In 701 B.C.E. the Assyrian king Sennacherib launched an attack against the rebellious Levantine state of Judah, ruled over by Hezekiah from his capital at Jerusalem. According to the Hebrew Bible (II Kings 18), the Assyrian king, established at the city of Lachish, which his forces had just seized, sent to Jerusalem three of his highest-ranking officials, who demanded to speak with Hezekiah. When the three Assyrian officials were confronted outside the city walls, their spokesman, apparently speaking in Hebrew, said:

Tell Hezekiah, thus said the Great King, the King of Assyria: "What makes you so confident? Do you think that plans and arming for war can emerge from empty talk? Look, on whom are you relying that you have rebelled against me? You rely, of all things, on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which enters and punctures the palm...