The siege of Jerusalem is not just any mundane siege. In lieu of one side claiming victory, both sides had different stories themselves, rather than one linear story. From this point in the story, the three different sources from which the event is retold do not concur entirely on what transpires. The Book of Kings in the Hebrew Bible tells of an angel that descended from heaven and smote the army of Sennacherib, driving him back into his maleficent capital of Nineveh (II Kings 19:35). Sennacherib’s Prism (Taylor’s Prism) tells of the great feats of the Assyrian king and how his siege of Jerusalem was just another piece in the expansion of his imperium. Nowhere within this Assyrian account does the author mention thousands of soldiers killed or a recede
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Thirdly, the Greek historian Herodotus indicts the account of the Egyptian struggle against the Assyrians directly controlled by Sennacherib. In it, he tells a story in some ways kindred to that of the Bible in which during the night thousands of mice masticated through the Assyrians’ bow strings and render their army useless when the sun elevates. This third story further perplexes the matter more because the angel of Yahweh was supposed to have struck the army besieging Jerusalem not Egypt. It’s very weird how one siege sought to have other terminuses. It’s near infeasible to decide which side was right, and which was erroneous. During the siege, Hezekiah clad himself in sackcloth out of anguish from the psychological warfare that the Assyrians were waging. However, the prophet Isaiah assured Hezekiah that the city would be distributed and Sennacherib would be cut down with the sword. The Hebrew Bible states that during the night, an angel of Yahweh brought death to 185,000 Assyrians troops. When Sennacherib optically discerned the ravagement wreaked on his army, he withdrew to Nineveh. Jerusalem was spared ravagement. This is the Jew’s side of the
Thirdly, the Greek historian Herodotus indicts the account of the Egyptian struggle against the Assyrians directly controlled by Sennacherib. In it, he tells a story in some ways kindred to that of the Bible in which during the night thousands of mice masticated through the Assyrians’ bow strings and render their army useless when the sun elevates. This third story further perplexes the matter more because the angel of Yahweh was supposed to have struck the army besieging Jerusalem not Egypt. It’s very weird how one siege sought to have other terminuses. It’s near infeasible to decide which side was right, and which was erroneous. During the siege, Hezekiah clad himself in sackcloth out of anguish from the psychological warfare that the Assyrians were waging. However, the prophet Isaiah assured Hezekiah that the city would be distributed and Sennacherib would be cut down with the sword. The Hebrew Bible states that during the night, an angel of Yahweh brought death to 185,000 Assyrians troops. When Sennacherib optically discerned the ravagement wreaked on his army, he withdrew to Nineveh. Jerusalem was spared ravagement. This is the Jew’s side of the