Answering taunts of Sennacherib

November 4, 2025

By Editorial Team

The Monuments of Nineveh by Sir Austen Henry Layard

“Thus says the Lord God of Israel, because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, I have heard.“ – 2 Kings 19:20

Kings and Chronicles are fascinating books for those of us interested in politics and government. If you want to see how God works through praying believers to build and uproot nations, read these.

Sennacherib was a great Assyrian King who ruled from 705 B.C, till 681 B.C. His empire spanned from Babylon (Iran) and Assyria (Iraq) in the North, to Turkey in the West and towards Israel in the South. He built Nineveh as a great city with fabulous streets, gardens and a huge Palace called “Palace without rival.” Assyrians were the great power of the day and conquered many kingdoms and expanded their territory. So in 701 B.C, he comes south to lay siege to Lachish (town in Judea) and conquers it. Hezekiah was the king of Judah at that time. Compared to the vast Assyrian army, Judah was nothing. A tiny local state.

The Assyrian king conquers Lachish, and surrounding cities. But before he can proceed to Jerusalem, Hezekiah buys him off with extensive gold and silver and stops him (2 Kings 18:13-16).

Sennacherib reviewing Jewish prisoners at Lachish. The entire Lachish campaign is cut in carved stone reliefs in Sennacherib’s palace at Nineveh. Also Sennacherib Cylinder (Taylor Prism) that runs into 500 lines and details his military conquests. (Both exhibits in British Museum).

Years later Sennacherib, sends his Generals (Rabshakeh) with their armies to fight against Jerusalem. The message was Surrender or I’ll swallow you up. The Assyrian Generals stand on the City wall and taunt the people in Hebrew, “O Jews, in whom do you trust? Hezekiah cannot help you, he’s a small power before our Mighty Army. If you are trusting in your God- Jehovah, look at the other gods of the peoples, how we have destroyed them!” They also send intimidating Letters to the King. Hezekiah takes these Letters and goes into the Temple and spreads them before the Lord.

“O Lord God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. Incline your ear O Lord and hear, open your eyes and see and hear the words of Sennacherib by which he is mocking the Living God. “

Taylor Prism

Hezekiah then sends his court officials to Prophet Isaiah to intercede for them.

The Holy Spirit answers Isaiah with these words.

“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 same way in which you came.

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.

By the way that he came, by the same shall he return;

And he shall not come into this city, says the Lord.

For I will defend this city, to save it

For My own sake and for My servant David’s sake. ”

The believers accept this Prophetic word and take comfort. That night an Angel of the Lord walks through the Assyrian camp and kills 185,000 people. It was all over in one night. Christ, the Lion of Judah fought for Israel. He is the crucified saviour, but also the Mighty Lion.

Sennacherib returns to his own land. There his two sons Adrammelech and Sharezer kill him. And his youngest son Esarhaddon takes the throne. The entire story is there in 2 Kings 18,19; 2 Chronicles 32 and Isaiah 36,37.

Friend, today what is the Sennacherib in your life. What is it that is taunting you? It is a financial situation, a health issue? an office problem? are some people threatening you. Take it to the Lord in prayer. He will answer them! The Lord will fight for you!

I close with the testimony of Jemima Rodrigues. India won the Women’s Cricket World cup last week! But in the semi-finals it was looking difficult for India against Australia. Then Jemima came in and scored an unbeaten 127 runs (134 balls) and along with Harmanpreet 89 runs (88 balls) saw us through. In the post match Press conference, Jemima’s said, “Firstly, I want to Thank Jesus, because I couldn’t do this on my own. I know he carried me through today.” All through the knock she said she held on to the promise, “The Lord will fight for you, you only have to be still.”

“I’m grateful to Jesus because His presence, like reading the Bible, just encourages me in my tough times. And the Bible says that ‘weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning’ (from Psalm 30:5). And today joy came, but I’m still weeping," Jemima added.

A young 25 year old girl is standing up for her faith in front of a billion cameras. And she’s reading her Bible daily! What about you?