Sargon II had pursued the policy of deporting and exchanging populations. The record of his capture of Samaria states,
“At the begi[nning of my royal rule, I…the town of the Sama]arians [I besieged, conquered…I led away prisoners…[The town I] re[built] better than before and [settled] therein people from countries which [I] myself [had con[quered].”[1]
Sargon II brought Babylonians to settle in Samaria (2 Kgs 17:24) in 721 from his first campaign against Merodach-Baladan. This campaign was not successful in that Merodach-Baladan remained on the throne of Babylon until 710,[2] but an inscription of Sargon II (propaganda) commemorating the campaign records the relocation of Babylonians to Syria:
“(Merodach-Baladan), whom since he, not according to the will of the gods, the rule over Babel [had seized for himself, I overcame in war and smote]….inhabitants together with their property I transported…and settled them [in the land] of Hatti.”[3]
Given the biblical record in 2 Kings, this relocation to Hatti (Syria) could well have included Northern Israel. Such a migration would offer an explanation of the influence of Babylonian idolatry in Judah.
Oracles in Isaiah about returning exiles from Babylon have been taken to refer to the Babylonian captivities leading up to the year 587. However, this inference is not certain because captivity in Babylon is a strong possibility in 701.
Sennacherib deported (according to his annals) substantial numbers of Judeans during 701.[4] The policy of the Assyrians was to deport captives and resettle them in parts of the empire where population was depleted through war. Between 704 and 702, Sennacherib conducted a successful first campaign in Chaldea and conquered 89 large cities and 820 small cities.[5] His second campaign, in 702, took place east of the Tigris in the mountains of the Kassites and Yasubigallians. His record of this campaign states,
“People of the lands which my hand had seized, I settled therein, and placed them under the governor of Arrapha”[6]
This policy refers to his previous (first) campaign, so that the people resettled in the country of the Kassites and Yasubigallians were the Chaldeans. This suggests a pattern of sequential resettlement whereby those displaced in a first campaign are resettled in territories conquered in a second campaign, and those taken in a third campaign likewise settled in areas depopulated in the first campaign.
Sennacherib’s third campaign, in 701, against the Syro-Judean land bridge, yielded 200,000 captives, and these would most likely have been deported in their turn to the region of Babylon. Micah prophesied at this time:
“Writhe and labor to give birth, Daughter of Zion, Like a woman in childbirth; For now (ht[) you will go out of the city, Dwell in the field, And go to Babylon. There you will be rescued; There the Lord will redeem you From the hand of your enemies.” Mic 4:10 (NASB)
This prophecy predicts a departure from Jerusalem, and it is part of a prediction that covers the siege of Jerusalem:
“Now (ht[) also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.” Mic 4:11 (NASB)
Sennacherib’s Annals do record the exit of some deportees from Jerusalem:
“As for Hezekiah, the terrifying splendour of my majesty overcame him, and the Urbi and his mercenary troops which he had brought in to strengthen Jerusalem, his royal city, deserted him. In addition to the 30 talents of gold and 800 talents of silver, gems…as well as his daughters, his harem, his male and female musicians…he had bring after me to Nineveh, my royal city”[7]
This most likely occurred during Sennacherib’s siege of Lachish when tribute (gold and silver) was paid to secure a treaty (2 Kgs 18:14-16). However, this small deportation of members of the royal court does not “fulfil” Micah’s prophecy, which is instead spoken to the Jerusalem population as a whole. Micah’s prophecy was not fulfilled for Jerusalem; but it does express an expectation on the part of Micah that the population would go to Babylon. Such an expectation is entirely fitting in the light of Assyrian policies of deportation and Sennacherib’s recent campaign in southern Mesopotamia. Assyrian records do not note where the Judean captives were deported, but it is likely that some went to Babylon to repopulate the region after the depopulation of Sennacherib’s first campaign.
[1] ANET, 284.
[2] J. Oates, Babylon, (London: Thames and Hudson, 1986), 115.
[3] E. Schrader, The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament (trans. Owen C. Whitehouse; 2 vols; London: Williams & Norgate, 1885-1888), 1:268.
[4] ANET, 288.
[5] Annals of Sennacherib, (trans. D. D. Luckenbill; Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2005), 56.
[6] Annals, 68.
[7] Annals, 34.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One