A Prophecy Fulfilled ... by Rats? History in HIS story. Isaiah #7
The Ultimate Climax to the Siege of Jerusalem
Inspired by | 2 Kings 18 - 20 | & | 2 Chronicles 32 | & | Isaiah 36 - 39 | |More Historical sources below |
Welcome back, listeners, to another thrilling episode of faith, courage, disaster and prophecy. Today, we stand on the very walls of Jerusalem at a turning point in history. Before us lies the mightiest army of the ancient world—185,000 Assyrian soldiers, led by the World Dictator, King Sennacherib. Will the word of God prevail over the might of men? Will King Hezekiah’s faith withstand the greatest test of his life? Let’s step back into this gripping drama…
The Siege of Jerusalem Reaches Its Climax
It is night. The air around Jerusalem is thick with tension. Fires flicker in the Assyrian camp as soldiers, armed to the teeth, prepare for what they believe will be their final assault. Siege engines, towering high, stand ready. Thousands of arrows are prepared to be launched at the city’s walls. Sennacherib is confident. He has never lost a battle, and Jerusalem seems no different—just another conquest. Hezekiah and his people are exhausted, their prayers echoing through the cold night air.
But God has other plans.
Inside Jerusalem, Isaiah moves quietly. His words to Hezekiah—words of hope, not destruction—are a balm to the king’s troubled heart. And though the city is gripped by fear, Isaiah, resting in God’s promise, remains calm. “Not a single arrow,” he had said, “will be shot.” But how? How could this be, with an army so close to victory?
As the Assyrians settle in for the night, another army begins its work. Not an army of men, but an army of rats. Thousands of them creep into tents, gnawing through food, supplies, clothing, and most importantly, the very bowstrings the archers had carefully prepared to rain arrows on Jerusalem. The Assyrian soldiers, unaware of the danger, sleep soundly, confident in their imminent victory.
And then comes something worse.
A plague spreads swiftly through the camp. By dawn, the once-mighty Assyrian force is decimated. Soldiers fall where they stand, feverish and weak. The bows they had readied the night before now lie useless, strings chewed through, arrows never to be fired.
Inside Jerusalem, a strange silence falls. There is no sound of battle, no clash of weapons. Hezekiah rushes to the walls. What he sees below is a sight no one expected. The enemy army—laid waste. A mass grave dug in haste for the dead. God had delivered them, just as Isaiah had prophesied. Not a single arrow fired, and a handful of soldiers remaining. Isaiah’s words had come true.
The Power of God’s Word
It is dawn, Hezekiah stands on the walls, shaken by the sight. The God of Israel, who had seemed silent, had moved in the night. Hezekiah, who had almost lost faith, looks for his faithful counselor who had given him hope from God when he could find none of his own. He remembers the mocking tone of the Rabshakeh, ”How can you trust in mere words?”. Yet here they were, Jerusalem standing— ‘God’s word is truly greater than even the greatest army.’ Hezekiah mumbles under his breath, smiling as he walks to find Isaiah.
Sennacherib, who had mocked the God of Israel, retreats to his homeland. Not long after, he is assassinated by his own sons, as Isaiah had foretold. The great Assyrian Empire begins its slow fall. The power that once terrorized the world wanes and begins its decline into the history books.
Isaiah sits at home, his wife had prepared fresh bread for the family and the children were playing a lively game of ‘you’re it’. The air in Jerusalem carries the light and happy scent of victory- most have forgotten what peace feels like. Yet even in this atmosphere, Isaiah feels a deep stirring within him, a flame in his bones. He knows the feeling well: there are more words to be written, more prophecies to be spoken.
The Lord Saves
Isaiah knew from His God that Assyria would fall and that salvation would come. And here it was, fresh as the morning dew. Yet would his people learn from such deliverance? He remembers the hard word he brought to Hezekiah before the coming of the Rabshakeh. Hezekiah had been foolish. Even after being miraculously healed from a fatal illness- he had shown envoys from a distant city all of Jerusalem’s treasures. Gold, silver, weapons- everything. From such humility, somehow pride had siezed Hezekiah’s heart and he eagerly showed off all his wealth and power.
Even as the image of Hezekiah’s pride formed in his mind, Isaiah felt a great fear for his people. “No!” the cry escaped his lips almost involuntarily. Tears welled up behind his eyelids, it was the joyful shouts of children playing that halted them. A welcome noise! Yet Isaiah was restless, uneasy with what stirred deep within him.
His people would not learn from this salvation. The envoys had come from a small, almost unnoticed, far away city. But Isaiah sensed something ominous. “Babylon,” he whispered. “They will take it all.”
So, as Jerusalem sang songs of deliverance from the most feared Army the world had ever known. Isaiah closed the door to his room, and called upon his God. “You alone are God, you alone can save us! Oh LORD, show us your salvation!”
God heard Isaiah’s prayer. In the dark of night, Isaiah lit his lamp, took up his parchment, and began to write. GOD showed him suffering, yet even more He showed him sin. Isaiah wrestled with the depths of such revelation- it was heavier, harder and deeper than he could have imagined. “Oh wretched man am I,” he cried out, his knees to the ground, his head bowed.
Then, as if God Himself had spoken, Isaiah felt a question stir within him: What is your name?
Isaiah answered the God who already knew: Isaiah, Yeshayahu- THE LORD SAVES
Meanwhile, one of the Judean soldiers gets back home, his sword still clean in its sheath, his shield undented. Yet victory was theirs. He picks up his phone, scrolling down he stops at a trending post. The headline: ‘A PannicKing Sennacherib”. He is retreating on horseback, dressed in royal robes. A little rat dressed in Judean clothes watches him go. The caption reads: “Some trust in Horses, Some Trust in Wealth, But I will Trust in the Word of the Living God.” !
Stay tuned, cos things are going to get crazy. Isaiah confronts one of the most terrible figures in History at the cost of his life. A life that will speak to people 150 years in the future in the depth of suffering, and to people 2500 years in the future in the depths of their sin. This is a never seen in history story.
Other Historical sources of the Assyrian conquest and siege of Jerusalem: |Herodotus Book 2, 141 5th Century BC | |Josephus 1st Century AD, Antiquities of the Jews Book 10, Ch 1 | The Sennacherib Prism in the British Museum |
Links to some of the Bible Texts that inspired this story are found at the top of this letter.