Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the LORD, the God of Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here” (Ez 4:1-2 ESV).
In my continuing series on the Assyrian kings mentioned in the Bible, I now turn my attention to Esarhaddon, who is mentioned by name three times. You can find my articles about the other biblical Assyrian kings here:
- Tilgath-pileser III/Pul – 2 Kings 15:19; 16:7; 1 Chron. 5:26;
- Shalmaneser V – 2 Kings 17:3; 18:9
- Sargon II – Isaiah 20:1
- Sennacherib – 2 Kings 18-19; 2 Chron. 32; Isaiah 36-37
Upon his father Sennacherib’s death, Esarhaddon inherited the throne, but not without a fight. His name in Akkadian was Aššūr-aḫu-īddina, which meant “Ashur has given a brother” and was a relatively common name. Thus, he was given a more appropriate name upon being named crown prince: Aššūr-etel-ilāni-mukīn-apli, “Ashur, prince of the gods, is the one who established the heir.” This was cumbersome however, and his original name was used most often.1 He ruled from ca. 681/80–669 BC.
Esarhaddon’s Rise to Power
Esarhaddon’s rise to power is described in an epilogue to the life of his father in the Bible. “Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place” (2 Kgs 19:36-37).
Assyrian records provide more background to the turbulent transition of power. According to a text dated to the seventh year of his reign, Esarhaddon explains his accession. He writes:
Though I am younger than my older brothers, my father, my begetter, duly chose me out of all my brothers on the command of Ashur, Sin, Shamash, Bel and Nabu, Ishtar of Nineveh (and) Ishtar of Arbellam [Mesopotamian gods and goddesses] saying: this is my son, my successor,”2
This was problematic because Sennacherib had earlier named two of his other sons as the crown prince to succeed him: first Ashur-nâdin-shumi, who likely died at some point, and then Urdu-Mullissu.3 According to Esarhaddon, “Pursuit and jealousy fell over my brothers and they abandoned (the will of) the gods and put their trust in insolent ways and plotted evil…in accord with the judgement of the great gods, my lords, considering the(se) evil deeds, they had me stay in a hidden place and they spread their good shadow over me and protected me for the kingship”4
Unable to find Esarhaddon and unable to convince Sennacherib to change his mind, his sons murdered their father no doubt hoping to take the throne in a coup.
The Bible records that the murder took place while Sennacherib was worshiping in the temple of his god. The Babylonian Chronicle simply records, “On the twentieth day of the month Tebet, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, was killed by his son (lit. his son killed him) in a rebellion. For [twenty four] years Sennacherib ruled Assyria. The rebellion continued from the twentieth day of the month of Tebet until the second day of the month of Adar.”5
Esarhaddon records that when he “heard of their evil deeds” he cried, “Woe!” tearing his garments and, raging like a lion, he marched back to Ninevah, where he was welcomed by the people of Assyria who kissed his feet. Moreover, his brothers, the rebels, “fled to an unknown land” where he “sought out the guilty persons, to the last one, who had plotted evil with my brothers to gain the kingship of Assyria; I severely punished them and wiped out their descendants.”6
Esarhaddon’s Kingdom
After quelling the rebellion and killing those who opposed him, Esarhaddon turned his attention to building programs and military campaigns. The first major building project Esarhaddon undertook was to rebuild Babylon. He claims to have been “raised to kingship for the restoration of (the images) of the great gods, and for the complete (re)-building of the shrines of every metropolis,” going on to call himself the “restorer of Esagila and Babylon.”7 Sennacherib had destroyed Babylon more than a decade earlier, and Esarhaddon first had to remove the debris in most of the buildings and rebuild the city wall, paying for the expensive rebuild through the yearly tribute from conquered peoples, such as the Egyptians.8 In a black stone monument describing his rebuilding of the city, Esarhaddon blames the destruction Babylon on the anger of the god Marduk, rather than his father.9 It is likely that he was trying to rehabilitate his father’s image.
Esarhaddon also constructed a new palace for himself at Ninevah, naming it “The palace that administers everything.”10 The Assyrian king describes the construction of his palace in great detail on a number of clay prisms. He notes that summoned 22 of his vassals from the southern Levant to provide the material for his palace. Among the kings named is “Manasseh, king of Judah.”11
For years, Esarhaddon’s palace lay undiscovered. His father’s Southwest Palace on the main hill of Kuyunjik at Ninevah had been excavated in the nineteenth century by Austen Henry Layard, but the location of Esarhaddon’s palace was unknown. That change in 2014 when the terrorist organization ISIS destroyed a shrine said to mark the tomb of the prophet Jonah and dug tunnels underneath in search of artifacts to sell on the black market. When the Iraqis regained control of the area, archaeologists discovered that the tunnels happened to lead to Esarhaddon’s palace.12 Numerous lamassu (winged bulls with human heads) were discovered as well as several inscriptions that read, “The palace of Esarhaddon, great king, mighty king, king of the world, king of Assyria, son of Sennacherib, king of the world, king of Assyria, descendant of Sargon (II), king of the world, king of Assyria.”13 Excavations at the site are being led by the University of Heidelberg, and we will have to wait for their publications to learn more about Esarhaddon’s palace.
Esarhaddon’s Conquests
Scholars group Esarhaddon’s military campaigns into two main phases: first one from 680 to 675 BC and the second from 674 to 670 BC.14 In the first phase, he attacked the Sealand (an area likely on the Persian/Arabian Gulf), Cilicia and the Cimmerians, and the city of Arzâ, near the Brook of Egypt. He also put down a revolt led by Abdi-Milkûti, king of Sidon. Esarhaddon boasts that he “leveled” Sidon, tearing down the walls and buildings and throwing them into the Sea. He then summoned his vassal kings from the southern Levant to rebuild the city for him, naming it Kār-Esarhaddon.15 Then, following Assyrian practice, he deported people from Sidon eastward and resettked the area with captured people from other regions.16
Esarhaddon’s second campaign was largely focused on his conquest of Egypt, a feat his great-grandfather, grandfather, and father had attempted without success. Esarhaddon’s initial invasion failed, but his second attempt was successful, as the Assyrians defeated the forces of Pharaoh Tirhakah/Taharqa. On the Zenjirli Stela, Esarhaddon declares, “As for Tirhakah, king of Egypt and Cush, From Ishhupri to Memphis, his royal city, I struck him five times with arrow after arrow, a blow for which there is no healing. I laid siege to Memphis, his royal city, and captured it in half-a-day. I tore out the root of Cush from Egypt.”17 The stela pictures Esarhaddon standing victorious over two figures, likely the king of Tyre (Egypt’s ally) and Tirhakah’s son prince Ushankhuru kneeling with a rope tied around his neck.
One final note should be made about a comment about Esarhaddon in the Book of Ezra. In Ezra 4:2, the enemies of the people of Judah opposed the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem claim that Esarhaddon had brought them to the land. There is no mention in Assyrian records of a campaign to repopulate the land of Judah. It could be that some of the people Esarhaddon had resettled along the Phoenician coast migrated south to the region of Judah or there could have been a campaign that is not recorded in the Bible or Assyrian records. In either case, the claim of foreigners being resettled in the region is consistent with known Assyrian practice.
Conclusion
French historian Josette Elayi summarizes the context of Esarhaddon’s life within the Assyrian empire:
The Assyrian Empire inherited by Esarhaddon was founded by his great-grandfather Tiglath-pileser III, who reigned from 745 to 727. He had created a truly imperialist system, a source of considerable wealth, which was characterized by the ongoing mechanism of conquest and the growing weight of the Assyrian administration, which oppressed the conquered states. The expansion of the empire was institutionalized, becoming part of the traditional values of Assyrian society. This empire was extended by Esarhaddon’s grandfather Sargon II, but little further advancement was achieved by his father Sennacherib….However, Sennacherib had succeeded in consolidating the empire and establishing a kind of Pax Assyriaca.18
Esarhaddon maintained the ethos of the great Assyrian empire and was able to fulfill the dream of earlier kings: the conquest of Egypt. His brief appearance in the Bible is consistent with details known from Assyrian records.
Cover Photo: José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
Endnotes
1 Josette Elayi, Esarhaddon, King of Assyria. (Columbus: Lockwood Press, 2023), 10.
2 Mordecai Cogan, The Raging Torrent: Historical Inscriptions from Assyria and Babylonia Relating to Ancient Israel. (Jerusalem: Carta, 2015), 152.
3 Josette Elayi, Esarhaddon, King of Assyria. (Columbus: Lockwood Press, 2023), 20.
4 Mordecai Cogan, The Raging Torrent: Historical Inscriptions from Assyria and Babylonia Relating to Ancient Israel. (Jerusalem: Carta, 2015), 153.
5 A.K. Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles. (New York: J.J. Augustin Publisher, 1975), 81.
6 Mordecai Cogan, The Raging Torrent: Historical Inscriptions from Assyria and Babylonia Relating to Ancient Israel. (Jerusalem: Carta, 2015), 153-154.
7 Daniel David Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1927), 203.
8 Josette Elayi, Esarhaddon, King of Assyria. (Columbus: Lockwood Press, 2023), 51.
9 Daniel David Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1927), 243.
10 Erle Leichty, The Royal Inscriptions of Esarhaddon, King of Assyria (680–669 BC). (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2011), 25.
11 Leichty, 23.
12 Josette Elayi, Esarhaddon, King of Assyria. (Columbus: Lockwood Press, 2023), 5.
13 Ali. Y. Al-Juboori, “Recently Discovered Neo-Assyrian Royal Inscriptions from the Review Palace and Nergal Gate of Nineveh.” IRAQ, Volume 79 , December 2017 , pp. 3 – 20. Online: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/iraq/article/recently-discovered-neoassyrian-royal-inscriptions-from-the-review-palace-and-nergal-gate-of-nineveh1/C39961A5169B023A5402BB767AB51FDD (Accessed June 19, 2024).
14 Josette Elayi, Esarhaddon, King of Assyria. (Columbus: Lockwood Press, 2023), 64.
15 Erle Leichty, The Royal Inscriptions of Esarhaddon, King of Assyria (680–669 BC). (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2011), 16.
16 Josette Elayi, Esarhaddon, King of Assyria. (Columbus: Lockwood Press, 2023), 70.
17 Mordecai Cogan, The Raging Torrent: Historical Inscriptions from Assyria and Babylonia Relating to Ancient Israel. (Jerusalem: Carta, 2015),129.
18 Josette Elayi, Esarhaddon, King of Assyria. (Columbus: Lockwood Press, 2023), 1.
Bible Archaeology Report 