Bible Timeline · 701 BC

Hezekiah, Isaiah and the Assyrian Army

In 701 BC the Assyrian king Sennacherib swept through Judah and surrounded Jerusalem. King Hezekiah prayed, Isaiah promised deliverance, and the Bible says the angel of Yahweh struck down 185,000 Assyrians. Assyria's own records admit he never took the city.

Read it in the Bible: 2 Kings 18-20 Isaiah 36-39 2 Chronicles 32 Isaiah 37:33-35 Proverbs 25:1

In 701 BC, the Assyrian king Sennacherib invaded Judah, captured its fortified cities and surrounded Jerusalem. King Hezekiah of Judah spread out Sennacherib's threatening letter before God and prayed. The prophet Isaiah promised that the Assyrian would not even shoot an arrow into the city. That night, the Bible says, the angel of Yahweh struck down 185,000 soldiers, and Sennacherib went home. Amazingly, Sennacherib's own records survive, and they say he shut Hezekiah up in Jerusalem like a bird in a cage. They never claim he captured it.

Who Was King Hezekiah?

Hezekiah was one of the few truly good kings of Judah. His father Ahaz had worshiped other gods and even shut the temple doors. Hezekiah opened them again, cleaned out the idols, and even smashed the old bronze serpent Moses had made, because people had started burning incense to it.

Hezekiah trusted in Yahweh, the God of Israel. No king of Judah was like him, either before him or after him. 2 Kings 18:5

He also held a huge Passover and invited people from the fallen northern kingdom to come, which you can read about in 2 Chronicles 30. His men even copied more of Solomon's proverbs, according to Proverbs 25:1.

Why Did Sennacherib Attack Jerusalem?

Twenty years earlier, Assyria had wiped out the northern kingdom of Israel. Judah paid tribute to stay safe. But when Sargon II died, Hezekiah and other small kingdoms stopped paying and looked to Egypt for help. Sennacherib, the new king, came to crush the rebellion.

In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked and captured all the fortified cities of Judah. 2 Kings 18:13

He took town after town, including the great fortress of Lachish. Hezekiah tried paying him off with silver and gold, even stripping gold from the temple doors. It did not work. Sennacherib sent his field commander to stand outside the walls and mock the people of Jerusalem in Hebrew, telling them their God could not save them.

What Did Hezekiah and Isaiah Do?

Hezekiah tore his clothes, went into the temple and sent for Isaiah. When another threatening letter came, Hezekiah laid it out before Yahweh and prayed one of the great prayers of the Bible.

And now, O Yahweh our God, please save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O Yahweh, are God.” 2 Kings 19:19

God answered through Isaiah. The Assyrian king would not enter the city, would not shoot an arrow there, and would go home the way he came.

And that very night the angel of Yahweh went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. 2 Kings 19:35 to 36

The Bible does not say exactly how the angel struck the army. The Greek historian Herodotus told a strange story about mice chewing up an Assyrian army's bowstrings in Egypt. Some think it is a garbled memory of a plague. We simply do not know the details. What we do know is that Assyria's huge army left, and Jerusalem stood.

Sennacherib went back to Nineveh. Years later, in 681 BC, two of his sons killed him while he worshiped his god, just as 2 Kings 19:37 says. Assyrian and Babylonian records confirm he was murdered by a son.

What Does the Taylor Prism Say About Hezekiah?

In 1830, a British officer named Colonel Robert Taylor got hold of a six sided clay prism from the ruins of Nineveh. Today it sits in the British Museum. Written in cuneiform, it records Sennacherib's military campaigns, including his attack on Judah.

Sennacherib boasts that he captured 46 of Hezekiah's fortified cities and carried off 200,150 people. Then he says he shut up Hezekiah in Jerusalem, his royal city, like a bird in a cage. He lists the heavy tribute Hezekiah sent him afterward.

Notice what he does not say. Assyrian kings loved to brag about burning cities and capturing kings. For Jerusalem, Sennacherib could only say he trapped the king inside. Many historians see that as a quiet admission that he never took the city. The Lachish reliefs from his palace, also in the British Museum, show the fall of Lachish in vivid detail, but Jerusalem is missing.

What Is Hezekiah's Tunnel?

Hezekiah knew a siege was coming. Jerusalem's main water source, the Gihon Spring, was outside the walls. So he had workers dig a tunnel through solid rock to bring the water inside the city to the Pool of Siloam.

It was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the Spring of Gihon and channeled it down to the west side of the City of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all that he did. 2 Chronicles 32:30

You can still walk through it today, knee deep in cool water. It is about 533 meters long and winds through the rock. In 1880 a boy discovered an inscription carved inside, now known as the Siloam Inscription. It describes two teams of diggers cutting from opposite ends until they heard each other's voices and met in the middle. The stone is now in the Istanbul Archaeology Museums. A few scholars think parts of the tunnel system are older, but most still connect it to Hezekiah.

Archaeologists have found more of Hezekiah, too. A clay seal impression reading belonging to Hezekiah son of Ahaz, king of Judah was found in Jerusalem and announced in 2015. The Archaeology page on this site has more on these finds.

Did God Really Add 15 Years to Hezekiah's Life?

Around this same time, Hezekiah became deathly ill. Isaiah told him to set his house in order. Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and wept and prayed. Before Isaiah even left the palace courtyard, God sent him back.

“Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what Yahweh, the God of your father David, says: ‘I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. Isaiah 38:5

God gave a sign, the shadow on the stairway going backward. Hezekiah did not use those years perfectly. He showed off his treasures to envoys from Babylon, and Isaiah warned that Babylon would one day carry it all away. That warning came true about a century later.

What Does Hezekiah's Story Mean for You Today?

Hezekiah's story is about where you take your fear. He tried money and alliances first, and they failed. When he finally spread the problem out before God, things changed.

It also points to Jesus. God said He would defend Jerusalem for the sake of His servant David in Isaiah 37:35. The promise to David's family kept the city alive until the true Son of David came. Jesus would later walk through that same city and send a blind man to wash in the Pool of Siloam in John 9:7, at the end of Hezekiah's tunnel.

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Questions People Ask

What happened to the 185,000 Assyrians?

2 Kings 19:35 says the angel of Yahweh struck down 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp in one night. The Bible does not explain how. Some suggest a sudden plague. Assyrian records do not mention the disaster, but they also never claim Sennacherib captured Jerusalem.

What is the Taylor Prism?

The Taylor Prism is a six sided clay prism from Nineveh, dated to about 691 BC and now in the British Museum. It records King Sennacherib's campaigns, including his invasion of Judah. It says he shut up Hezekiah in Jerusalem like a bird in a cage.

Can you still walk through Hezekiah's tunnel?

Yes. Hezekiah's tunnel in the City of David in Jerusalem is open to visitors. It is about 533 meters long and still carries water from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam, so bring shoes that can get wet.

Was Hezekiah a good king?

Yes. The Bible calls Hezekiah one of the best kings of Judah, saying no king was like him in trusting Yahweh. He reopened the temple, removed idols and led a great Passover. He also made mistakes, like showing his treasures to the envoys from Babylon.

Sources

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