{"id":66811,"date":"2019-12-11T14:03:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-11T12:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=66811"},"modified":"2023-07-05T07:18:15","modified_gmt":"2023-07-05T04:18:15","slug":"the-siege-of-jerusalem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-siege-of-jerusalem\/","title":{"rendered":"The Siege Of Jerusalem"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/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":[953,898,635],"acf":{"old_id":"66811","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":64700,"related_cahpter":"370","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"And the crazy strategies the Assyrians tried","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The entirety of the book has led to this moment, the narrative depiction of the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem. These chapters appear in parallel in the book of Kings, but the inclusion in this book of prophecy is also fitting, as it finally describes the events that are at the core of the book.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In siege warfare, the attacking nation prefers to scare the defending nation into surrender.\u00a0 After all, a siege can be a long, protracted affair, especially when the defending nation has had much time to prepare and store supplies (2 Chronicles 32). The Assyrian king attempts a shortcut, by sending three trusted advisers to \u201cde-motivate\u201d the people and encourage them to accept surrender. The group speaks in Hebrew (36:12) in an effort to break the spirit of the people, and not Aramaic, which was the language of diplomacy at the time. This verse is important as it establishes that at this time, all Judeans spoke Hebrew but few spoke Aramaic, a situation that will reverse itself later in Tanakh by the time of Nehemiah.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The emissaries speak of the inevitability of the defeat of Jerusalem. First, they note that Egypt was not a trustworthy partner and they would not help defend the people (an idea expressed by the prophet, himself, in chapters 30 and 31). Moreover, the Assyrian army had many more horses than the Jews (36:8); they had more horses than the Judeans had riders!\u00a0 Two arguments are given as to why the God of the Jews would not save them as well. Hezekiah\u2019s ministers are told that God would not save them, as Hezekiah had removed the \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bamot,<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d the local altars outside of Jerusalem, thereby angering God. (This claim, of course, is incorrect, as Hezekiah\u2019s decision would be supported by God, given that it reflects the teachings of the Torah). And to the people they add that none of the gods of the other nations had saved their people from the Assyrians (36:18-20), so why would the God of the Judeans be any different? Accept our offer \u2013 they say \u2013 and we will give you land in a different country, just as good as your land (36:17). Surrender and receive peace, refuse and face certain defeat.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even the kings trusted ministers are dejected and forlorn (36:22), and the people clearly are primed to rebel, kill the king, and then surrender (as we have seen in chapter 22). The various prophecies of reassurance throughout the book (from chapter 10 through chapter 35) were likely given at this point, as the king and prophet try to find a way to keep the people together until such time as God would save.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image: Jos\u00e9 Villegas Cordero, Rabshakeh\u2019s Speech, c. 1885.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":66812,"id":66812,"title":"is36-rabshakeh","filename":"is36-rabshakeh.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is36-rabshakeh.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-siege-of-jerusalem\/is36-rabshakeh\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is36-rabshakeh","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":66811,"date":"2019-12-11 12:02:47","modified":"2019-12-11 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