2 Kings 19:9 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

He heard say of Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, &c. Probably of Ethiopia beyond Egypt. For Josephus affirms that the Egyptians (against whom, according to Herodotus and Berosus, this Sennacherib warred) and Ethiopians were confederates in this expedition. It is most likely he was the same with the Sabaco of Herodotus. See Universal Hist., vol. 4, p. 321. He sent messengers again unto Hezekiah It is probable the king of Assyria thought by this message to terrify Hezekiah and the people to compliance, which it was now the more necessary for him to do, as the invasion of Tirhakah rendered it less proper for him to attempt so long a siege as that of Jerusalem was likely to prove.