Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 36:1

"Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them." — Isaiah 36:1 (ASV)

In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah — Of his reign, 709 B.C.

That Sennacherib — Sennacherib was the son and successor of Shalmaneser, king of Assyria. He began to reign A.M. 3290, or 714 B.C., and reigned, according to Calmet, only four years; according to Prideaux, eight years; and according to Gesenius, eighteen years. The immediate occasion of this war against Judah was that Hezekiah had shaken off the yoke of Assyria, under which his father Ahaz and the nation had suffered so much from Tiglath-pileser or Shalmaneser (2 Kings 18:7). The design of this celebrated expedition appears to have been to reduce Judea to subjection again, as well as to carry his conquests into Egypt. He ravaged the country, took the strong towns and fortresses, and then prepared to lay siege to Jerusalem itself.

Hezekiah, however, as soon as the army of Sennacherib had entered Judea, prepared to put Jerusalem into a state of complete defense. At the advice of his counselors, he stopped the waters that flowed in the neighborhood of the city, which might furnish refreshment to a besieging army; built up the broken walls; enclosed one of the fountains within a wall; and prepared shields and darts in abundance to repel the invader (2 Chronicles 32:2–5).

Sennacherib, seeing that all hope of easily taking Jerusalem was taken away, apparently became inclined to listen to terms of accommodation. Hezekiah sent to him to propose peace and to ask the conditions on which he would withdraw his forces. He confessed his error in not paying the tribute stipulated by his father and his willingness to pay now what Sennacherib demanded. Sennacherib demanded three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. Hezekiah paid this by exhausting the treasury and by stripping even the temple of its gold (2 Kings 18:13–16). It was evidently understood in this treaty that Sennacherib was to withdraw his forces and return to his own land. However, he ultimately disregarded this treaty (see the note at Isaiah 33:8).

He seems, however, to have granted Hezekiah some respite and to have delayed his attack on Jerusalem until his return from Egypt. He prosecuted this war with Egypt at first with great success and with a fair prospect of conquering that country.

However, having laid siege to Pelusium and having spent much time before it without success, he was eventually compelled to raise the siege and retreat. When Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, came to the aid of Sevechus, the reigning monarch of Egypt, and advanced to the relief of Pelusium, Sennacherib was compelled to raise the siege and retreated to Judea. Here, having taken Lachish and disregarding his agreement with Hezekiah, he sent an army to Jerusalem under Rabshakeh to lay siege to the city. This is the point in the history of Sennacherib to which the passage before us refers (see Prideaux’s “Connection,” vol. 1, pp. 138–141; Josephus, Antiquities 10.1; Gesenius, in loc.; and Robinson’s Calmet).

All the defended cities — All the towns on the way to Egypt and in the vicinity of Jerusalem (see the notes at Isaiah 10:28-32).