How is jerusalem saved from the assyrian invasion

The Assyrian sources are the oldest and most contemporary historical record of the campaign: the earliest, the Rassam cylinder dates to B. There are some holes in the Assyrian tale. The Assyrians say Jaffa was part of the Ashkelon kingdom, but the two cities were far apart and Ashdod — run by a different king altogether - lay between them.

Finally, the Assyrians claimed to have taken , captives from Judah, which sounds a tad far-fetched. Of course, the purpose of ancient record-keeping was not accuracy per se, but to convey a message. In this case: Backed by the god Ashur, the Assyrian king overpowered rebels and subdued Judah Israel had already become part of the Assyrian provincial system under Sargon in BCE ; kings who refused to bow before them were ousted, and replaced with vassal kings.

Rebellious leaders were punished horribly. On the Judahite king:. The Assyrians portrayed King Hezekiah of Jerusalem, a principal enemy, as a coward quailing before the Assyrian might, as toothless as his god Yahweh , who failed to prevent the Assyrians from capturing 46 of his strongholds.

Sennacherib sneered that Yahweh would prove to be as impotent as the gods of other lands that had already fallen 2 Kings , Isaiah Among Sennacherib's victories was the powerful Judahic city of Lachish. In the terms of the time, that meant the gods of Assyria were mightier than the neighbors'. The Judahic version naturally cast the sparing of Jerusalem in a different light, as a proactive deed of the deity: Yahweh sent an angel who struck down , Assyrians in a single night, and Sennacherib fled 2 Kings Isaiah Up against god himself.

After the fall of Lachish, Hezekiah pays the tribute demanded by Sennacherib 2 Kings Ergo, Sennacherib continued to assail Judah after its king had capitulated 2 Kings Why would the Assyrian king do that? The people of Judah angered Jehovah by worshipping Baal , bringing divine vengeance upon their heads 2 King Assyria was merely Yahweh's rod to administer that discipline:. And that, dear reader, could explain why Sennacherib, after taking the tribute from Hezekiah, continued to attack Judah.

Yahweh made him do it. In that light, King Hezekiah's efforts to fight bolster Jerusalem's defenses, to forge military alliances against the Assyrians and finally, to buy them off, were foredoomed: only Yahweh could settle the score with the Assyrians. But Yahweh did that very thing too, according to the Bible.

Angel vs. The Bible also says , Assyrian soldiers died in one night while besieging Jerusalem. That decidedly beefy number could stem from misinterpretation of the original Hebrew. Or, did Yahweh get involved after all on the Judahic side as well? Divine intervention in and of itself is a theme in the Old Testament Exodus , 2 Samuel The Prophet Samuel describes an angel bringing pestilence against the Israelites.

Some scholars think "angel of god" is biblical euphemism for "epidemic". Others simply dismiss the verse as purely theological, and unhistorical. Alan Millard, emeritus professor of Hebrew and Ancient Semitic languages at Liverpool University, thinks that scholars who simply dismiss the account as purely theological, are simply ignorant of the attitudes of ancient people.

An Egyptian pharaoh said the god Amun overruled the winter weather that might have prevented a princess from the Hittites in Turkey from reaching Egypt. By and large the biblical and Assyrian accounts harmonize on many core events. Crucially, both accounts agree that Sennacherib did conquer Lachish, and overran almost all of Judah but not Jerusalem. How to Read the Bible.

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Swahili Kiswahili. Swedish Svenska. Back to Blog. Table of Contents. Deuteronomy Hope Thankfully, Yahweh is faithful! Isaiah b Isaiah Isaiah Runs Deep There are many ways in which Isaiah points forward to the hope of the messianic King from the line of David.

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But from an Assyrian point of view, the increased contacts with Egypt and the Arabs endangered its control over the region and therefore constituted high treason.

Rahianu Rezin of Damascus and Peqah of Israel, who feature so prominently in the Bible as Judah's enemies, were among the treacherous vassals that also included Hiram of Tyre and Hanunu of Gaza on the latter, see Philistia. Assyria employed a strategy that was initially aimed at preventing any military intervention via Egypt where the powerful Kushites were increasingly gaining in influence. The conquest of Tyre and Gaza in BC resulted in an Assyrian cordon of loyal vassals stretching from the Brook of Egypt to the eastern bank of the Jordan, blocking the land route into Egypt and also into Arabia.

Judah, which is not at all mentioned in Tiglath-pileser's accounts, was one of these vassals. It must remain open whether its king Ahaz had allied himself with the Assyrians only in reaction to the capture of nearby Gaza or whether this had happened already before. Thereafter, the war was thus confined to the north of modern Israel and what is today southwestern Syria.

It culminated in the Assyrian siege of Damascus and the conquest of this great city in BC. The annexation of the northern part of the kingdom of Israel followed. The events are related briefly in two passages of Tiglath-pileser's surviving inscriptions:. In BC, the kingdom of Damascus lost its independence and existence, its holdings carved up into Assyrian provinces.

Israel, on the other hand, was allowed to survive, albeit reduced to a fraction of its former size and cut off from the sea.

Tiglath-pileser put it under the rule of a new king, Hoshea, chosen to serve as a loyal executor of Assyrian interests.

Israel's northern territories came under direct Assyrian rule. The newly established province of Megiddo centred around the city of the same name and included also the coastal regions with the harbour of Dor.