the Babylonian envoys, and encouraged by the prom ise of Egyptian support, besides that of Phoenicia, Moab, Edom and the Philistines, lie determined to defy the Assyrian king. Hezekiah showed these strangers all the resources of his country and all the treasures of his house. He was severely rebuked by the prophet for his vainglory in so doing, and the terrible sequel proved that the words of Isaiah were faithful and true.
Before the confederacy could act Sargon fell upon Palestine. Phoenicia and Judah were sub jugated, and Jerusalem captured. Ashdod (Is. xx it) was burned, and Egypt made no effort to render aid, though an ally by treaty.
We are now enabled by the light of Assyrian records to state that the description of Isaiah (chap. x) of the onward march of the host against Jerusalem is not romance; the sufferings of the beleaguered Jews (Is. xxii) are not imagin ary, and the prophecy foretelling the 1.111 of the devoted city (Is. x; xxii :t-Li) was not an unfulfilled threat.
We know, too, that ten years before the cam paign of Sennacherib, Sargon had swept through the land of Judah, and it is to his armies that Isaiah alluded as being at Nob, a half-hour to the north of Jerusalem.
Sargon was murdered by his own soldiers in his new city, Dur-Sargon (B. C. 707).
(8) Sennacherib. In the reign of Sargon's successor, Sennucherib, or Sanchcrib, we find Hezekiah, king of Judah, allying himself with Egypt (2 Kings xviii :7, 21). This brought against him Sennacherib with a mighty host, which, without difficulty, subdued the fenced cities of Judah, and compelled him to purchase peace by the payment of a large tribute. But 'the treacher ous dealer dealt very treacherously' (Is. xxxiii and. notwithstanding the agreement, proceeded to invest Jerusalem. In answer, however, to the
prayers of the 'good king' of Judah, the Assyrian was diverted front his purpose, partly by the ru mor (Is. xxxvii :6) of the approach of Tirhakah. king of Ethiopia. and partly by the sudden and •Uraculous destruction of a great part of his army (2 Kings xviii 13-37 ; six; Is. xxxvi and xxxvii). Ile himself returned to Nineveh. where, in course of time, when worshiping in the temple of Ins god he was slain by his sons AdrannneleeK anti Sharezer.
(9) Esarhaddon. About C. (tRt don was proclaimed king. (See 2 Kings xix •37; Is. xxxvii :3S).
Under his rule the Second Empire reached the zenith of its power. Lie was the only Assyrian king who ever attempted In conciliate the pen pies who had been conquered. In the first year of his reign he rebuilt Babylon and made it the see and capital of the empire, his court residing alter !lately there and at Nineveh.
it was while Esarhaddon was holding his win ter court at Babylon that Manasseh of Judah was brought to hint as prisoner ( 2 Citron. xxxiii: ).
His principal achievement was the conquest of Egypt, which began about Ii C. 675, and was completed four years later. when Memphis was taken and the Egyptian king was compelled to first to 1 ht hes and then to Ethinpia.
Egypt .t as divided into twenty satrapies, which .were governed partly by Assyrians and partly by native princes. On his return to Assyria Esar haddon associated Assur-bani-pal, the eldest of Its four suns, with hum in government, and died two years later.
(10) Assur-bani-pal. Assur-bani-pal is prob ably the 'great and noble' Asnapper of Ezra iv :to. He was luxurious, ambitious and cruel, but was a munificent patron of literature.
Ilis first occupation was the crushing of a revolt in Egypt. Tirkakah was again driven out of the country, and Thebes, called 'No of the god Amun' in the Scriptures, as plundered and destroyed. It is to this destruction of the old capital of the Pharaohs that Nahum refers in his prophecy :8). Tyre was besieged and forced to surren der, Cilicia paid homage to the Assyrian king, and Gog, or Gyges, of Lydia, sent bun tribute.