Brit-Am Summary of Isaiah chapter 37.
Chapter 19 of 2-Kings repeats the events in Isaiah chapter 37.
Here is the Brit-Am Summary to that chapter.
Isaiah Chapter 37:
When King Hezekiah hears what has
happened he mourns, fasts, and prays (37:1). A deputation from the King goes to
the Prophet Isaiah who tells them to take a message back saying, Fear Not for
the King of Assyria will hear a rumor and return to his own land (37:6-7). This
is what happens. Sennacherib indeed hears reports of
Tirhakah
King of Cush
(translated as Ethiopia) coming against him (37:9) so he made to move against
him. The Assyrians leave but
Rabshakeh (2-Kings 19:9) sends a
dire threat to Hezekiah that they will still carry out their evil designs
(37:10-13). Hezekiah receives the letter, goes into the Temple, and prays before
the God of Israel to save the people of Jerusalem (37:15-20). Isaiah the son of
Amoz
sends a message to Hezekiah in the name of the God of Israel (37:21).
Sennacherib had blasphemed against the God of Zion and Jerusalem, the Holy One
of Israel (37:23). The Assyrians will not succeed but will be turned back in
disaster (37:24-28). The attack on Judah is the same as an attack on the
Almighty (37:29). All hatred of the Jews is War against God. The small number of
survivors from Judah will produce a large population in a relatively short time
(37:31). Despite everything, We could have been much bigger and greater than we
are. We still can rectify the situation if we wish. Even if Judah is not worthy
at some stage or other God will intervene of behalf of Jerusalem and in memory
of David (37:35). The Assyrians then returned to the siege of Jerusalem. The
angel of God went forth at night and slew 185,000 Assyrians (37:36).
Isaiah Chapter 38: Sennacherib went back to Nineveh where he was assassinated
by two of his sons who then fled to Ararat (Urartu
translated as "Armenia" in the KJ, 2-Kings 19:37, Isaiah 37:38).
2-Kings 19:1-37.
Below are the verses from 2-Kings ch 19.
For commentary please go to what we
wrote on Isaiah chapter 37.
http://www.britam.org/isaiah/Isaiah36to40.html#37
[2-Kings 19:1] And so it was, when King
Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and
went into the house of the LORD.
[2-Kings 19:2] Then he sent
Eliakim, who was over the
household, Shebna
the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the
prophet, the son of Amoz.
[2-Kings 19:3] And they said to him,
"Thus says Hezekiah: 'This day is a day of trouble, and rebuke, and blasphemy;
for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring them
forth.
[2-Kings 19:4] It may be that the LORD your God will hear all the words of the
Rabshakeh,
whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and
will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up your
prayer for the remnant that is left.'"
[2-Kings 19:5] So the servants of King
Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
[2-Kings 19:6] And Isaiah said to them, "Thus you shall say to your master,
'Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with
which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.
[2-Kings 19:7] Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor
and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own
land.'"
[2-Kings 19:8] Then the
Rabshakeh
returned and found the king of Assyria warring against
Libnah,
for he heard that he had departed from
Lachish.
[2-Kings 19:9] And the king heard
concerning Tirhakah
king of Ethiopia, "Look, he has come out to make war with you." So he again sent
messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
[2-Kings 19:10] "Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: 'Do not
let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given
into the hand of the king of Assyria.'
[2-Kings 19:11] Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all
lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered?
[2-Kings 19:12] Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers
have destroyed, Gozan
and Haran
and Rezeph,
and the people of Eden who were in
Telassar?
[2-Kings 19:13] Where is the king of
Hamath,
the king of Arpad,
and the king of the city of
Sepharvaim,
Hena,
and Ivah?'"
[2-Kings 19:14] And Hezekiah received
the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to
the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.
[2-Kings 19:15] Then Hezekiah prayed
before the LORD, and said: 'O LORD God of Israel, the One who dwells between the
cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have
made heaven and earth.
[2-Kings 19:16] Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and
see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living
God.
[2-Kings 19:17] Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations
and their lands,
[2-Kings 19:18] and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods,
but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them.
[2-Kings 19:19] Now therefore, O LORD
our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may
know that You are the LORD God, You alone."
[2-Kings 19:20] Then Isaiah the son of
Amoz
sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'Because you have
prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard.'
[2-Kings 19:21] This is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him:
'The virgin, the daughter of Zion,
Has despised you, laughed you to scorn;
The daughter of Jerusalem
Has shaken her head behind your back!
[2-Kings 19:22] Whom have you reproached and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice,
And lifted up your eyes on high?
Against the Holy One of Israel.
[2-Kings 19:23] By your messengers you
have reproached the Lord,
And said: 'By the multitude of my chariots
I have come up to the height of the mountains,
To the limits of Lebanon;
I will cut down its tall cedars
And its choice cypress trees;
I will enter the extremity of its borders,
To its fruitful forest.
[2-Kings 19:24] I have dug and drunk strange water,
And with the soles of my feet I have dried up
All the brooks of defense.'"
[2-Kings 19:25] "Did you not hear long ago
How I made it,
From ancient times that I formed it?
Now I have brought it to pass,
That you should be
For crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins.
[2-Kings 19:27] "But I know your
dwelling place,
Your going out and your coming in,
And your rage against Me.
[2-Kings 19:28] Because your rage against Me and your tumult
Have come up to My ears,
Therefore I will put My hook in your nose
And My bridle in your lips,
And I will turn you back
By the way which you came.
[2-Kings 19:29] "This shall be a sign
to you:
You shall eat this year such as grows of itself,
And in the second year what springs from the same;
Also in the third year sow and reap,
Plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
[2-Kings 19:30] And the remnant who
have escaped of the house of Judah
Shall again take root downward,
And bear fruit upward.
[2-Kings 19:31] For out of Jerusalem
shall go a remnant,
And those who escape from Mount Zion.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this."
[2-Kings 19:32] "Therefore thus says
the LORD concerning the king of Assyria:
'He shall not come into this city,
Nor shoot an arrow there,
Nor come before it with shield,
Nor build a siege mound against it.
[2-Kings 19:33] By the way that he came,
By the same shall he return;
And he shall not come into this city,"
Says the LORD.
[2-Kings 19:34] "For I will defend this
city, to save it
For My own sake and for My servant David's sake."
[2-Kings 19:35] And it came to pass on
a certain night that the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of
the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early
in the morning, there were the corpses, all dead.
[2-Kings 19:36] So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned
home, and remained at Nineveh.
[2-Kings 19:37] Now it came to pass, as
he was worshiping in the temple of
Nisroch
his god, that his sons
Adrammelech and
Sharezer
struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then
Esarhaddon
his son reigned in his place.
"Like the wolf on the fold" by Lord
Byron.
From: Brother Gilbert Bloomer
RE: 2 Kings 18: Sennacherib versus Judah.
Dear Yair,
Here is "The Destruction of Sennacherib" by Lord Byron and Isaac Nathan from the
Hebrew melodies of 1815.
cheers Brother Gilbert
Download to hear:
http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/douglass/music/Sennacharib.mp3
Due to the music being different from that which is popular in our time it may
be a little difficult to
follow the words at first. It is therefore recommended that one listen to it
while reading the verses of Lord Byron below.
The Destruction of Sennacherib
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on
the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and
strown.
For the Angel of Death spread his wings
on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and forever grew still!
And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.
And there lay the rider distorted and
pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted,
the trumpets unblown.
And the widows of Ashur
are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile,
unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!
Note: first published as "The
Destruction of Sennacherib"
Authorship by George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron (1788-1824) , "The
Destruction of Sennacherib", from Hebrew Melodies, no. 18, published 1815.
Josephus, Antiquities, Book 10, chapter
1.
4. About the same time also the king of
Assyria wrote an epistle to Hezekiah, in which he said he was a foolish man, in
supposing that he should escape from being his servant, since he had already
brought under many and great nations; and he threatened, that when he took him,
he would utterly destroy him, unless he now opened the gates, and willingly
received his army into Jerusalem. When he read this epistle, he despised it, on
account of the trust that be had in God; but he rolled up the epistle, and laid
it up within the temple. And as he made his further prayers to God for the city,
and for the preservation of all the people, the prophet Isaiah said that God had
heard his prayer, and that he should not be besieged at this time by the king of
Assyria that for the future he might be secure of not being at all disturbed by
him; and that the people might go on peaceably, and without fear, with their
husbandry and other affairs. But after a little while the king of Assyria, when
he had failed of his treacherous designs against the Egyptians, returned home
without success, on the following occasion: He spent a long time in the siege of
Pelusium;
and when the banks that he had raised over against the walls were of a great
height, and when he was ready to make an immediate assault upon them, but heard
that Tirhaka,
king of the Ethiopians, was coming and bringing great forces to aid the
Egyptians, and was resolved to march through the desert, and so to fall directly
upon the Assyrians, this king Sennacherib was disturbed at the news, and, as I
said before, left Pelusium,
and returned back without success. Now concerning this Sennacherib, Herodotus
also says, in the second book of his histories, how "this king came against the
Egyptian king, who was the priest of Vulcan; and that as he was besieging
Pelusium,
he broke up the siege on the following occasion: This Egyptian priest prayed to
God, and God heard his prayer, and sent a judgment upon the Arabian king." But
in this Herodotus was mistaken, when he called this king not king of the
Assyrians, but of the Arabians; for he
saith
that "a multitude of mice gnawed to pieces in one night both the bows and the
rest of the armor of the Assyrians, and that it was on that account that the
king, when he had no bows left, drew off his army from
Pelusium."
And Herodotus does indeed give us this history; nay, and
Berosus,
who wrote of the affairs of
Chaldea, makes mention of this
king Sennacherib, and that he ruled over the Assyrians, and that he made an
expedition against all Asia and Egypt; and says thus:
5. "Now when Sennacherib was returning
from his Egyptian war to Jerusalem, he found his army under
Rabshakeh
his general in danger [by a plague], for God had sent a pestilential distemper
upon his army; and on the very first night of the siege, a hundred fourscore and
five thousand, with their captains and generals, were destroyed. So the king was
in a great dread and in a terrible agony at this calamity; and being in great
fear for his whole army, he fled with the rest of his forces to his own kingdom,
and to his city Nineveh; and when he had abode there a little while, he was
treacherously assaulted, and died by the hands of his elder sons,
Adrammelech
and Seraser,
and was slain in his own temple, which was called
Araske.
Now these sons of his were driven away on account of the murder of their father
by the citizens, and went into Armenia, while
Assarachoddas
took the kingdom of Sennacherib." And this proved to be the conclusion of this
Assyrian expedition against the people of Jerusalem.
The Liberation of the Israelites in
Exile?
(a) The Deliverance Described by Isaiah.
The Commentary MeAm Loaz on Isaiah 9:2 quotes a source saying that after the
Assyrian King Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem and had his army destroyed by a
miracle the Lost Ten Tribes who already in exile were released from bondage.
[Isaiah 9: 2] The people who walked in
darkness
Have seen a great light;
Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,
Upon them a light has shined.
The rest of Isaiah chapter nine is also worth considering in this light.
They who put their faith in entities other than God will be disappointed and
will end up cursing the other entities (Isaiah 8:21).
Isaiah Chapter 9: There will be no gloom
for Israel at the Time of Redemption. In Former Times (do not look for strict
time sequences in Prophecy) they were exiled beginning with the Lands of Zebulon
and Naphtali,
after that even more severely by Way of the Sea, Across the Jordan, the
Highlands of the Nations (9:11). In their place of Darkness and Exile the Ten
Tribes suddenly achieved freedom (9:2). They multiplied greatly and threw off
the yoke of their oppressor and one of their offshoots became the Nation of
Khazars
(9:3-4).
Israel will be mighty warriors (9:5) under a Great Leader who will from
Childhood be destined to lead with Divine Inspiration (9:6). His rule of justice
and righteousness will last forever. He will sit on the Throne of David (9:7).
Isaiah returns to speak of the coming disaster upon Samaria: This is the way of
Prophecy, a constant flitting back and forth between time and events with the
past merging into the future and the future suddenly describing the past.
Ephraim will attribute his disaster to natural causes that can be rectified
(9:9-10). This attitude causes God to set still more adversaries against them,
Aram
(Syrians) in the east and Philistines in the West (9:12). They remained
obstinate so God will cut them off in one day (9:14). Their leaders and false
prophets have mislead them (9:15-16). They are all bad including those who
themselves are victimized and vulnerable and will be burnt up (9:17-18).
Manasseh is against Ephraim, Ephraim is against Manasseh, and they both gang up
together against Judah and this is not the end of it (9:21).
(b) Assyrians and Cimmerians.
Returning to the Assyrians and
Sennacherib:
Sennacherib had been Crown prince during the reign of his father Sargon.
Sargon had sent Sennacherib to deal with or oversee a group of Cimmerians in the
Province of Uishish (Gamir) of Mannae.
Ptolemy placed the city of Gomara in this region. Gomara later became known as "Sakkiz"
and was the capital of the Scythians.
The Scythians first emerged from the Cimmerians.
M.N. van Loon wished to emphasize this point:
"It should be made clear from the start
that the terms `Cimmerian' and `Scythian' were interchangeable: in
Akkadian
the name Iskuzai
(Asguzai)
occurs only exceptionally.
Gimirrai (Gamir)
was the normal designation for `Cimmerians' as well as `Scythians' in
Akkadian."
The Assyrians called the Cimmerians "Gimirri" which equates the Biblical Gomer.
These were the Gimirri who were in the employ of Sargon and helped him subdue
most of the Land of Urartu.
Mannae was on the border of Assyria and Urartu and the Cimmerians had been
settled there.
Sennacherib had been sent to report on the movements of the Cimmerians and to
oversee the subjugation of Urartu. His father Sargon was killed (705 BCE?) by
what may have been another group (?) of Cimmerians in Cilicia to the southwest.
Sennacherib then became King. Sennacherib, defeated the Cimmerians in Elam in
the east and drove another portion of them into Phrygia in the west. The
Cimmerians conquered Phrygia (695 BCE?). Those Cimmerians who did not go into
Phrygia remained along the boundaries of the Assyrian Empire. By the end of his
reign Sennacherib had lost ground to the Cimmerians in Urartu and Mannae.
Sennacherib spent his early years subduing the east, then turned westward and
towards the south in the direction of Judah and Egypt. After some years of
campaigning in the region his army was destroyed before the walls of Jerusdalem.
Sennacherib then returned to Assyria where he was assassinated by two of his
sons who then fled to Armenia (i.e. Urartu).
Sennacherib was succeeded by Essarhaddon in whose time the Cimmerians in Mannae
(where Sennacherib had first been in charge of them) were described as being in
a state of rebellion. They were referred to as "Outcasts" without loyalty to god
or man. Essarhaddon the Assyrian defeated the Cimmerians in Tabal (just north of
Cilicia) in ca.679 driving still more of them westward toward Phrygia and Lydia.
At the same time other Cimmerians formed a unit in Esarhaddon's army.
The Prophet Amos had predicted that the Israelites would be exiled to Mannae.
"Hear, this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which
oppress the poor, which crush the needy, who say to their husbands, Bring, and
let us drink.
"...he will take you away in big ships
and your posterity in fishing boats.
"Each woman will be carried straight out through the breaches and cast out
beyond the mountains of Mannae"
(Amos 4:1-3).
The expression "cast out beyond the mountains of Mannae" in Hebrew is "Harmonah"
but the Targum Yehonatan translates it as referring to the Mountains of Mannae
and such a rendering from the Hebrew is possible. It also fits in with other
information on the subject.
(c) A. G. K. Kristensen and the Cimmerians.
A.K.G. Kristensen ("Who were the Cimmerians, and where did they come from?",
translated from the Danish by Jorgen Laessoe) brings apparently irrefutable
proof that the Cimmerians upon their first appearance in Mannae were indeed
serving in the Assyrian forces under Sennacherib. A.K.G. Kristensen also proves
that the Cimmerians were first settled in areas that could be considered "Cities
of the Medes" and she states her belief (along with evidence) that the
Cimmerians were in effect re-settled Israelites!
A. K. G. KRISTENSEN identifies the Cimmerians upon their first appearance in
Mannae as in Assyrian employ and in effect Israelite settlers who had been
exiled and re-settled by Assyria.
The presentation of Kristiansen includes the following points:
1. Assyrian reports: A series of Assyrian tablets have been found from the time
of Sargon-ii (721-705) referring to the Cimmerians and their country Gamir. They
are military intelligence reports to King Sargon concerning campaigns in Urartu.
These show that the Cimmerians were settled (Kristensen says) to the south and
not to the north of Urartu. This means that the Cimmerians were first found in
a buffer zone between Urartu and Assyria. Mannae and Musasir were the
neighbourhoods in which Cimmerians were first reported.
2. Where did the Cimmerians really come from? Kristensen advocates the rejection
of previously held academic theories concerning Cimmerian origins. It has been
supposed that the Cimmerians came from north of the Caucasus and were driven to
the south by the Scythians. Kristensen quotes from researchers such as
T.Sulimirski, M.Salvini, U.Cozzoli, and others who point out that the said
identifications are groundless. There is no archaeological evidence for the
Cimmerians (or the Scyths) ever having been north of the Caucasus prior to their
first appearances in the Middle East. Nor is there anything in their culture
(which in the case of the Scythians at least, was Near or Middle Eastern)
relating them to that area.
Kristensen quotes B.Oded to the effect that the Assyrians lacked manpower to
fortify border position and used conscripts taken from the countries that they
had conquered. She says that the Gimiri (Cimmerians) were such conscripts taken
from the northern kingdom of Israel. This corresponds with other evidence.
3. Gamir (=Land of the Gimirri-Cimmerians) is first mentioned in a letter
addressed to Sargon ii king of Assyria. The defeat of a king of Urartu in Gamir
is reported.
4. The location of Gamir in Mannae: The Assyrian report said that GAMIR was
separated from Urartu by the country of Guriana.
The King of Urartu had requested aid from Urzana the king of Musasir
against the Cimmerians. Musasir was a semi-independent buffer state bordering
Mannae between Assyria and Urartu. Reports concerning the Gamiri (i.e. the
Cimmerians) are frequently concerned with the area of Mannae or its immediate
vicinity and Kristensen places GAMIR of the Assyrian report at or near Mannae
and in this her opinion is supported by others. In other words the Cimmerians
defeated the king of Urartu in Gamir which formed part of Mannae and from there
they proceeded to invade Urartu.
5. The role of Musasir: Kristensen analyses (in detail) the relevant texts and
comes to the following conclusions: Around the time that Urartu invaded Gamir
(i.e. the land of the Cimmerians) the Assyrian king Sargon had been to the east
of Musasir (which bordered Mannae) waging war in Zikirtu.
Sargon claims that he "broke off his homeward march" and with an elite army
group attacked Musasir which he took "without battle, sacked and placed under
Assyrian sovereignty". Sargon took the war god Haldia into captivity and thus
gained some kind of hold over Urartu. Sargon says he then invaded Urartu and
Rusa king of Urartu apparently committed suicide.
6. Parallel accounts of the Assyrian War against Urartu exist where the role
played by "Cimmerians" in one account is the same as that of the "Assyrians" in
the parallel version. In these cases the "CIMMERIANS" are paralleled by the
"Assyrians" and may be identified with them since (claims Kristensen) the
CIMMERIANS were serving as ASSYRIAN SOLDIERS!
7. An Assyrian account directed to the king of Assyria concerning the king of
Urartu after his defeat states,
"The Urartian, since he went [to] Gamir [now?)] is very afraid of the lord my
king".
-In other words, because of his defeat at Gamir (by the Cimmerians) the king of
Urartu had come to fear the king of Assyria!
Sargon was to claim credit for having subdued Urartu but Kristensen shows that
this would have been physically impoosible. Other Assyrian accounts indicate
that the victory should be attributed to Cimmerians in Assyrian service and
these should be accepted.
Kristensen claims that analysis of Cimmerian-locii show a certain concentration
in areas later considered Median. The Bible (2-Kings 17) says that the exiled
Israelites were re-settled in "Halah, Habor, the river Gozan, and the cities of
the Medes". Thus, the positioning of Cimmerians and Israelite exiles overlaps.
Kristensen brings more evidence and also discusses contrary opinions.
There is additional proof that the Exiled Israelites (or part of them) were in
Mannae:
"Gimir" of Mannae is in the region marked by Ptolemy as of the Sambatae in
Mannae where Ptolemy recorded the city of "GOMARA"."Gomer" like "Gimir" is
another form for Cimmerian! Gomara stood on the later site of Sakkiz (in Mannae)
which was destined to become a Scythian centre. The Lost Ten Tribes were
recorded as having been taken to the Mountains of Mannae (Yehonatan on Amos
ch.4), and to the Sambatian River and to beyond the Sambation River. The
Sambation was a name given to the Upper Zab River (and later to the Don River in
southern Russia). The name SAMBATION is similar to that of the SAMBATAE whom
Ptolemy recorded as dwelling on its bank in Mannae.
The Apocryphal Book of Tobith ("Tobias" ca.200s BCE) relates that
Israelite exiles from the Tribe of Nephtali were to be found in the geographical
region ascribed by Ptolemy to the Cadussi and close to it. The Cadussi later
moved northward into Scythia and may be identified with the Nephtalite Huns who
were also known as Kadussi (i.e.Cadussi) and came from the Israelite Tribe of
Nephtali. They eventually migrated to Scandinavia. The Roman Geographer Pliny
said that the Cadussi called themselves "GAELI" which ethnic name was later
found amongst the Cimmerian derived inhabitants of the British Isles. Homer
mentions Cimmerians in Britain.
More details and discussions of these matters are to be found in our work:
Manasseh. Israelite Origins Of the
Cimmerian Celts In Western Europe.
http://britam.org/Menasseh.html#Manasseh
We identify the Exiled Israelites from the Ten Tribes as the Cimmerians and
Scythians or at the least as part of their federations.
This accords with the identification of Gomer (in Hosea chs. 1 & 2) as exiled
Israelites who unite with and become identified as part of the Cimmerians and
Scythians.
The opinion that the disaster endured by Sennacherib enabled the Lost Tribes in
Exile to assert their independence fits our knowledge about the Cimmerians. Part
of the Cimmerians however had already been independent and opposed to the
Assyrians previously.
Continued!
