Public Records

To “spin” something means to shape an account so that it is as positive as possible to the one who is discussed. This is nothing new and historical examples abound. It is understandable that an ancient king would like to spin the message of one of his greatest defeats. What he doesn’t say, however, helps to reinforce the biblical account.

“The cuneiform [writing] on a hexagonal, 15-inch baked clay prism found at the Assyrian capital of Nineveh describes Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah in 701 BC in which it claims that the Assyrian king shut Hezekiah inside Jerusalem ‘like a caged bird.’ Like the biblical record, however, it does not state that he conquered Jerusalem, which the prism certainly would have done had this been the case” (Maier, “Christian Research Journal,” 27:02, 2004, pg. 20).