Sennacherib’s campaign against the Kingdom of Judah, held in 701 BCE, was the most dramatic and significant event in the history of the Kingdom of Judah until the Babylonian destruction that came 115 years later. It left in its wake clear and well-dated layers of destruction, and resulted in severe damage to Judah, the exile of many residents, the destruction of the economy, and the lowlands’ separation from the kingdom. But it seems that beyond all the immediate effects that Sennacherib’s campaign had on Judah, another, long-term, largely unpredictable and destructive long-term effect was on the ideological, theological and historiographical side.
Despite the terrible destruction of many cities, the exiles and the heavy economic damage, the main memory of the campaign among the Jerusalem...