- 120-
"As he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god,. ..[his sons] Adrammelech and
Sharezer smote him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And
Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead."*
- "Nisroch" - evidently an Assyrian god - has not yet been identified. Probably it depends
upon some corruption of the name, which is differently written in the LXX. and by
Josephus. On Adrammelech (here the name of a person), see our remarks on 2 Kings
17:31. Sharezer is apparently a defective form, the full name having been Nirgal-sar-usur
-- "Nergal protect the king." Strangely, Abydenus (Euseb. Armen. Chron, ed. Mai, p. 25)
has preserved to us the first part of the name, Nergilus, and the Bible its second part.
According to the account just referred to, Sennacherib was killed by his son Adramelus,
and succeeded for a short time by Nergilus (comp. Schrader, u.s., p. 330, and note), who
was overcome and slain by Esarhaddon, who ascended the throne. The latter is confirmed
by the Assyrian inscriptions. Professor Sayce (Fresh Light from the A. Mon.., p. 127)
attributes the murder of Sennacherib to jealousy of Esarhaddon on the part of the two
elder brothers, for which he finds a motive in the will of Sennacherib, which bestowed
great treasures on Esarhaddon. "The land of Ararat" was south of the mountains of that
name, and forms part of Armenia. There was at that time war between Assyria and
Armenia.
(^)