Angel kills 185,000 Assyrians

Seven centuries before Christ was born, the Assyrian Empire rose to power. Emperor Sennacherib succeeded to the throne after the death of his father Sargon II in 705 BC. He wasted no time in defeating his father’s old enemy, King Merodach-Baladan of Babylon. Then, Emperor Sennacherib invaded the Kingdom of Judah and captured several of its fortified towns. Upon hearing this, King Hezekiah of Judah offered to pay a tribute of silver and gold to Sennacherib if he would withdraw his armies from Judah (2 Kings 18:14-16.) The king of Assyria accepted Hezekiah’s tribute, but continued to besiege Jerusalem. 

King Hezekiah knew there would be a water shortage if the Assyrian invaders surrounded Jerusalem. Since he intended to stop paying Assyria’s annual taxes, Hezekiah was almost certain the Assyrian invaders would cut off Jerusalem’s water supply. Jerusalem was built on a ridge. Its main source of water was Gihon Spring, which was outside the city walls — nestled in a cave at the base of a ridge. Hezekiah decided to bring the water into the city, so he dug an underground tunnel to bring water into Jerusalem (II Kings 20:20.) He cut a tunnel through 600 yards of solid rock. Through this channel, spring water could flow into the lowest part of the city. Approximately seven centuries later, the Pool of Siloam, where Jesus healed the blind man in John 9:1-34, was fed by the original Gihon Spring that King Hezekiah used to bring water into the city. In 1880, this tunnel was rediscovered, along with its story of how it was cut. Tourists have been wading through this tunnel ever since.

At that juncture, the prophet Isaiah entered the picture. The prophet assured King Hezekiah that the Assyrian emperor would not enter the city or shoot a single arrow against it. That very night, an Angel of the Lord went into the Assyrian encampment around Jerusalem and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. So, Emperor Sennacherib had no choice except to withdraw and return to the capital city of Assyria, which was Nineveh. Several years later, Sennacherib was worshipping the false god, Nisroch, in the temple at Nineveh. His two sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer were hiding there, so they killed their father with swords. A third son of Sennacherib named Esarhaddon succeeded his father as emperor.

To summarize, the story of Hezekiah can be found in 2 Kings 16:20-20:21 and 2 Chronicles 28:27-32:33…and again in Isaiah 36:1-39:8. Hezekiah is mentioned throughout the Old Testament: Proverbs 25:1; Isaiah 1:1; Jeremiah 15:4; Jeremiah 26:18-19; Hosea 1:1; and Micah 1:1. Hezekiah’s godliness was in direct contrast to his father’s, King Ahaz’s, wickedness. Ahaz was an evil, idolatrous king. During the reign of Ahaz, the people of Israel said they feared God, yet they simultaneously practiced idolatry (2 Kings 17:33.)

Hezekiah was the 13th successor of King David, reigning in Judah’s Southern Kingdom. He reigned for 29 years, 715-686 BC, beginning at age 25 (II Kings 18:2). His reign began in the third year of Hoshea’s prophetic involvement over the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the capital city of Samaria (II Kings 18:1-3). It coincided with the ministry of two of God’s prophets, Isaiah and Micah. In 2010, archaeologists found Hezekiah’s royal seal at the foot of the southern wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This validated Hezekiah’s place in biblical history. II Chronicles 31:20 states that King Hezekiah “faithfully walked with God,” II Kings 18:5 adds: “There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.”

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