Sennacherib

Hezekiah was not disposed to become an Assyrian feudatory. He accordingly at once sought help from Egypt ( 2 Kings 18:20-24 ). Sennacherib, hearing of this, marched a second time into Palestine (2 Kings 18:17,37; 19; 2 Chronicles 32:9-23; Isaiah 36:2-22 . Isaiah 37:25 should be rendered "dried up all the Nile-arms of Matsor," i.e., of Egypt, so called from the "Matsor" or great fortification across the isthmus of Suez, which protected it from invasions from the east). Sennacherib sent envoys to try to persuade Hezekiah to surrender, but in vain. (See TIRHAKAH .) He next sent a threatening letter ( 2 Kings 19:10-14 ), which Hezekiah carried into the temple and spread before the Lord. Isaiah again brought an encouraging message to the pious king (2 Kings 19:20-34 ). "In that night" the angel of the Lord went forth and smote the camp of the Assyrians. In the morning, "behold, they were all dead corpses." The Assyrian army was annihilated.

This great disaster is not, as was to be expected, taken notice of in the Assyrian annals.

Though Sennacherib survived this disaster some twenty years, he never again renewed his attempt against Jerusalem. He was murdered by two of his own sons (Adrammelech and Sharezer), and was succeeded by another son, Esarhaddon (B.C. 681), after a reign of twenty-four years.