The political tension between Judah and Assyria during Hezekiah’s reign, is reflected in 2Kings 19:35 mentioning that an angel slayed all the Assyrian soldiers while they were all asleep. We read:
“And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses”
However, the Greek historian Herodotus who traveled extensively throughout the Mediterranean and parts of Asia, gathering information for his work “Histories”, informs us that typhus spread by mice had actually infected the Assyrian army.
Disregarding Herodotus testimony, we find a controversial statement that debunks the 2 Kings 19:35 story, proving that in reality Hezekiah sought to negotiate peace. This statement comes from the same book of 2 Kings 18:14, in which we read:
“So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.” The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents[a] of silver and thirty talents[b] of gold.”
If Sennacherib’s army was totally annihilated by the angel as stated before, then why Hezekiah accepted to pay heavy ransoms to the first? Additionally, from the Annals of Sennacherib we learn that Hezekiah finally made a deal with the Assyrians to pay all the taxes and sent 200.000 people as slaves to Assyria.
Isn’t it another fabricated myth of the Hebrew scribes proving the biblical accounts as unreliable?
R&I ~ MJM
Δεσμώτης
Article URL : https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%2018%3A14&version=NIV