[[2 Kings-19]] Prev: [[Prophecies in 2 Kings-18]] | Next: [[Prophecies in 2 Kings-20]] --- ### Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he will hear news, and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. *Type*: prophecy *Summary*: The prophet Isaiah predicts that King Sennacherib of Assyria will receive a troubling report, abandon his siege of Jerusalem to return to his homeland, and eventually be assassinated there. *Historical context*: The Neo-Assyrian 'Esarhaddon Prism' and 'The Babylonian Chronicle' (ABC 1) confirm that Sennacherib was indeed assassinated by his sons (specifically naming Arda-Mulissi, or Adrammelech) in 681 BCE in Nineveh, roughly twenty years after his campaign in Judah. *Related to*: ### When he heard it said of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, 'Behold, he has come out to fight against you,' he sent messengers again to Hezekiah... *Type*: fulfillment *Summary*: Sennacherib receives a report of an advancing Kushite/Ethiopian army led by Tirhakah, matching the 'news' predicted by Isaiah. *Historical context*: Tirhakah (Taharqa) was a pharaoh of the 25th Dynasty of Egypt. Archaeological evidence and Egyptian records confirm his involvement in the Levant to oppose the Assyrians during this specific timeframe. *Related to*: [[2 Kings-19#v7|2 Kings 19:7]] prediction regarding hearing news or rumors ### Therefore Yahweh says concerning the king of Assyria, 'He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there. He will not come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it.' *Type*: prophecy *Summary*: Isaiah predicts that Sennacherib will not launch an assault on Jerusalem, nor will his army even begin the standard siege tactics used at other cities. *Historical context*: The 'Sennacherib Prism' (Taylor Prism) records that Sennacherib conquered 46 of Judah's fortified cities but, unusually for Assyrian royal inscriptions, it does not claim the conquest of Jerusalem, stating only that he shut Hezekiah up 'like a bird in a cage.' *Related to*: ### That night, Yahweh's angel went out, and struck one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. *Type*: fulfillment *Summary*: The Assyrian army is decimated overnight by a divine blow, leading to the immediate withdrawal of the forces from the gates of Jerusalem. *Historical context*: The Greek historian Herodotus ([[His|Histories 2]].141) recounts a tradition of the Assyrian army suffering a catastrophic defeat in the region due to a plague of field mice. Many historians and theologians view this as an external historical echo of a sudden pestilence or disaster that crippled the Assyrian forces and prevented the fall of Jerusalem. *Related to*: [[2 Kings-19#v32|2 Kings 19:32]]-34 prediction that Sennacherib would not attack the city ### As he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place. *Type*: fulfillment *Summary*: Sennacherib is murdered by his own sons in his homeland of Assyria, exactly as predicted in Isaiah's oracle. *Historical context*: Cuneiform tablets in the British Museum and the 'Nabonidus Stele' confirm that Sennacherib was murdered in a temple by his offspring. The names 'Adrammelech' and 'Sharezer' correspond to historical figures Arda-Mulissi and Nabû-šar-uṣur, and the flight to Urartu (Ararat) is likewise documented in Assyrian records regarding the subsequent rise of Esarhaddon. *Related to*: [[2 Kings-19#v7|2 Kings 19:7]] prediction of falling by the sword in his own land ### This will be the sign to you: This year, you will eat that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from that; and in the third year sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat its fruit. *Type*: prophecy *Summary*: God offers a multi-year agricultural sign, predicting that the land of Judah will recover on its own after the Assyrian scorched-earth campaign before normal farming resumes. *Historical context*: Archaeological surveys of the Judean Shephelah show a massive destruction of the rural agricultural infrastructure during Sennacherib's 701 BCE campaign, which necessitated the kind of multi-year recovery period described in this text. *Related to*: --- #ai_prophecy