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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
2 Kings 18:9–16, “And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it. And at the end of three years they took it: even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes: Because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them. Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them. And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king’s house. At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.”
Hezekiah was the king in Jerusalem when Samaria was finally taken and the people of the northern kingdom went away into their Exile. However, the Assyrians could remember that there was also wealth in Judah because Ahaz had shown then what he could offer them. They came down to Lachish, which was on the Plains to the southwest of Jerusalem. There is an important road that runs up into the Judean highlands from the coastal plain. The Assyrians had control of the lower end of this road when they took Lachish, it was an important city in the defensive plans for Jerusalem. Hezekiah was not yet prepared to withstand a siege so he took riches from the Temple and paid the Assyrians and apologised for refusing to pay them the tribute that they wanted.
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