Sharezer

Biblical Record

Sharezer appears in two places, 2 Kings 19:37 and Isaiah 37:38, both of which describe the same event. The two passages conclude the account of how the Assyrian king Sennacherib invaded Judah, threatened Jerusalem, and then withdrew (2 Kings 18–19; Isaiah 36–37).

According to the text, Sennacherib lost his army and returned to Nineveh. Later, while he was worshiping in the "house" of his god Nisroch, Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. The Korean Bible calls this place a myo (廟), a term that here denotes not a tomb but a shrine housing a deity, that is, a temple. The two men fled to the land of Ararat, and Sennacherib's other son Esarhaddon succeeded him as king. The land of Ararat is identified with the ancient region of Urartu, in what is now eastern Turkey and Armenia (see Mount Ararat).

Apart from this event, Scripture says nothing about Sharezer. His later life and whereabouts are unknown.

Significance Within Scripture

The event is recorded as the fulfillment of a prophecy delivered earlier by Isaiah: that Sennacherib would "fall by the sword in his own land" (2 Kings 19:7; Isaiah 37:7). Sennacherib had mocked Hezekiah and the God of Judah. By contrasting this with his death at the hands of his own sons in the very place where he worshiped his god, the text demonstrates the powerlessness of foreign gods and the sovereignty of the LORD. The New Testament does not mention Sharezer.

Interpretation and Points of Discussion

• The phrase "his sons": In the Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Hangeul), Isaiah 37:38 reads "his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer," but 2 Kings 19:37 lacks the words "his sons." The phrase is likewise absent from the written text of 2 Kings in the Hebrew Masoretic Text and is known to be supplied by the marginal reading tradition.
• Time interval: The text narrates Sennacherib's return and his assassination in immediate succession. Scholars, however, generally date Sennacherib's campaign against Judah to about 701 BC and his death to about 681 BC. The roughly twenty-year interval between the two events is therefore understood to have been compressed in the narrative.
• Comparison with extrabiblical records: The Babylonian Chronicle is known to record that Sennacherib was killed by his son during a rebellion, and Esarhaddon's inscriptions also mention a revolt by his brothers. One theory identifies Adrammelech with Prince Arda-Mulissi, known from Assyrian documents, but no figure corresponding to Sharezer has been clearly identified.
• The name: According to one view, "Sharezer" is a shortened form of an Akkadian name meaning "(O god,) protect the king," from which the initial divine name has been dropped.
• Others of the same name: The Sherezer sent by the people of Bethel in Zechariah 7:2 is a different man from the Persian period. The Babylonian official Nergal-sharezer in Jeremiah 39 is likewise a separate individual.

In the Korean Church

Sermons or Sunday school lessons devoted specifically to Sharezer are rare. He is typically mentioned only in sermons on Hezekiah's prayer and the defeat of the Assyrian army, in connection with the end that befell the proud Sennacherib.