Bible Correct About Sennacherib’s Death

IN THE days of King Hezekiah an attempted conquest of Jerusalem was thwarted by divine execution of 185,000 Assyrian invaders. In his Universal Jewish History Philip Biberfeld, LL.D., relates the episode and observes: “The Bible report concluded with the assassination of Sennaherib. ‘So Sennaherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the home of Nisroh his god, that Adrammeleh and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.’ [2 Kings 19:36, 37]

“In contradiction to this report, the Babylonian Chronicle stated that on the 20th of Tebet, Sennaherib, king of Assyria, was killed by his son in a revolt. Thus, he was assassinated by only one of his sons. The same account was given by Berossus and Nabonid. With respect to this event of first rate significance for Babylonian-Assyrian history all indications seemed to be that the Babylonian records were more reliable than the Biblical ones. However, the fact is that the opposite is true. In a more recently discovered fragment of the prism of Esarhaddon, he reports himself that his brothers revolted and slew Sennaherib, their father, to gain the kingship. Before he could reach them in Nineveh, they fled from there to unknown parts.

“The Babylonian Chronicle, Nabonid, and Berossus were mistaken; only the Biblical account proved to be correct. It was confirmed in all the minor details by the inscription of Esarhaddon and proved to be more accurate regarding this event of Babylonian-Assyrian history than the Babylonian sources themselves. This is a fact of utmost importance for the evaluation of even contemporary sources not in accord with Biblical tradition.”