siege

The military tactic of surrounding a community, cutting off its supplies, and reducing its resistance to the point of surrender or destruction. Biblical references to siegeworks, siege towers, and siege mounds indicate common experience with the process (Deut 20:20; 2Kgs 25:1; Job 19:12; Eccl 9:14; Isa 29:3; Dan 11:15). Ezekiel’s description of a siege is quite graphic and accurate, combining a siege wall, a ramp, camps, and battering rams (Ezek 4:2-3). One of the longest sieges in biblical history occurred at Samaria; the city held out for three years against the Assyrians before capitulating in 722 BCE.