King living at the time of Divided Monarchy
Tirhakah, the king of Cush (Ethiopia), opposed Sennacherib's invasion of Judah during the reign of King Hezekiah.
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Tirhakah, also known as Taharqa, was the king of Cush (Ethiopia) who opposed the Assyrian king Sennacherib during his invasion of Judah (2Ki.19.9; Isa.37.9). He is mentioned as coming to the aid of King Hezekiah, who was under attack by Sennacherib. Tirhakah was the fourth pharaoh of the Twenty-Fifth (Ethiopian) Dynasty of Egypt, ruling from approximately 690 to 664 BC. There is a chronological difficulty in the biblical account, as the events described are believed to have taken place around 701 BC, before Tirhakah's ascension to the throne. Some scholars suggest that Tirhakah may have been acting as a military commander under his predecessor, Pharaoh Shabaka, or that the biblical authors may have combined accounts of two separate campaigns by Sennacherib. Assyrian records also mention Tirhakah's conflict with the Assyrians. Tirhakah's successful opposition to Assyria is recorded on the walls of a temple at Medinet Habu in Egypt.
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The last king of Egypt of the Ethiopian (the fifteenth) dynasty. He was the brother-in-law of So (q.v.). He probably ascended the throne about B.C. 692, having been previously king of Ethiopia (2 Kings 19:9; Isa. 37:9), which with Egypt now formed one nation. He was a great warrior, and but little is known of him. The Assyrian armies under Esarhaddon, and again under Assur-bani-pal, invaded Egypt and defeated Tirhakah, who afterwards retired into Ethiopia, where he died, after reigning twenty-six years.
(exalted?) king of Ethiopia (Cush), the opponent of Sennacherib. (2 Kings 19:9; Isaiah 37:9) He may be identified with Tarkos or Tarakos, who was the third and last king of the twenty-fifth dynasty, which was of Ethiopians. His accession was probably about B.C. 695. Possibly Tirhakah ruled over Ethiopia before becoming king of Egypt.
inquirer; examiner; dull observer
TIR'HAKAH (exalted?), king of Ethiopia and Upper Egypt. 2 Kgs 19:9; Isa 37:9. In legends he was one of the greatest conquerors of antiquity. His triumphs westward are said to have reached the Pillars of Hercules. But in the East he seems to have been twice badly beaten by the Assyrians and shut up in his own domains. Still, he was formidable enough to cause Sennacherib great uneasiness; for when the latter heard of his coming he demanded the immediate surrender of Jerusalem. 2 Kgs 19:9. Tirhakah reigned, probably, twenty-eight years. The dates are uncertain, but perhaps his rule extended from b.c. 695 to 667.
TIR'HAKAH (exalted?), king of Ethiopia and Upper Egypt. 2 Kgs 19:9; Isa 37:9. In legends he was one of the greatest conquerors of antiquity. His triumphs westward are said to have reached the Pillars of Hercules. But in the East he seems to have been twice badly beaten by the Assyrians and shut up in his own domains. Still, he was formidable enough to cause Sennacherib great uneasiness; for when the latter heard of his coming he demanded the immediate surrender of Jerusalem. 2 Kgs 19:9. Tirhakah reigned, probably, twenty-eight years. The dates are uncertain, but perhaps his rule extended from b.c. 695 to 667.
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
2 verses in 2 books · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H8640
Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush: “Look, he has set out to fight against you.” So Sennacherib again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush: “He has set out to fight against you.” On hearing this, Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.