Dating the Deliverance of Jerusalem

Introduction

The scholarly consensus is that the third campaign of Sennacherib’s reign (in Phoenicia, Philistia and Judah) happened in 701 and that he left after a successful campaign towards the end of the year. What is the evidence and does the Bible agree or disagree with this date?

Assyrian Records

The Assyrian records do not actually date the invasion of the Levant to 701 although some campaigns of the Assyrian kings are dated. The reasoning that leads scholars to assign the campaign to 701 is fourfold: first, Sennacherib’s second campaign in the north of Mesopotamia needs enough time to have completed in 702; secondly, he needs to have enough time back in Nineveh in 702 for diplomacy with the Medes to take place and to oversee some civil building work;  thirdly, the normal time for beginning a campaign in Palestine was the spring and this means Sennacherib would have planned his military action to start after the winter of 702-701; and finally, the first written record of the third campaign is dated to 700, thereby making 701 the obvious year to allocate to the campaign.

First Campaign

Sennacherib ascended the throne on 18^th Ab (July/August) 705. The earliest record of the first campaign against Babylonia (written early in 702, BM 113203) dates the first campaign to the “beginning of his reign” which is unlikely to refer to 703 and more likely to refer to his accession year 705 or his first regnal year 704.[1] This record of the campaign refers to a date when Sennacherib left Nineveh, the 20^th of Shabâtu which is best identified as Jan/Feb 704.

Without listing all of the details of the first campaign, it came to an end with the installation of the puppet Bel-ibni upon the throne of Babylon. The extensive nature of the campaign requires Sennacherib to be active against Babylon and the south of Mesopotamia during 704 and 703. Babylonian records identify Bel-ibni’s first regnal year to be 702-701 which means he was placed on the throne in 703 or at least before Nissan (Mar/Apr) 702.

Second Campaign

The second campaign could have started as early as late in 703 and it was in the north of Mesopotamia. It was certainly in full swing in 702 because it was an extensive campaign and our first written record of the campaign along with a further record of the first campaign is from Tishri (Sep/Oct) 702 (BM 123412).

The scope of the campaign covers the following:

• Against the land of the Kassites and the Yasubigallains; in the mountains of the north, in difficult terrain.
• Capital city, Bît-kilamzah besieged and then captured.
• Large deportation of the populace – resettled in other lands.
• Countless small cities destroyed.
• Overran the land of Elippi; destroyed Marubishti and Akkuddu, the royal cities and 34 other strong cities and small cities.
• Subdued the district of Bît-Barrû, their strong cities and small cities; annexed the district to Assyria.

In addition to this action, the record states that Sennacherib returned to Nineveh and entered into diplomatic negotiations with the Medes and engaged in some building work.[2]

Third Campaign

Sennacherib’s campaign in the Levant could have started late in 702 but scholars have tended to opt for 701, allowing Sennacherib and his elite troops some slack and rest time over the winter of 702-701. The first written record of the campaign is the Rassam Cylinder from 700, which has further encouraged scholars to date the invasion to 701.

A campaign in the West would have involved different locally mobilised divisions;[3] Sennacherib and his elite contingents would have joined such forces in the West. Locally based forces may well have been conducting softening-up operations in 702.[4]  When Sennacherib joined the army is not noted, nor is the progress of the subsequent campaign dated, but it was extensive taking in Phoenicia, Philistia, a battle with Egypt on the coast, as well as the siege of Lachish, the blockade of Jerusalem and the overrun and deportation of Judah. As far as the Assyrian records go, and allowing for a winter of rest, the best reconstruction is that the campaign began proper in the spring of 701 and lasted through the summer into autumn.

Biblical Records

The invasion of Judah is dated in two Biblical texts in Isaiah:

Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year upon year; let the feasts run their round. Isa 29:1 (KJV revised)

And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. Isa 37:30 (KJV)

The first text reflects the turning of the year when Passover was celebrated. The tone is that of a warning to the people: trouble was coming whether or not they observed their feasts. The trouble is further specified in Isa 29:3,

And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee. Isa 29:3 (KJV)

This is a reference to the siege (blockade) of Jerusalem and it is as yet future to the Passover of 701 (Nissan). The proposal that the prophecy was uttered around Passover 702 is unlikely because Sennacherib is in the east and in the middle of what we know as his second campaign. The language of Isaiah 29 is of an imminent threat and fulfilment: the Assyrian army is already active in the area.

What sort of considerations supports this reading? First, is the phrase “add ye year to year” indicative of the Nissan-Nissan calendar or the Tishri-Tishri calendar? We can adduce the following:

• Nissan was to be the beginning of months in the year, established by the Law (Exod 12:2); we have no reason to suppose that this religious calendar was not operative in Hezekiah’s day. He sought to be faithful to the Law.
• The phrase refers to “adding” the years; it is addressed to the people rather than the king, and so it is unlikely to be about the king adding the years in respect of his reign, i.e. incrementing the total from the thirteenth to the fourteenth year in Hezekiah’s case. It is not a regnal count.
• The agricultural year[5] ran from Tishri to Tishri and this was demarcated in groups of seven (the sabbatical system). The refrain “year upon year (hnv l[ hnv)” doesn’t suggest a relatively short seven year counting system but rather the system that stretched back to Moses.
• The first feast of the year was Passover (Exod 12:14; “and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations”). The harvest feast was at the end of the agricultural year but in the seventh month of the religious year ((Lev 23:39). The comment about adding years is therefore unlikely to be made at the end of the agricultural year but at the beginning of the religious year (Nissan) when the annual feasts began (cf. Deut 16;16).
• The phrase “let the feasts run their round” (RSV) suggests the beginning of the cycle of feasts and not the seventh month in that cycle.

We can be certain that Isaiah 29 is from the turn of the year (Nissan). Can we be sure that it is from Nissan 701 or it is it earlier from Nissan 702? The following considerations support a date for the prophecy around Nissan 701:

• The sequence of Isaiah’s chapters shows a progression of events. Isaiah 28:15 indexes that chapter to a time when there is the imminent threat of an overflowing scourge passing through the land; in response the rulers of Jerusalem had made treaty agreements. The tenor of the oracles in Isaiah 28 is prospective, for instance, when the county is overrun it will be a vexation to read the daily reports (v. 19), and God has yet to bring to pass his strange act (v. 21). This fits a time when the Assyrian army is building its forces and supplies in the north ready for attack. Given that Sennacherib and his elite guard are in the east in Nissan 702, this suggests that Isa 29:1 is from Nissan 701.
• Jerusalem is under threat but not yet under siege; she has a multitude of nations against her (Isa 29:7). This reflects the standard Assyrian practice of conscripting soldiers from loyal vassals in the area of campaigning. The opportunity for this happening was a peace conference that Sennacherib held after he had subdued Phoenicia. Moab, Edom and Phoenicia were participants in the conference, and Sennacherib’s own records mention the involvement of foreign troops in his campaign. Again, the natural date for an oracle pronouncement like Isa 29:7 would be after this conference which took place at the conclusion of the first phase of Sennacherib’s campaign in Phoenicia.
• The second phase of Sennacherib’s campaign involved a march down the coastal plain against various Philistine cities. It was at this juncture that he meets and defeats an Egyptian army at Eltekeh. The involvement of Egypt reflects Judahite treaty overtures and hopes which Isaiah condemns (Isa 30:7). This diplomacy can be dated before the second phase of Sennacherib’s campaign, which in turn dates Isa 29:1 to before this action and therefore to Nissan 701.
• The third and last phase of the Assyrian campaign turned its attention to Judah; 46 cities were taken, a siege conducted against Lachish, and Jerusalem blockaded with forts. Given that Isa 29:3 predicts the construction of forts around Jerusalem and Sennacherib details such forts in the third phase of his campaign, we need to date Isa 29:1 earlier rather than later—again, Nissan 701.

Assyrian records do not date the phases of Sennacherib’s campaign; Isa 29:1 is the only dateable piece of information. We can rule out Nissan 702 because Sennacherib is in the east; we can rule out Tishri 702 because Sennacherib has yet to rest at the end of his second campaign, travel to the west and then complete phase 1 of his campaign; this leaves Nissan 701 as the natural date for the “add ye year to year” oracle. The harmony of the Biblical record with the Assyrian chronology is to be noted.

The Sabbatical and Jubilee Year

This second text refers to a Sabbatical year and a Jubilee year and the after growth of such years that was to sustain the people. The start of these years is linked to the seventh month,

And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. Isa 37:30 (KJV)

This is the beginning of the agricultural year when the sowing of crops for the next year was undertaken. One of the points of a Sabbatical and a Jubilee year was to give the land rest from sowing. The verb “grows of itself” is rare and used only in relation to the Sabbatical year and the Jubilee year that followed (Lev 25:5, 11).[6]

But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land. Lev 25:4-5 (KJV)

It makes sense for Isaiah to have spoken the words recorded in Isa 37:30 at the beginning of the agricultural year with the prospect of a Sabbatical and then a Jubilee year in view. Hezekiah is being told that he can rely on the Lord for produce from the land rather than undertake the autumn sowing. Isaiah’s words of assurance are spoken as the Angel of the Lord is about to decimate the Assyrian army. We can therefore date the deliverance of Jerusalem to the autumn of 701 thus making Sennacherib’s campaign occupy the spring and summer of 701 regardless of when we place its start.[7]

The utterance of Isa 37:30 reverses the command of Lev 25:4-5; they were not meant to reap the aftergrowth in a sabbatical year but now Yahweh was instructing them to live on this aftergrowth. If this was spoken at Passover in the middle of a Sabbatical year which began in Tishri 702, it makes no sense as a sign. The aftergrowth is already in place and ready to be reaped. On the other hand, if it is spoken in the autumn, then it is a sign because they are being asked to depend on God for a good aftergrowth in the forthcoming agricultural year.

Western Calendar	Judah’s Calendar	Normal Agricultural Year	What Happened
701	Deliverance of Jerusalem		Utterance of Isa 37:30
	October New Year “701-700”	Former rains in the Autumn soften ground for 2 months of sowing cereals	Sabbatical Year
		2 months of sowing legumes and vegetables.
700		1 month of hoeing weeds for hay.
		Spring, end of March. Latter rains before harvest maturing crops. 1 month of harvesting barley then Passover.
		1 month of harvesting wheat, followed by Pentecost
		2 months of grape harvesting.
		1 month of ingathering of summer fruit.
		2 months of ingathering of olives.
	October New Year “700-699”	Former rains in the Autumn soften ground for 2 months of sowing cereals	Jubilee Year
		2 months of sowing legumes and vegetables.
699		1 month of hoeing weeds for hay.

The Biblical record is that Sennacherib invaded in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah (2 Kgs 18:13). Since the work of E. R. Thiele, the fourteenth year of Hezekiah has been dated to 701[8] and Biblical chronology has been harmonized with Assyrian chronology.   Given that Judah reckoned regnal years from Tishri to Tishri,[9] the fifteenth and sixteenth years of Hezekiah would have been Sabbatical and Jubilee years.

Passover Deliverance?

It follows from the above analysis that Jerusalem was not delivered at Passover. However, this does not prevent the Spirit from comparing the deliverance of Jerusalem to the Passover deliverance of the exodus. Passover was celebrated on the 14^th/15^th Nissan and there is no evidence that this was the date of the destruction of the Assyrian army.

The story of the exodus is a source of types and patterns. Thus, we can see in Isaiah the typological use of the wilderness journey as well as the crossing of the Red Sea. These two types, although part of the exodus story, are distinct from any typology based upon the Passover Night. The application of these types in Isaiah varies depending upon where we are in the story of the times. For example,

• The Crossing of the Red Sea is a type for the redeemed of the Lord (Sennacherib’s deportees) to return to Jerusalem in 701-700 (Isa 52:9-11). It is also used in a comparison with the return of captives from Edom (Isa 63:11-12) in 700-699.
• The confidence of Passover Night (Exod 14:19) is appealed to in Isa 52:12 to encourage the Judahite army to go out from Jerusalem and engage Edom in 700-699.
• Safety during the Wilderness Journey is the type appealed to in Isa 43:2-4 to encourage deportees in Babylon to return in 700 during Sennacherib’s campaign against Babylonia in that year.

These examples use different types but we should distinguish the Crossing of the Red Sea from the Wilderness Journey and these again from the Passover Night. Israel was delivered from the Angel of Death on Passover Night; they were delivered again from the Egyptian army at the Red Sea; and during the Wilderness Journey, they were delivered from enemies like the Amalekites. There are multiple deliverances which can serve as types, but they are not collectively an “ancient Passover experience”.[10] Isaiah has no strong emphasis “on the Passover deliverance of Israel under Moses”;[11] instead, he has an emphasis upon a new exodus of deportees returning to Judah.

Instead, what we have is the language of comparison between deliverance from Sennacherib’s army and deliverance at Passover:

Ye shall have a song, as in the night when the holy feast is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the mighty One of Israel. Isa 30:29 (KJV revised)

The point here is that the people would sing as (k) they do when they keep the holy solemnity (and as (k) when there were processions to Zion). The comparative particle “as” is important—the night in which they would be delivered is not actually the night of Passover but it will be like Passover for its singing afterwards.[12]

Hence, a song celebrating the deliverance of Jerusalem can be prophesied and it can contain echoes of the Passover deliverance. Such a song is contained in Isaiah 26 which was to be sung in the land of Judah after the deliverance of Jerusalem (v. 1) and at a time in the restoration of Judah when the land had expanded and the nation had increased (v. 15).

Conclusion

There is a three year sequence to note in later Isaiah that starts in the autumn of 701 which is when the Assyrian army was decimated outside the walls of Jerusalem. During the invasion, the land had been ravaged; agricultural labourers had been deported, fled or sought refuge in cities; and stores and stocks taken to feed the Assyrian confederacy. The autumn of 701 would signal deliverance but also the need for much work to be done in any land that the Judahite army could protect. But instead of taking up the work of sowing and planting, Hezekiah was commanded to observe the Sabbatical and Jubilee years. There would be two years in which the people would eat “that which grew of itself”—during this time the Judahite army would liberate the people and retake the land—the land would abundantly bring forth its sustenance naturally and this would be a sign to the people that Yahweh was with them in their work of vengeance on the surrounding nations.

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[1] L. D. Levine, “Sennacherib’s Southern Front 704-689 B.C.” JCS 34 1/2 (1982): 28-58 (30). Levine places no evidential significance on the phrase but this is bizarre, even though he dates the start of the first campaign to 704.

[2] Annals of Sennacherib, (ed. D. D. Luckenbill; repr. Wipf & Stock; Eugene, Oregon: 2005), 60.

[3] H. W. F. Saggs, The Might That Was Assyria (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1984), 243-268. See also W. Mayer, “Sennacherib’s Campaign of 701 B.C.E: The Assyrian View” in Like a Bird in a Cage: The Invasion of Sennacherib in 701 B.C.E. (ed. L. L. Grabbe; JSOTSup 363; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2003), 168-200 (175); Mayer notes the contemporary record which details Sennacherib raising troops from local vassal states.

[4] Mayer, “Sennacherib’s Campaign of 701 B.C.E: The Assyrian View”, 174. Mayer shows that preparations and logistics in the north (Israel, Syria) would have been undertaken prior to the campaign. Hezekiah would have known an invasion was coming from as early as 702; it was no surprise.

[5][5] See O. Borowski, “Agriculture” ABD 1:95-98; F. S. Frick, “Rain” ABD 5:612; “Palestine, Climate of” ABD 5:119-126; and C. J. H. Wright, “Sabbatical Year” ABD 5:857-861.

[6] The only other use is Job 14:19 which may be an allusion to the Sabbatical/Jubilee aftergrowth.

[7] Ironically, Assyriologists do not use this evidence.

[8] E. R. Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1983). Thiele published his work in 1951 and older commentaries may not date Sennacherib’s invasion to 701. This has been the standard date since Thiele and the fixing of Assyrian chronology.

[9] Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, chap. 2.

[10] Contra, H. A. Whittaker, Isaiah (Cannock: Biblia, 1988), chap 24.

[11] Whittaker, Isaiah, 52. The deliverance of Passover Night was the work of the Angel of the Lord rather than Moses. Moses led the people the next day.

[12] [Ed. PW] The comparative particle does not express the similarity between this night and the Passover night. The preposition expresses the similarity between the singing of Passover song and the “new song” that Judah would henceforth sing (You shall have a song).