"LACHISH DESTROYED, JERUSALEM SPARED": NEW CONCLUSIONS FROM EXISTING EVIDENCE

BY JOHN W. MOORE

The headliner for the Assyrian Post of 701 B.C. reads “Lachish Destroyed, Jerusalem Spared.” Of course, the Assyrian Post is fictional and newspapers didn’t exist in Biblical times—or did they?

Between 700-681 BC an Assyrian “newspaper” did in fact report on the famed military exploits of Sennacherib and his conquest of the Levant, including Judah.  The campaign included attacks against Lachish, Libnah, and Jerusalem as described in the Bible (2 Kings. 18; Isaiah. 36-37).   

Tel Lachish with Judahite palatial structure from the 9th and 8th centuries BC. Photo inset is from the Lachish relief depicting the Assyrian siege

The “newspaper” mentioned above came in the form of images sculpted onto the walls of King Sennacherib’s palace in Nineveh in the modern country of Iraq. Now on display in the British Museum, these sculptures depicting the battle at Lachish, known as reliefs, measured 62 feet in length and were approximately 9 feet tall. Many different reliefs were discovered at Sennacherib's palace, but this specific one gives a detailed account of how the Assyrians conquered Biblical Lachish and then humiliated its captives.

Lachish Relief from the Israel Museum showing Jewish captives being impaled

Portions of the relief show Jewish citizens being forced to kneel before Sennacherib while others were impaled and flayed. A section of that relief has been recreated is now on display in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Other "news items" of this period were preserved on clay prisms and tablets. The famed 7^th century prism discovered in 1830 by Colonel Robert Taylor reveals that Sennacherib was limited to have only encircled Jerusalem and leaving it intact. The prism recalls how Sennacherib could only cage Jerusalem “like a bird,” and this is similar to how the Bible describes the event as well (2 Kings 18-19).

Taylor's Prism (aka Sennacherib's Prism) and Assyrian arrowheads on display at the Israel Museum

But there is more! In the October 2025 issue of the Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Stephen C. Compton argues in his article, “Sennacherib’s Throne-Room Relief: On Jerusalem and the Misplaced City of Ushu” that a section of the relief in King Sennacherib’s palace (different from the area where the Lachish relief was discovered) depicts Jerusalem as undestroyed, just as revealed in the Bible (2 Kings 19; Isaiah 37).  

This interpretation is consistent with other Assyrian records which boast of victories elsewhere but clearly avoid claiming Jerusalem’s destruction. Compton also argues that the presentation of the sequence of battles on the relief correspond to the chronology found in the Bible. Known to archaeologists as Slab 28, the relief was once on display in King Sennacherib’s throne room at his palace and Compton suggests that this may be the oldest known visual representation of Jerusalem.

Slab 28 as the Cover Photo for the 2025 November-December Issue of Let the Stones Speak

Many other fascinating connections are revealed in Compton’s article, but unless you subscribe to the Journal of Near Eastern Studies you may not be able to read it. However, a superb summary of Compton’s research can be found in the free edition of the 2025 November-December issue of Let the Stones Speak.  

Both articles are very much worth reading and reveal compelling evidence for the reliability of the Bible through the discoveries of archaeology. Indeed, the well documented evidences of the Lachish Reliefs, Taylor's Prism, and Slab 28 of Sennacherib's Palace are yet another powerful connection between faith and fact from the land of the Bible.

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