The Assyrians in the Bible

 The Assyrians in the Bible

The Assyrians were the inhabitants of the area that grew to become a great empire controlling the biblical Middle East from the ninth to the seventh century BC. They triumphed over an area that comprises what are now Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. In the seventh century BC, Assyria occupied and governed the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The capital city of Assyria was Nineveh, one of the biggest cities of ancient times. Excavations in Mesopotamia have confirmed the Bible’s clarification that it did take three days' excursion to walk around this city (Jonah 3:3). The Assyrians were a ruthless also nasty nation who showed minimal amount of mercy to those they conquered (2 Kings 19:17).

The Assyrians were a thorn in the side of Israel. Commencing in 733 BC under King Tilgath-pileser, Assyria took the Northern Kingdom’s territory in addition to carried the people into exile (2 Kings 15:29). Eventually, beginning in 721 BC, the Assyrian king Shalmaneser overwhelmed Israel’s capital city, Samaria, and it fell three years after that (2 Kings 18:9-12). This event made real Isaiah’s prophecy that God intended to take advantage of Assyria as the “rod of His anger” (Isaiah 10:5-19); that is, the Assyrian Empire was implementing God’s judgment against the idolatrous Israelites. The sovereign God receives the full credit as the source of Assyria’s authority (review Isaiah 7:18; 8:7; 9:11; and Daniel 4:17). Secular history records that in 703 BC Assyria under King Sennacherib suppressed a serious Chaldean dilemma.

Given the Assyrian danger against Israel, it is obvious that the prophet Jonah would not wish to head to Nineveh (Jonah 1:1-3). When he eventually showed up in the Assyrian capital, Jonah preached God’s imminent judgment. After being attentive to Jonah’s advice, the king of Assyria as well as the entire city of Nineveh repented, and God turned His anger away for a time (Jonah 3:10). The grace of God was extended also to the Assyrians.

In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign, in 701 BC, the Assyrians under Sennacherib captured 46 of Judah’s fortified municipalities (Isaiah 36:1). Then they laid siege to Jerusalem—the Assyrian king engraved upon his stele that he had the king of Judah caught like a caged bird in his own nation.

Nevertheless, even though Sennacherib’s army occupied Judah up to the very doorstep of Jerusalem, and even though Sennacherib’s emissary Rabshakeh boasted against God and Hezekiah (Isaiah 36:4-21), Assyria was rebuffed. Hezekiah prayed, and God stated that the Assyrians would certainly never set foot inside the city (Isaiah 37:33). God slew one hundred and eighty five thousand  Assyrian forces in the same night (Isaiah 37:36), and Sennacherib returned to Nineveh the place he was slain by his very own sons as he worshiped his god Nisroch (Isaiah 37:38).

In 612 BC, Nineveh was besieged by an alliance of the Medes, Babylonians and Scythians, and the city was so wholly defeated that even its location was long forgotten until British archaeologist Sir Austen Layard began uncovering it in the nineteenth century. Accordingly, as the Babylonian Empire ascended, Assyria decreased the pages of the past.

Warning this video historical and of interest to adult bible students is very straight to the point about the brutality of war and is not suitable for younger children .
This is a two part video the first part deals with the Assyrians the second part with the Macedonians .

Max Lines DIP BS Biblical studies .