Page 18 - Bible Geography and Near East Studies - Textbook w videos short

Fortified cities like Lachish, Azekah and Bet Shemesh were
charged with protecting Jerusalem. Any invading army wanting
to capture Judah’s capital would have to get past armies
stationed at these locations first. This helps us understand
details in scripture of why the Philistines, Assyrians,
Babylonians and even the northern kingdom of Israel would
attack these cities as they moved toward Jerusalem. One
Assyrian commander (Sennacherib) had his hard-won victory
at Lachish (below) inscribed on stone. This amazing artifact
(bottom photo and insert) is on display at the British Museum.

In response to Sennacherib’s rebellious response, the Lord sent an angel who annihilated all the fighting
men and commanders and officers in the Assyrian camp. (2 Chronicles 32:21) According to the Bible’s
record, Sennacherib withdrew to his own land in disgrace. Back at home, he went into the temple of his
god and some of his sons, “his own flesh and blood,” cut him down with the sword. His sons then
proceeded to rebuild Babylon. Babylonian and Assyrian records both tell of Sennacherib’s assassination
by his sons, just as the Bible had recorded.

In 1830 Sennacherib’s Hexagonal Clay Prism was excavated in Nineveh and 500 lines of writing in the
Akkadian language describing the siege of Jerusalem during the reign of “Hezekiah the Judahite” in 701
BC. A clay prism validates the authenticity of God’s Word!

A Chaldean king took control of Babylon after the fall of the Assyrian Empire circa 612 B.C. King
Nabopolassar used diplomacy and alliances to build the Neo-Babylonian Empire out of the remains of
the fallen Assyrian empire. King Nebuchadnezzar II, his son, began renovating and building on a grand
scale in Babylon until it covered 2,200 acres with a population perhaps reaching 200,000.
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