So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
So Sennacherib ... departed, and went and returned х wayica` (H5265), decamped; Septuagint, apeere, took away by force, departed with the remnant of his army. The redundancy of expression used in this description of Sennacherib's flight from Judah is similar to that of Catiline's from Rome, Abiit, excessit. evasit, erupit]. The early chariot-track near Beirut is on the rocky edge of Lebanon, which is skirted by the ancient Lycus (Nahr el-Kelb). On the perpendicular face of the limestone rock, at different heights, are seen slabs with Assyrian inscriptions, which, having been deciphered, are found to contain the name of Sennacherib. Thus, by the preservation of these tablets, the wrath of the Assyrian invaders is made to praise the Lord.
Dwelt at Nineveh х yeesheb (H3427) Septuagint ookeese] - resided remained in his capital administering Dwelt at Nineveh, х yeesheb (H3427) Septuagint, ookeese] - resided, remained in his capital, administering the internal government of his kingdom, and relinquishing all extensive plans of foreign conquest-particularly against Judah, the king and kingdom of which he had learned by dire experience were under divine protection. Both the Hebrew and Greek verbs imply a considerable period of time, but neither of them determines the question, how long he dwelt at Nineveh, though most readers take up an impression, from the tenor of the context, that so daring a blasphemer would not be permitted to live long. Josephus ('Antiquities,'
b. 10:, ch. 1:, sec. 3) quotes Berosus, who says indefinitely, that 'he had abode there a little while,' when his life was suddenly terminated. The annals of his reign, as read in the inscriptions at Kouyunjik, carry on his history at least five years after his return to Nineveh.
Notices are supposed to have been found which record his conducting a war against the Armenians and Medes in the fifth year, and that, having engaged Phoenician sailors to man a small fleet he had built to put on the navigable rivers the Tigris and Euphrates, he put himself at the head of a naval armament fitted out against some of his revolted subjects along the shores of the Persian Gulf, whom he reduced to submission. This expedition occupied him the whole of the next three years. But from the eighth year after his disastrous retreat from Palestine his annals are missing. Eusebius, quoting Alexander Polyhistor ('Chronica,' b. 1:, ch.
v.), says he reigned for 18 years; but there is monumental evidence that the duration of his reign extended over 22 or 25 years. This statement implies a considerable period of time, and his annals carry on his history at least five years after his disastrous campaign at Jerusalem. No record of his catastrophe can be found, since the Assyrian practice was to record only victories. The sculptures gave only the sunny side of the picture.