Wednesday, February 10
According to Sennacherib, as reported in his annals, he took forty-six fortified towns, besieged Jerusalem, and made Hezekiah the Jew “a prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage.” — James B. Pritchard, editor, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1969), p. 288. But in spite of his penchant for propaganda as an extension of his monumental ego, neither in text nor in pictures does he claim to have taken Jerusalem. From a human point of view, this omission is amazing, given the inexorable power of Sennacherib and the fact that Hezekiah led a revolt against him. Rebels against Assyria had short life expectancies and gruesome deaths.
Scholars acknowledge that even if we did not have the biblical record, we would be compelled to admit that a miracle must have taken place. The fact that Sennacherib lined the walls of his “Palace Without a Rival” with reliefs (carved pictures) vividly depicting his successful siege of Lachish appears to be due to his need for a face-saving device. But for the grace of God, these pictures would have shown Jerusalem instead! Sennacherib did not tell the rest of the story, but the Bible does.
What is the rest of the story? Isaiah 37:21-37.
In response to Hezekiah’s prayer of total faith, God sent him a message of total assurance for Judah that boils over with molten fury against the proud Assyrian king who had dared slap the divine King of kings in the face (Isaiah 37:23). Then God promptly fulfilled His promise to defend Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:35-37; 2 Chronicles 32:21, 22; Isaiah 37:36-38).
A big crisis calls for a big miracle, and big it was. The body count was high: 185,000. So, Sennacherib had no choice but to go home, where he met his own death (compare Isaiah’s prediction in Isaiah 37:7-38).
“The God of the Hebrews had prevailed over the proud Assyrian. The honor of Jehovah was vindicated in the eyes of the surrounding nations. In Jerusalem the hearts of the people were filled with holy joy.” — Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, p. 361. Also, if Sennacherib had conquered Jerusalem, he would have deported the population in such a way that Judah would have lost its identity, as northern Israel did. From one perspective, then, there would have been no Jewish people to whom the Messiah could be born. Their story would have ended right there. But God kept hope alive.
What do you say to someone who, not yet believing in the Bible or the God of the Bible, asks this question: Was it fair that these Assyrian soldiers, who just happened to be born where they were, should die en masse like this? How do you, personally, understand the Lord’s actions here?
