{"id":65856,"date":"2019-11-19T17:35:51","date_gmt":"2019-11-19T15:35:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=65856"},"modified":"2023-06-14T08:02:32","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T05:02:32","slug":"the-year-the-assyrians-came","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-year-the-assyrians-came\/","title":{"rendered":"The Year The Assyrians Came"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[953,469,444,423],"acf":{"old_id":"65856","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":36147,"related_cahpter":"354","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"And punished the rebellious Ashdodis - and everyone else","content":"

Our chapter opens with a specific date \u2013 well, specific by biblical standards: \u201cIn the year that the Tartan came to Ashdod, when King Sargon of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and captured it.\u201d The short prophecy that follows tells of the coming fall of \u201cEgypt and Kush\u201d at the hands of Assyria. Egypt at the time \u2013 this is the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty \u2013 was ruled from the south, and the kings were in fact \u201cNubian\u201d rather than native Egyptian.<\/span><\/p>\n

When did the <\/span>tartanu<\/span><\/i> (an Assyrian title) arrive at Ashdod? The context is developed in an important<\/span> book on Isaiah<\/span><\/a> by Dr. Shawn Zelig Aster. As he argues, Sargon narrated the background for these events for us in an inscription relating to 716 BCE:<\/span><\/p>\n

Azuri, king of Ashdod, whose heart planned not to bring tribute, therefore sent (messages containing) hostility against the land of Assyria to the kings surrounding him. Because of the crimes he committed towards the people of his land, I changed his rule. I established Ahimti his beloved brother, over them.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the people of Ashdod did not accept their new king, Ahimti, and in 714, when Sargon was busy fighting up in eastern Turkey or northwestern Iran, and the Ashdodites took the opportunity to overthrow Ahimti. Again, Sargon tells the story:<\/span><\/p>\n

They appointed Yamani, a <\/span>\u1e2bup\u0161u<\/span><\/i> soldier, who was not a master of the throne, to the kingship over them, and seated him on the throne of his lordship.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most importantly, this was not just a local event in Ashdod. The Ashdodites got help from many of their neighbors, including Judah, and finally relied on Egyptian aid, as well:<\/span><\/p>\n

To the kings of Philistia, Judah, Edom, and Moab, who live by the sea, who bear tribute and gifts of the god Ashur my lord, (they sent) words of lies and words of treachery, to make them hostile to me. To Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, who will not save, they sent payments seeking help, and asked repeatedly for auxiliaries.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Egyptian focus in Isaiah\u2019s prophecy then makes good sense. Ashdod relied on Egypt for help against Assyria; Isaiah retorts that Egypt itself will soon need help! And Isaiah\u2019s involvement becomes clearer overall. When the Assyrians came back, in 712, to punish Ashdod for the insurrection, it was not only Ashdod, but all of its enemies, who were punished. There are cities in Judah which archaeologists have found were destroyed at this time, and this was presumably punishment for supporting Yamani, the anti-Assyrian king of Ashdod.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Sargon II and dignitary. From the palace of Sargon II at Dur Sharrukin in Assyria (now Khorsabad in Iraq), c. 716\u2013713 BC (Louvre) \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":65857,"id":65857,"title":"is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary","filename":"is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-year-the-assyrians-came\/is20-sargon_ii_and_dignitary\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is20-sargon_ii_and_dignitary","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":65856,"date":"2019-11-19 15:35:39","modified":"2019-11-19 15:35:49","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":429,"height":599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary-215x300.jpg","medium-width":215,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","medium_large-width":429,"medium_large-height":599,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","large-width":429,"large-height":599,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","1536x1536-width":429,"1536x1536-height":599,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","2048x2048-width":429,"2048x2048-height":599,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","post_full_size-width":429,"post_full_size-height":599,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary-301x420.jpg","home_baner-width":301,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"The Year The Assyrians Came","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"And punished the rebellious Ashdodis - and everyone else","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":65857,"id":65857,"title":"is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary","filename":"is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-year-the-assyrians-came\/is20-sargon_ii_and_dignitary\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is20-sargon_ii_and_dignitary","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":65856,"date":"2019-11-19 15:35:39","modified":"2019-11-19 15:35:49","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":429,"height":599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary-215x300.jpg","medium-width":215,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","medium_large-width":429,"medium_large-height":599,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","large-width":429,"large-height":599,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","1536x1536-width":429,"1536x1536-height":599,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","2048x2048-width":429,"2048x2048-height":599,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","post_full_size-width":429,"post_full_size-height":599,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary-301x420.jpg","home_baner-width":301,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65856"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65856"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115935,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65856\/revisions\/115935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}