Author's introduction
This is my first historical fiction piece that I've written. First of all I want to thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and reading it. I hope you enjoy it, learn something from it, and also take the time afterwards to do your own research on the subject. I have found it an extremely rewarding topic to write about.
I first decided to write a historical fiction piece about the Assyrian Siege of Jerusalem (c. 701 BC) because, having read the summary of it in Simon Sebag Montefiore's "Jerusalem: The Biography", I found it a compelling and frankly incredible series of events. I then did further research in the form of the accounts presented in the Bible.
Although I personally believe the Bible to be a wonderful mixture of history, poetry, prophesy, advice, guidance and many other forms of literature, all guided by the voice of God, the accounts of this particular event (largely in 2 Chronicles and 2 Kings in the Old Testament) have been confirmed by archaeology as reliable accounts that are backed up by evidence (even though there are some disputes and discrepancies about details among historians). The salient point is that the main events of the following story are all historically corroborated.
That being said, the following story is historical fiction, and so for the sake of the story's flow, I have omitted certain details, embellished others, and some I've simply invented. For this reason, I ask that once you've read the story, please also read the historical notes at the bottom. These will give the story a more tangible context, and will allow you to differentiate between fact and fiction. You will see, I hope, that I've stuck as closely as I can to the historical facts, and have provided adequate reasons for the times when I diverge from history.
Of course, between fact and fiction, there is the grey area of "conjecture". Technically this is closely related to fiction, but is also "educated guessing" based on the overall historical context. I hope you will agree that the parts that I have no historical evidence for are congruent with the characters and situations that I describe, according to the historical evidence that we do have available to us.
Thank you again, and please leave any constructive comments at the end.
Phil Raymond
Chapter 1
"HEZEKIAAHH!!"
Rabshakeh's booming voice made him ideal for this job. Perhaps that was why he had been chosen to parlay with Jerusalem's leader. Even though Hezekiah was nowhere to be seen, Rabshakeh, stood aboard his chariot and flanked by two other chariots either side of him, knew that his voice would carry. He felt the wind at his back, lifting the word over the vast wall in front of him. He could almost hear it echoing in the city inside.
Above him, Rabshakeh saw the silhouettes of some of Jerusalem's soldiers staring down at him from the top of the wall. None of them said anything. None of them moved. Against the brilliant blue sky that early afternoon, Rabshakeh couldn't make out any of the details of any of their faces and that, he hated to admit to himself, unnerved him. In the quiet that followed his call, only his horse stirred with a whinny. Rabshakeh felt a single bead of sweat trickle down his forehead as he waited. He looked behind him. Everything was as it should be, just as he had left it. Everything was going as it should have been... except for the absence of Hezekiah. Where was HE at this historic and most important moment?
"HEZEKIAAAHHH!!!"
Rabshakeh called again, his hands cupped around his mouth this time, and he extended the last syllable. This time, a gust of wind picked up the sound and sent it rising, high over the wall with the Jerusalemites peering down, high over the rooftops of Jerusalem and then down, down in through the open window where King Hezekiah sat at his stone desk. Leaning forwards with his forearms on his desk, he was in the middle of a thought that his scribe, on the other side of the room, was waiting expectantly to write down.
At hearing his name, Hezekiah was suddenly jolted from his dream, and looked, his eyes wide, towards the open window. He looked back at his scribe. They made eye contact, and he could see the fear on the other man's face.
"Go", said Hezekiah. "It doesn't matter now. Do your duty, as we discussed".
"Yes, sire", said the scribe obediently. He gathered his writing material into his hand and left the room, leaving Hezekiah alone.
This was it. The time had arrived. Hezekiah had hoped it would never come. He had hoped that all his preparations would have been unnecessary precautions. But it appeared not.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, as the awful sound of trumpets carried from over the wall. The time had come.
---
The envoys left the next morning, having been treated lavishly at Hezekiah's orders. As they left the gates of Jerusalem, bathed in the early morning sun, Hezekiah watched them. He knew that they carried a message back to Pharaoh that had sealed the country's fate. He closed his eyes, and prayed that he had made the right decision.
"Joah", said Hezekiah, addressing his messenger behind him. Yosef turned to look at him stand up more to attention at the anticipation of receiving his master's orders, but Hezekiah continued to stare out over the hills. "Tell the tribute collectors that Jerusalem will no longer pay under their threats. They have received their last tribute from us. That is all"
"You understand why I have to tell the people what we've done, don't you, Yosef?"
Rabshakeh's booming voice made him ideal for this job. Perhaps that was why he had been chosen to parlay with Jerusalem's leader. Even though Hezekiah was nowhere to be seen, Rabshakeh, stood aboard his chariot and flanked by two other chariots either side of him, knew that his voice would carry. He felt the wind at his back, lifting the word over the vast wall in front of him. He could almost hear it echoing in the city inside.
Above him, Rabshakeh saw the silhouettes of some of Jerusalem's soldiers staring down at him from the top of the wall. None of them said anything. None of them moved. Against the brilliant blue sky that early afternoon, Rabshakeh couldn't make out any of the details of any of their faces and that, he hated to admit to himself, unnerved him. In the quiet that followed his call, only his horse stirred with a whinny. Rabshakeh felt a single bead of sweat trickle down his forehead as he waited. He looked behind him. Everything was as it should be, just as he had left it. Everything was going as it should have been... except for the absence of Hezekiah. Where was HE at this historic and most important moment?
"HEZEKIAAAHHH!!!"
Rabshakeh called again, his hands cupped around his mouth this time, and he extended the last syllable. This time, a gust of wind picked up the sound and sent it rising, high over the wall with the Jerusalemites peering down, high over the rooftops of Jerusalem and then down, down in through the open window where King Hezekiah sat at his stone desk. Leaning forwards with his forearms on his desk, he was in the middle of a thought that his scribe, on the other side of the room, was waiting expectantly to write down.
At hearing his name, Hezekiah was suddenly jolted from his dream, and looked, his eyes wide, towards the open window. He looked back at his scribe. They made eye contact, and he could see the fear on the other man's face.
"Go", said Hezekiah. "It doesn't matter now. Do your duty, as we discussed".
"Yes, sire", said the scribe obediently. He gathered his writing material into his hand and left the room, leaving Hezekiah alone.
This was it. The time had arrived. Hezekiah had hoped it would never come. He had hoped that all his preparations would have been unnecessary precautions. But it appeared not.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, as the awful sound of trumpets carried from over the wall. The time had come.
Chapter 2
24 years earlier, on Hezekiah's 15th birthday, his father King Ahaz had thrown him a lavish and joyous party. Hezekiah had been anticipating it for months beforehand. He watched excitedly as entertainers scattered at his approach when he walked through the palace. He knew they had been told to simply avoid him whenever they saw him coming, lest some of their acrobatics and jokes be revealed. Hezekiah smiled to himself. This would be a birthday to remember.
"Mother!", he called as he saw Abijah consulting with who he assumed were more planners for the party. She smiled at him as he walked quickly across the central courtyard of the palace.
"Good morning, my son! Are you ready for the big day?" she inquired cheerfully.
"Mother...", Hezekiah began to speak, ignoring the question as they strolled across the courtyard together. The strong smell of lavender arose from the portico, where Hezekiah assumed a perfume was being made for the celebrations behind one of the closed doors. "Why does father worship gods that are not our Lord? Those fake gods, like Baal?"
His mother sighed audibly as she realized that her son still hadn't stopped chewing on that particular bone. She linked her arm in her sons and smiled pensively.
"Hezekiah, your father does what he thinks is best for the nation. He alone is responsible for what happens to us, whether we live of die, whether we are blessed or cursed..."
Abijah knew that her words were falling on deaf ears. Hezekiah had reached the age now where he was beyond simply accepting what he was told by his parents, and was stretching out on his own path. She looked at him, so young and strong, only a man for a couple of years but so much different from the young boy she would always think of him as. The dependent young child. Dependent on her.
Hezekiah didn't meet her eyes, but looked up to the mountains behind Jerusalem. They were sunbathed in the morning sun, fresh and appealing. He knew he could argue his case with his mother, but he also knew that it would be of no use. She would not change her mind. Ahaz was her king, and his, after all. So he cut to the chase.
"When I am king, mother", she stiffened and he looked at her, "The Lord our God will be the only Lord we serve. Just like in the days of Moses. In the meantime, I will keep the commandments on my own, if necessary".
---
"MY SON!", King Ahaz bellowed and beamed up at Hezekiah.
Hezekiah was sat next to the throne, with his mother to his right on the raised platform. Below him, the portico that ran around the courtyard was filled with the high-class of Jerusalem. Friends, priests, courtiers, all lucky enough to have been invited to the palace to celebrate Hezekiah's second year as a man. The courtyard itself was empty, giving King Azah plenty of room to move in his emphatic speech.
"My son, Hezekiah, who will one day ascend to my place on the throne...". That was all Hezekiah heard, because at that point Ahaz turned away from him and addressed the crowd in front of him. Hezekiah could tell just from seeing him from behind that his father was making a joke, and the crowd suddenly erupted with laughter. Ahaz, red-faced with laughter himself, turned round and immediately signaled to his son, sat up high on the stage, that he was only joking. Not that it mattered to Hezekiah, who couldn't hear the joke and so wasn't offended.
"And so, I thank our gracious and powerful god, Baal..." Ahaz began to conclude, and Hezekiah's shoulders shrunk a little. His mother, sat beside him, looked at him but, instead of telling him to put on a brave face, she placed her hand on his, and he saw that she was smiling compassionately at him as his father continued.
"...For my son... my ONLY son..."
Hezekiah noticed that Ahaz appeared to drift off, his eyes glazed over as if he was remembering something. Maybe it was only he who noticed it, because in a second or two Ahaz had remembered where he was, and appeared to come to. He raised his cup to his son and said, in a slightly less jovial tone, "To my son".
The crowd cheered, and at that point the flutes and the lyres began to play up once more. Ahaz barely had time to walk the short distance across the courtyard before it was full again of his guests dancing and singing and drinking and laughing.
"Thank you, father". Hezekiah stood to embrace his father. Ahaz was only 11 years his son's senior, with a heavy beard and crow's feet appearing either side of his eyes. His thin crown was perched on the top of his thick head of black hair, which was starting to show sparks of grey. As they broke the embrace, Hezekiah resisted the temptation to take a jab at his father's Baal worship, much as he wanted to. His time would come, he decided.
His father sat in the vacant throne, and a courtier served him wine, refilling Hezekiah's cup on the way.
"I do hope", Ahaz leaned over and said into Hezekiah's ear, "that I can trust in you to continue all that I've done once I'm gone, my son". Hezekiah pulled away and noticed that Ahaz's demeanor had changed. He was looking intently into his son's eyes, unblinking. He appeared to have read Hezekiah's thoughts, and Hezekiah wondered if his mother had had a hand in passing on his concerns about Ahaz's religious reforms to his father.
"Father, our people are a covenant people. We have a special relationship with the one God, the God of Abraham and Moses", Hezekiah insisted defiantly. Abijah looked cautiously round her son at her husband to gauge his reaction. Hezekiah continued to look at his father intensely. The tables had appeared to turn, as Ahaz pretended to be distracted by the festivities. He tapped his son's hand along to the music and, to Hezekiah's frustration, he thought he heard his father say, softly, "You'll understand one day, son. One day, you'll understand".
A few minutes past before Hezekiah noticed that Ahaz was turned away from him, listening to a verbal message from one of his courtiers. As Hezekiah watched, he saw his father's shoulders slump. Ahaz nodded slowly to show his understanding. Hezekiah looked back at his mother, who looked at him and shrugged in bemusement.
When the messenger stood back, Ahaz looked at his son, his face white and afraid. Without saying a word, he looked past his son and signaled for a few other courtiers to join him. His signal was so subtle and slight that Hezekiah assumed that Ahaz and they had planned the sign for an emergency meeting to take place long before. As people began to shuffle past and behind him, Ahaz touched his son's hand.
"Come with me, Hezekiah", he said. "You are going to need to hear this..."
---
Hezekiah followed his father into a small and dark room. Behind it, in the courtyard, the party was still in full flow. In fact, the music was so loud that one of his father's courtiers was closing the shutters to the small window that opened into the courtyard. It did little to stop the noise, but it did give the room absolute secrecy.
There was a wild chatter in the small and dark room, and Hezekiah could only pick up fractions of what was being said:
"...completely without warning..."
"...Samaritans can't hold out..."
"...Don't think they will..."
His stomach dropped as the heavy wooden door was closed and fastened shut. Now, only narrow streaks of light from the window shutters were all the lit the room.
"Gentlemen!". His father's voice boomed and the chatter became a hushed whisper. There was suddenly silence to the point that Hezekiah could hear his own breathing. His father stood, tall and imposing in the middle of the room, while a dozen of his courtiers, generals and advisers encircled him.
"We have just received word from Samaria that King Shalmaneser of Assyria is besieging the city". Only Hezekiah gasped slightly and, when he realized that he was the only one to have reacted, he strongly suspected that his father had stated the truth for his benefit only.
"But the Samaritans are humble to the Assyrian King. Why would he besiege them?", a lone courtier who Hezekiah recognized as one of his father's most trusted councils and the architect behind many of his father's Baal temples and sanctuaries throughout the city. He had a twinge of fear in his voice that Hezekiah picked up on immediately.
Ahaz turned to face him.
"King Shalmaneser believes the Samaritans to be untrustworthy now... for whatever reason". Ahaz lifted his hands in innocence to demonstrate that that was all the information that they had at that time. Murmuring began again in the group, and Hezekiah looked either side of him at the worried faces of his fellow Judeans.
"Samaria is our ally, our closest neighbour to the North", Ahaz continued. "But we stand no chance of relieving Samaria of this burden. To try to do so would only be to bring destruction to Jerusalem as well".
"So then, what do we do?", one of Ahaz's generals asked, in a way that Hezekiah did not feel denoted the respect deserved to a king. Ahaz turned slowly to face him and, ignoring the abruptness of his question, simply replied:
"We support Samaria in any way we can. We accept their refugees into our city. But that is all we can do. We still pay tribute to Assyria, and we will not fight against King Shalmaneser"
"So, what of Baal?", asked another of Ahaz's courtiers, a young man with a mature temperament who prided himself on his ability to think critically. "The Samaritans, like us, are Baal worshipers. And yet, our "Great Lord" has not saved them from the hands of the Assyrians". Hezekiah noticed how the man put too strong of an emphasis onto the words "Great Lord", causing it to sound sarcastic. He smiled at the notion of having a potential ally in court.
Ahaz didn't catch the sarcasm, but looked at the young man, deadly seriously.
"Baal will intervene. Have faith", he said, and the young man realized that the King had taken him seriously. Hezekiah raised his eyes to the ceiling, shaking his head.
"I shall make an announcement tomorrow, after the festivities. Allow the people of Jerusalem one more night of peace before the truth must be revealed to them. Now, everyone please keep this to yourselves. We don't want rumor spreading and causing panic".
Nobody spoke. War was on their very doorstep. Jerusalem's ally was being besieged by Jerusalem oppressors, the Assyrians, and there was a subtle feeling of guilt in the room that the most powerful men in the country would stand by and do nothing. Hezekiah looked round the circle, and noticed that most of the heavily bearded men were looking down at the floor. Those who did look up looked away as soon as another caught their eye. Only Ahaz looked at each man individually, wide eyed and serious, scanning each man for any hints of dissent. When he caught Hezekiah looking back at him, Hezekiah too looked away, suddenly uncomfortable.
"Thank you, gentlemen. We shall hold special sacrifices to Baal tomorrow, as an offering that he might spare our friends in Samaria. Now, everyone go back to the celebrations. Tell nobody what we spoke of here".
Nobody spoke. War was on their very doorstep. Jerusalem's ally was being besieged by Jerusalem oppressors, the Assyrians, and there was a subtle feeling of guilt in the room that the most powerful men in the country would stand by and do nothing. Hezekiah looked round the circle, and noticed that most of the heavily bearded men were looking down at the floor. Those who did look up looked away as soon as another caught their eye. Only Ahaz looked at each man individually, wide eyed and serious, scanning each man for any hints of dissent. When he caught Hezekiah looking back at him, Hezekiah too looked away, suddenly uncomfortable.
"Thank you, gentlemen. We shall hold special sacrifices to Baal tomorrow, as an offering that he might spare our friends in Samaria. Now, everyone go back to the celebrations. Tell nobody what we spoke of here".
A minute later, the last of the courtiers had filed out of the little room to join the party in the courtyard again, leaving Hezekiah alone in the little room. He walked to the wall, opened the shutters and looked past the wall of the city to the hills behind Jerusalem. He stayed there, watching the crimson sun disappear behind the mountains, and as the last beam of light evaporated, he closed his eyes and prayed.
Chapter 3
Samaria fell. It took a while; what must have felt like an age to those trapped inside the city. But it did fall. From the day of his birthday celebrations onward, the day that he first heard that the King of Assyria had turned on his nations allies, Hezekiah heard scattered reports of what had happened and what was happening. For the next three years of his life, he pieced together from messengers, rumors and fractions of conversation that he occasionally caught being shared between his father's courtiers.
From what he managed to gather together over the following few years, it appeared to Hezekiah that King Shalmaneser of Assyria, a blood-thirsty and paranoid man at the best of times, had caught wind of a rumor that King Hosea of Samaria was conspiring with the Pharoah of Egypt to overthrow their Assyrian oppressors. Filled with rage and unwilling to listen to Hosea's explanation, Shalmaneser had directed a disproportional amount of his army towards Samaria, surrounded it, and waited for their strength to crumble.
It was surely a sign of strength that Shalmaneser wished to impress on the surrounding kingdoms as a warning against rebellion. The Assyrian Empire at this time was vast, almost immeasurable. But Shalmaneser knew that the rest of the subjects in that part of the Assyrian realm were watching, and he wanted them to see how much he was making the Samaritans suffer. Hezekiah remembered clenching his first tightly in silent fury, as his mother and father discussed the situation while they ate together early one morning.
"Shalmaneser wants us to watch, Abijah", he said matter-of-factly, helping himself to another slice of pomegranate. His wife stayed silent as she tore a flatbread in half. Hezekiah avoided his father's eye contact, chewing slowly.
"What makes you so confident that we will be spared his wrath, Ahaz?", Abijah asked quietly. Ahaz finished his mouthful of the fruit quickly in order to answer.
"We pay our tribute. Shalmaneser has no quarrel with us. We are loyal subjects to the King, and we always have been". Abijah didn't react, and Ahaz knew what she was thinking. "I feel sorry for the Samaritans, I really do..." Ahaz continued, "but they have made their bed, and now they must lie in it. We will continue to support them in any way we can, but there is no question as to where our loyalty lies strongest".
Hezekiah watched his father. At 17, he knew enough about the Assyrians to know that he was sick of them. Who his father saw as protectors and strong allies, Hezekiah saw as oppressors. But he knew that he could say nothing. His father was already feverishly concerned that his son would, once Ahaz had passed on, discontinue the Baal worship that he had made the apogee of his reign. To publicly disagree with him on foreign policy as well was sure to drive the King over the edge of sanity. No- he would keep his opinions on the Assyrians secret from his father, for the moment...
"He's right to be concerned about the Baal worship, though", Hezekiah thought to himself, and even allowed himself a small smile, which only his mother appeared to have caught as she looked suddenly at him from across the table. "My Lord and God", Hezekiah closed his eyes in prayer, "Have mercy on my father, on the people of Jerusalem, and know that I am your loyal subject, now and forever...". His mother watched him and looked back at her husband, who was keenly feasting on another piece of pomegranate, and she sighed in anguish over what would happen if Samaria fell.
---
"They announce the beginning of the siege with trumpets, that's what I've heard".
Hezekiah was sitting on a low wall in front of the temple. His father's guards were busy directing the sealing of the Temple doors. His father had ordered the Temple to be closed. He had given the Baal priests permission to store their idols inside until such time that one of the statues in the many shrines to Baal around the city should need a replacement. The Temple of the Lord had become nothing more than a giant warehouse. Ahaz's loyal guards were only too happy to oblige. The Rabbi's had been cast out, literally in some cases, and had come back a few days later to watch the final humiliation of their religion played out. They stood, partly hidden in the crown that was gathering, still easily distinguishable but not particularly wanting to be seen. Hezekiah was watching the events in disgust, fuming and internally cursing the guards who rushed about with an undeserved sense of importance. Undeserved because Hezekiah knew that they worshiped a myth.
His friend Zaccharus could see his friend's anguish, and asked himself again why Hezekiah tortured himself by watching the proceedings despite knowing that what he was seeing would upset him. Zaccahrus' attempt to distract him with idle chat appeared to have failed, as Hezekiah simply glared. His bodyguards stood around him, pretending not to notice their master's anger.
Zaccharus continued, hoping to impress his friend with all that he'd recently learned about the Assyrians. "Once the trumpets blow, it means that all means of negotiation are now off. Basically, they're telling everyone inside that if they ever want to leave they will have to fight their way out... or die trying".
Hezekiah sighed and looked at his friend, sat beside him on the low wall.
"This is all the Egyptian's doing, you know that, right?" he asked Zaccharus rhetorically. "They want the Assyrians out, but they're trying to get us to do their dirty work, by stirring up revolt and revolution against Assyria. Typical Egyptians. They want the work done, but they're not willing to get their hands dirty..."
"I thought you WANTED the Assyrians out, Hezekiah...", Zaccharus leaned in and spoke so quietly that not even the body guard could hear him, especially not over the noise of the shouts of the priests and the grunting of those dragging the Temple doors closed. He was alluding to the fact that Hezekiah seemed disappointed.
"I do", said Hezekiah sternly but quietly. "And we will get them out. But as we've seen in the last few year, I just don't know how many of our so-called "friends" we can trust to help us". He looked into his friends deep eyes, filled with worry, and said gently, "We might have to stand up to them alone".
---
A few months later King Shalmaneser died. Far from the Assyrians falling apart due to a lack of leadership, Shalmaneser's son Sargon took over. And shortly after that, Samaria fell to the Assyrians.
It had been expected for a while. Rumors of unbearable famine, starvation and death on a mass scale seeped into Jerusalem, confirmed by the skeletal refugees who began to flood the city shortly after the city fell. Those who managed to escape and survived the journey south to Jerusalem really were the lucky ones, as it soon became apparent that the fall of their city was only the beginning of the Samaritan's problems...
"Deportation? To where?"
Hezekiah hadn't been invited to the meeting between his father and his mother. In fact, they had had it at night, when they were sure Hezekiah was asleep. But he'd heard raised voices and seen a candle still lit. It must have been past the second watch already. Hezekiah crept towards the doorway of the main chamber, where his father and mother were sat facing each other on couches.
"I suppose to wherever they're needed in the Assyrian Empire, my dear...", Ahaz said solemnly. Abijah covered her eyes and whispered to herself. "Lord, please, no...". Ahaz put his hand on hers, and she held onto it.
"It must come as no surprise, my love. It's not uncommon for the victors of a besieged city to spare the lives of the citizens inside in order to force them into slavery..."
When Abijah finally looked up at Ahaz, she had tears welling up in her eyes.
"And you... plan to do NOTHING, Ahaz? Can you not even appeal to King Sargon to spare our allies, our BROTHERS AND SISTERS, this humiliation?"
Being hidden behind the doorway, Hezekiah couldn't see his parents but could only hear them. Still, he clearly made out the loud sigh that his father gave at the suggestion.
"Abijah..." he said, attempting to pacify her. "The Assyrians have been good to us". Hezekiah heard his mother scoff, and he could picture her shaking her head in the way that clearly showed she was tired of hearing the same old lines. Ahaz ignored it, and continued. "They have defeated our enemies, and have protected us from far greater threats than themselves"
"Your friends, Ahaz", Abijah suddenly grew fierce, "tried to ally with you in order to repel the Assyrians". Ahaz sighed loudly, and Abijah continued, her eyes boring deeply into him. "And you... betrayed them. They wanted you to side with them, to fight against Assyria". Hezekiah was certain that Ahaz had broken eye-contact with her now, and was most likely looking out the window or at the floor. Still, Abijah continued with her assault. "And instead, you appealed to the Assyrians for help! To defeat those men who wanted to band together with you!"
"They were INVADERS, Abijah! Egyptian spies, sent to cause trouble and havoc wherever they can! How many times have I had to tell you that?" he appealed to her. He added as an afterthought, "I WON'T be an Egyptian puppet"
"And what are you NOW, Ahaz? You are an Assyrian SLAVE". Now it was Ahaz's turn to scoff. "You pay tribute to their king, and you have desecrated the Temple of the Lord to appeal to the Assyrians, and what good has it brought you?"
"I brought us PEACE, Abijah! All that the God of our Ancestors, the God of Moses and Abraham brought us was constant war and troubles! I did what was right!"
"He would have been faithful to you, Ahaz, if you had just trusted in Him. Isaiah said..."
"Oh! Isaiah said, did he?" Ahaz threw his hands in the air in exasperation, and Hezekiah could tell that his parents had had this fight before. He closed his eyes and listened.
Everything was suddenly quiet for a while as he heard Ahaz pacing the room in frustration, his mother no doubt looking on in quiet despair. Eventually Ahaz's footsteps stopped, and Hezekiah could just make out his mothers words, barely more than a whisper.
"So, you're not going to do anything?"
"Abijah", Ahaz said, clearly frustrated, rubbing his eyes. "If the Assyrians have decided to deport the Samaritans to wherever they need in the Empire, then there is nothing I can do to stop them". He looked directly at her, his eyes half pleading and half demanding that that be the final word on the subject. But Abijah wouldn't let him have it. She stood up and, before marching to the other side of the room to leave, she said quietly but angrily:
"You're not loyal to the Lord our God, and you're not loyal to your friends. Let's just hope you don't need either of them one day"
With that, she stormed from the room, and Hezekiah could hear his father sighing as he looked out at the full moon.
"Is that you, Hezekiah?"
The room was dark and filled with incense. Ahaz lay flat on the bed, while a servant cooled his brow with a wet cloth. The doctor was in the corner, packing away his various instruments on a small table. Hezekiah stepped forwards to his dying father's bedside.
It had been 7 years since the night that Hezekiah had awoken and spied on his parent's angry meeting. From that day on, the Assyrian King Sargon had begun deporting the Samaritans from their city in huge, depressing caravans. Each group of deportees was divided up. Men who were seen as troublesome or rebellious were executed immediately. Strong men were bunched together to be sent to the mines or to construction projects. Women and children were to be house-slaves. The men were forced to march, often chained together. The women and children were carried away in wagons- wagons full of weeping and crying and lamenting. None of the thousands who had left had been seen since.
"Hezekiah...", Ahaz whispered, his voice soft and breathy. Hezekiah held this father's hand. He looked down on the dying man, riddled with a fever that the doctors couldn't explain, and that they had given up on finding a cure for. At only 36, Ahaz was not yet an old man. But Hezekiah couldn't account for any of the injustices he had witnessed in his young life, his father's death at such a young age being just one of them.
Ahaz looked up with weak eyes at his son. "My son", he gasped again, and Hezekiah with tears in his eyes managed to splutter out,
"I'm here, father. I'm here" while rubbing his father's hand.
Ahaz smiled. His son was 25 now. He had made it to adulthood, he was ready to take over the kingdom. The only regret that Ahaz had was that he had never accepted his new state religion. Baal worship would suffer under his son, he was well aware of that, and trouble with the Assyrians was sure to follow. But, he would have to be allowed to make his own mistakes. He breathed out heavily, unsure if his lungs would take another breath.
In his last seconds, moments before he would find out what really lay on the other side of death, Ahaz looked for the last time into his son's eyes and smiled. He felt his lungs unable to take another breath, but he wasn't in pain nor did he panic. He simply went to sleep with his eyes still open, and his son by his side.
From that moment on, Hezekiah was King of Judea. His father's legacy was in his hands. Hezekiah kissed his dead father's hand. Abijah came to the doorway a second later, and gasped upon realizing she had missed her husband's last moments on earth. She began to cry, and Hezekiah stood up to comfort her immediately.
She sobbed on his shoulder as he hugged her, and he stroked her hair. Then, as she composed herself, Hezekiah broke the embrace, looked her compassionately in her eyes, and said,
"Mother, our King has passed. But now, the time of the Lord our God must begin again".
Wiping the tears from her eyes, Abijah nodded in comprehension. Hezekiah kissed her forehead before moving past her, allowing her to enter the room to pay her respects to her deceased husband. Hezekiah walked away without looking back.
It had been in Hezekiah's 25th year of life when he had ascended to the thrown. Overnight, he was King of Judea, at the prime of his manhood. He was young, strong and ambitious. But what Hezekiah decided would define him, he thought to himself as he sat on his thrown for the first time in the Jerusalem palace, was that he would not make the same mistakes his father had made. He would obey God.
"We need to make changes, Yosef", he said to his trusted friend, a few days after his coronation. They were sitting alone on a quiet summer's night, in the upper room of the palace. Yosef, 2 years Hezekiah's senior, had been his most trusted companion for over 10 years. They had been close friends ever since the meeting at Hezekiah's birthday celebrations, when Yosef had questioned King Ahaz about exactly how much faith they should put in Baal. Hezekiah had found him later that day at the party, and discovered that they both had a passion for the ways, traditions and beliefs of their ancestors. They had been close friends ever since.
Yosef reached for another olive. Putting it in his mouth, he nodded his head and showed assent as Hezekiah watched him. On swallowing the chewed up olive, he realized that Hezekiah was waiting to make sure he was listening.
"Changes? You mean, like... policy changes?" he inquired, removing the pip from his mouth and placing it in a bowl. He then began pouring himself more wine, and filling up Hezekiah's cup, too.
Hezekiah took the cup, sat back and stroked his beard.
"This country", he began as Yosef took a sip of his wine, "has broken the covenant that our forefathers made with God. Broken it for too long. I blame my father..." he said after a pause, and even then still hesitating to continue. He looked away from Yosef in shame, and said quietly, "I loved him, but he walked away from the Lord our God. He worshiped idols, and he lead our people astray from the covenant". Although Yosef didn't state it, Hezekiah took the silence from his friend as agreement, and a mandate to continue. "But now, I have been ordained by God to put us back on the right path. To put us back in favour with the Lord. We ARE the chosen people..."
"Chosen by God!", Yosef put in, cheerfully.
"Exactly", Hezekiah said forcefully. "We are God's chosen people, selected by Him to serve and obey him. But look around you! Thanks to my father's disobedience, I do not deny it, the Temple remains closed, a mere shell of its former self. And what goes on in the shrines to Baal around the city is an abomination. Pagan worship, corrupt priests, idols! It makes me sick".
"So, you're the King now", Yosef reminded him. "You can DO something about it..."
"Oh, I'm going to...", Hezekiah replied, holding the cup up to his lips. Before taking a sip, he looked seriously into Yosef's eyes.
"Starting tomrrow, I'm going to".
The new King Hezekiah had truly surprised them with his speed, and panic set in as it became clear to the Philistines that they were actually surrounded. Once that truth came to light, the idea of a guerilla war was quickly abandoned, and the Philistine commanders unanimously decided that instead, they had to move quickly. They had to break out of the circle around them as soon as they could. It was a wise decision- to hesitate would have been to allow reinforcements from Jerusalem to seal the circle even more. That same night, before the Judeans could properly settle in around them, they attacked a single garrison using the full force of their army. Although they made great progress through the gap in the encirclement at first, several Philistine soldiers had been left behind and killed or captured as the Judeans caught wind of the break-out, and descended upon them from three sides.
But now, instead of being allowed to limp away to lick their wounds, those who were lucky and skilled enough to break through the Judean line were being chased. They were about 5000 men left, standing on a craggy plateau, overlooking the desert and the sea in the distance. They were tired, hungry, hot and more than a little lost. And the Judeans were closing in on them again...
From what he managed to gather together over the following few years, it appeared to Hezekiah that King Shalmaneser of Assyria, a blood-thirsty and paranoid man at the best of times, had caught wind of a rumor that King Hosea of Samaria was conspiring with the Pharoah of Egypt to overthrow their Assyrian oppressors. Filled with rage and unwilling to listen to Hosea's explanation, Shalmaneser had directed a disproportional amount of his army towards Samaria, surrounded it, and waited for their strength to crumble.
It was surely a sign of strength that Shalmaneser wished to impress on the surrounding kingdoms as a warning against rebellion. The Assyrian Empire at this time was vast, almost immeasurable. But Shalmaneser knew that the rest of the subjects in that part of the Assyrian realm were watching, and he wanted them to see how much he was making the Samaritans suffer. Hezekiah remembered clenching his first tightly in silent fury, as his mother and father discussed the situation while they ate together early one morning.
"Shalmaneser wants us to watch, Abijah", he said matter-of-factly, helping himself to another slice of pomegranate. His wife stayed silent as she tore a flatbread in half. Hezekiah avoided his father's eye contact, chewing slowly.
"What makes you so confident that we will be spared his wrath, Ahaz?", Abijah asked quietly. Ahaz finished his mouthful of the fruit quickly in order to answer.
"We pay our tribute. Shalmaneser has no quarrel with us. We are loyal subjects to the King, and we always have been". Abijah didn't react, and Ahaz knew what she was thinking. "I feel sorry for the Samaritans, I really do..." Ahaz continued, "but they have made their bed, and now they must lie in it. We will continue to support them in any way we can, but there is no question as to where our loyalty lies strongest".
Hezekiah watched his father. At 17, he knew enough about the Assyrians to know that he was sick of them. Who his father saw as protectors and strong allies, Hezekiah saw as oppressors. But he knew that he could say nothing. His father was already feverishly concerned that his son would, once Ahaz had passed on, discontinue the Baal worship that he had made the apogee of his reign. To publicly disagree with him on foreign policy as well was sure to drive the King over the edge of sanity. No- he would keep his opinions on the Assyrians secret from his father, for the moment...
"He's right to be concerned about the Baal worship, though", Hezekiah thought to himself, and even allowed himself a small smile, which only his mother appeared to have caught as she looked suddenly at him from across the table. "My Lord and God", Hezekiah closed his eyes in prayer, "Have mercy on my father, on the people of Jerusalem, and know that I am your loyal subject, now and forever...". His mother watched him and looked back at her husband, who was keenly feasting on another piece of pomegranate, and she sighed in anguish over what would happen if Samaria fell.
---
"They announce the beginning of the siege with trumpets, that's what I've heard".
Hezekiah was sitting on a low wall in front of the temple. His father's guards were busy directing the sealing of the Temple doors. His father had ordered the Temple to be closed. He had given the Baal priests permission to store their idols inside until such time that one of the statues in the many shrines to Baal around the city should need a replacement. The Temple of the Lord had become nothing more than a giant warehouse. Ahaz's loyal guards were only too happy to oblige. The Rabbi's had been cast out, literally in some cases, and had come back a few days later to watch the final humiliation of their religion played out. They stood, partly hidden in the crown that was gathering, still easily distinguishable but not particularly wanting to be seen. Hezekiah was watching the events in disgust, fuming and internally cursing the guards who rushed about with an undeserved sense of importance. Undeserved because Hezekiah knew that they worshiped a myth.
His friend Zaccharus could see his friend's anguish, and asked himself again why Hezekiah tortured himself by watching the proceedings despite knowing that what he was seeing would upset him. Zaccahrus' attempt to distract him with idle chat appeared to have failed, as Hezekiah simply glared. His bodyguards stood around him, pretending not to notice their master's anger.
Zaccharus continued, hoping to impress his friend with all that he'd recently learned about the Assyrians. "Once the trumpets blow, it means that all means of negotiation are now off. Basically, they're telling everyone inside that if they ever want to leave they will have to fight their way out... or die trying".
Hezekiah sighed and looked at his friend, sat beside him on the low wall.
"This is all the Egyptian's doing, you know that, right?" he asked Zaccharus rhetorically. "They want the Assyrians out, but they're trying to get us to do their dirty work, by stirring up revolt and revolution against Assyria. Typical Egyptians. They want the work done, but they're not willing to get their hands dirty..."
"I thought you WANTED the Assyrians out, Hezekiah...", Zaccharus leaned in and spoke so quietly that not even the body guard could hear him, especially not over the noise of the shouts of the priests and the grunting of those dragging the Temple doors closed. He was alluding to the fact that Hezekiah seemed disappointed.
"I do", said Hezekiah sternly but quietly. "And we will get them out. But as we've seen in the last few year, I just don't know how many of our so-called "friends" we can trust to help us". He looked into his friends deep eyes, filled with worry, and said gently, "We might have to stand up to them alone".
---
A few months later King Shalmaneser died. Far from the Assyrians falling apart due to a lack of leadership, Shalmaneser's son Sargon took over. And shortly after that, Samaria fell to the Assyrians.
It had been expected for a while. Rumors of unbearable famine, starvation and death on a mass scale seeped into Jerusalem, confirmed by the skeletal refugees who began to flood the city shortly after the city fell. Those who managed to escape and survived the journey south to Jerusalem really were the lucky ones, as it soon became apparent that the fall of their city was only the beginning of the Samaritan's problems...
Chapter 4
"Deportation? To where?"
Hezekiah hadn't been invited to the meeting between his father and his mother. In fact, they had had it at night, when they were sure Hezekiah was asleep. But he'd heard raised voices and seen a candle still lit. It must have been past the second watch already. Hezekiah crept towards the doorway of the main chamber, where his father and mother were sat facing each other on couches.
"I suppose to wherever they're needed in the Assyrian Empire, my dear...", Ahaz said solemnly. Abijah covered her eyes and whispered to herself. "Lord, please, no...". Ahaz put his hand on hers, and she held onto it.
"It must come as no surprise, my love. It's not uncommon for the victors of a besieged city to spare the lives of the citizens inside in order to force them into slavery..."
When Abijah finally looked up at Ahaz, she had tears welling up in her eyes.
"And you... plan to do NOTHING, Ahaz? Can you not even appeal to King Sargon to spare our allies, our BROTHERS AND SISTERS, this humiliation?"
Being hidden behind the doorway, Hezekiah couldn't see his parents but could only hear them. Still, he clearly made out the loud sigh that his father gave at the suggestion.
"Abijah..." he said, attempting to pacify her. "The Assyrians have been good to us". Hezekiah heard his mother scoff, and he could picture her shaking her head in the way that clearly showed she was tired of hearing the same old lines. Ahaz ignored it, and continued. "They have defeated our enemies, and have protected us from far greater threats than themselves"
"Your friends, Ahaz", Abijah suddenly grew fierce, "tried to ally with you in order to repel the Assyrians". Ahaz sighed loudly, and Abijah continued, her eyes boring deeply into him. "And you... betrayed them. They wanted you to side with them, to fight against Assyria". Hezekiah was certain that Ahaz had broken eye-contact with her now, and was most likely looking out the window or at the floor. Still, Abijah continued with her assault. "And instead, you appealed to the Assyrians for help! To defeat those men who wanted to band together with you!"
"They were INVADERS, Abijah! Egyptian spies, sent to cause trouble and havoc wherever they can! How many times have I had to tell you that?" he appealed to her. He added as an afterthought, "I WON'T be an Egyptian puppet"
"And what are you NOW, Ahaz? You are an Assyrian SLAVE". Now it was Ahaz's turn to scoff. "You pay tribute to their king, and you have desecrated the Temple of the Lord to appeal to the Assyrians, and what good has it brought you?"
"I brought us PEACE, Abijah! All that the God of our Ancestors, the God of Moses and Abraham brought us was constant war and troubles! I did what was right!"
"He would have been faithful to you, Ahaz, if you had just trusted in Him. Isaiah said..."
"Oh! Isaiah said, did he?" Ahaz threw his hands in the air in exasperation, and Hezekiah could tell that his parents had had this fight before. He closed his eyes and listened.
Everything was suddenly quiet for a while as he heard Ahaz pacing the room in frustration, his mother no doubt looking on in quiet despair. Eventually Ahaz's footsteps stopped, and Hezekiah could just make out his mothers words, barely more than a whisper.
"So, you're not going to do anything?"
"Abijah", Ahaz said, clearly frustrated, rubbing his eyes. "If the Assyrians have decided to deport the Samaritans to wherever they need in the Empire, then there is nothing I can do to stop them". He looked directly at her, his eyes half pleading and half demanding that that be the final word on the subject. But Abijah wouldn't let him have it. She stood up and, before marching to the other side of the room to leave, she said quietly but angrily:
"You're not loyal to the Lord our God, and you're not loyal to your friends. Let's just hope you don't need either of them one day"
With that, she stormed from the room, and Hezekiah could hear his father sighing as he looked out at the full moon.
Chapter 5
"Is that you, Hezekiah?"
The room was dark and filled with incense. Ahaz lay flat on the bed, while a servant cooled his brow with a wet cloth. The doctor was in the corner, packing away his various instruments on a small table. Hezekiah stepped forwards to his dying father's bedside.
It had been 7 years since the night that Hezekiah had awoken and spied on his parent's angry meeting. From that day on, the Assyrian King Sargon had begun deporting the Samaritans from their city in huge, depressing caravans. Each group of deportees was divided up. Men who were seen as troublesome or rebellious were executed immediately. Strong men were bunched together to be sent to the mines or to construction projects. Women and children were to be house-slaves. The men were forced to march, often chained together. The women and children were carried away in wagons- wagons full of weeping and crying and lamenting. None of the thousands who had left had been seen since.
"Hezekiah...", Ahaz whispered, his voice soft and breathy. Hezekiah held this father's hand. He looked down on the dying man, riddled with a fever that the doctors couldn't explain, and that they had given up on finding a cure for. At only 36, Ahaz was not yet an old man. But Hezekiah couldn't account for any of the injustices he had witnessed in his young life, his father's death at such a young age being just one of them.
Ahaz looked up with weak eyes at his son. "My son", he gasped again, and Hezekiah with tears in his eyes managed to splutter out,
"I'm here, father. I'm here" while rubbing his father's hand.
Ahaz smiled. His son was 25 now. He had made it to adulthood, he was ready to take over the kingdom. The only regret that Ahaz had was that he had never accepted his new state religion. Baal worship would suffer under his son, he was well aware of that, and trouble with the Assyrians was sure to follow. But, he would have to be allowed to make his own mistakes. He breathed out heavily, unsure if his lungs would take another breath.
In his last seconds, moments before he would find out what really lay on the other side of death, Ahaz looked for the last time into his son's eyes and smiled. He felt his lungs unable to take another breath, but he wasn't in pain nor did he panic. He simply went to sleep with his eyes still open, and his son by his side.
From that moment on, Hezekiah was King of Judea. His father's legacy was in his hands. Hezekiah kissed his dead father's hand. Abijah came to the doorway a second later, and gasped upon realizing she had missed her husband's last moments on earth. She began to cry, and Hezekiah stood up to comfort her immediately.
She sobbed on his shoulder as he hugged her, and he stroked her hair. Then, as she composed herself, Hezekiah broke the embrace, looked her compassionately in her eyes, and said,
"Mother, our King has passed. But now, the time of the Lord our God must begin again".
Wiping the tears from her eyes, Abijah nodded in comprehension. Hezekiah kissed her forehead before moving past her, allowing her to enter the room to pay her respects to her deceased husband. Hezekiah walked away without looking back.
Chapter 6
It had been in Hezekiah's 25th year of life when he had ascended to the thrown. Overnight, he was King of Judea, at the prime of his manhood. He was young, strong and ambitious. But what Hezekiah decided would define him, he thought to himself as he sat on his thrown for the first time in the Jerusalem palace, was that he would not make the same mistakes his father had made. He would obey God.
"We need to make changes, Yosef", he said to his trusted friend, a few days after his coronation. They were sitting alone on a quiet summer's night, in the upper room of the palace. Yosef, 2 years Hezekiah's senior, had been his most trusted companion for over 10 years. They had been close friends ever since the meeting at Hezekiah's birthday celebrations, when Yosef had questioned King Ahaz about exactly how much faith they should put in Baal. Hezekiah had found him later that day at the party, and discovered that they both had a passion for the ways, traditions and beliefs of their ancestors. They had been close friends ever since.
Yosef reached for another olive. Putting it in his mouth, he nodded his head and showed assent as Hezekiah watched him. On swallowing the chewed up olive, he realized that Hezekiah was waiting to make sure he was listening.
"Changes? You mean, like... policy changes?" he inquired, removing the pip from his mouth and placing it in a bowl. He then began pouring himself more wine, and filling up Hezekiah's cup, too.
Hezekiah took the cup, sat back and stroked his beard.
"This country", he began as Yosef took a sip of his wine, "has broken the covenant that our forefathers made with God. Broken it for too long. I blame my father..." he said after a pause, and even then still hesitating to continue. He looked away from Yosef in shame, and said quietly, "I loved him, but he walked away from the Lord our God. He worshiped idols, and he lead our people astray from the covenant". Although Yosef didn't state it, Hezekiah took the silence from his friend as agreement, and a mandate to continue. "But now, I have been ordained by God to put us back on the right path. To put us back in favour with the Lord. We ARE the chosen people..."
"Chosen by God!", Yosef put in, cheerfully.
"Exactly", Hezekiah said forcefully. "We are God's chosen people, selected by Him to serve and obey him. But look around you! Thanks to my father's disobedience, I do not deny it, the Temple remains closed, a mere shell of its former self. And what goes on in the shrines to Baal around the city is an abomination. Pagan worship, corrupt priests, idols! It makes me sick".
"So, you're the King now", Yosef reminded him. "You can DO something about it..."
"Oh, I'm going to...", Hezekiah replied, holding the cup up to his lips. Before taking a sip, he looked seriously into Yosef's eyes.
"Starting tomrrow, I'm going to".
Chapter 7
"You MUST let me talk to the king!" The priest, red-faced and trembling with indignation, tried to look past Yosef, but Yosef stood firm. Behind the old man, a combination of soldiers, workmen and Hezekiah's newly re-established priests were passing another bronze statue down the steps of the temple, and loading it into a cart just off to the side. A couple of the Baal priests were calling up to the sky, crying and shouting that their gods would punish the blasphemers for their sacrilegious acts. A crowd had gathered by now, people who were taking time out of their busy life in the city to stop and stare from a distance at this most unusual of sights.
"These are the Kings orders, old man, so you have nothing to discuss with him", Yosef said uninterested, without looking up from the scroll he was writing on. He was trying to mark how many cartloads of the idols had already been taken away to be dumped in valley just outside of the city walls. Even if the old man hadn't been distracting him from his duty, Yosef would still have dismissed him. He himself was angry at the demolition of his country's religion, and so when he'd finished marking the scroll, he looked at the priest who was still boiling with rage and said flatly, "You've been leading our people astray for long enough. Once the guards have finished destroying your false idols, the Temple doors will be sealed shut to everyone apart from the King himself and whomever he gives permission to. You are not to try to enter, do you understand?"
The Temple would be reopened as soon as it had been properly cleansed and the worship of the Lord could resume... but Yosef felt that the Baal priest standing in front of him didn't need to know this, seeing as he'd be refused entry into the Lord's house from now on.
The Temple would be reopened as soon as it had been properly cleansed and the worship of the Lord could resume... but Yosef felt that the Baal priest standing in front of him didn't need to know this, seeing as he'd be refused entry into the Lord's house from now on.
The priest knew the threat behind Yosef's question. Yosef was Hezekiah's right-hand man. Anything that came from Yosef came from the King himself, and the priest was smart enough to know that he'd be lucky to escape with his life if he disobeyed a direct order from his King.
As if on cue, the scraping of the giant gold-plated doors being closed caused both the priest and Yosef to look towards the temple. Some of the soldiers were standing by, dusting their hands off having finished carrying the heavy bronze statues. They ignored the cries of the nearby Baal priests as a small group of workmen finally pulled the doors shut.
"You WILL be punished for your disrespect..." said the priest, turning back towards Yosef. He resisted the temptation to mention Baal directly, of whom he knew Yosef was no believer. Yosef ignored the comment.
"This is just the beginning" he said coldly, and turned away from the old man, who could do nothing but turn around and watch his fellow priests crying after the cart full of their fallen idols that the guards had already started to drag away.
---
"My King"
The General bowed low as Hezekiah entered the tent. Hezekiah, who was still slightly uncomfortable with such a show of grandeur, signaled for him to rise.
"General Balthazar", Hezekiah said confidently to the man who was almost twice his age. The large tent was flanked on the inside by a dozen or so men, all with armour and swords in their scabbards, almost all older than Hezekiah. All had a hunger anger in their eyes, hidden behind the admiration and loyalty that they had for their King. Hezekiah looked on the faces, lit up by flame light, and smiled.
"Sire", continued the General, in an effort to update the King as quickly as possible, "Allow me to show you our progress". He directed the King to a small table at the far end of the tent. As Hezekiah approached, the men flanking the inside of the tent closed in to form a semi-circle behind him in order to gain a better perspective of what the King was observing, all while maintaining a respectful distance.
"The main Philistine army is camped here", said Balthazar, pointing to a section of the leather map which showed a cluster of crudly drawn mountains. "Between these two sets of mountains, to the south of Jerusalem".
"How many men do they have?" Hezekiah asked without looking up.
"It's hard to tell, sire. Our scouts conflict on their reports, but it's safe to say anywhere between 10 and 20 thousand"
Hezekiah didn't react, and there was a tension that suddenly descended on the tent. Nobody dared breath.
"That's close. They're just a days march from Jerusalem", the King analysed calmly. General Balthezar looked at his captains, who were all afraid to catch his eye.
"Yes, sire" he said, and then in a lower voice, added "We should make preparations to retreat to the safety of the city".
But Hezekiah shook his head. "No", he said, still looking at the map, and Balthazar looked again at his captains in alarm. "We will drive them out". Hezekiah looked straight at his General. "Right into the sea".
Chapter 8
Not even a week later, Hezekiah's army was ready to march against the Philistines. The plan was simple- to surprise them just before dawn in their encampment nestled in the foothills of the mountains south of Jerusalem. There, just outside of a small town called Heron, Hezekiah and his generals would lead the troops, creeping through hills and even through the streets of the town. The Philistines would wake up to find the Judean army in front of them, and nothing but sun-scorched hills behind them.
"Isaiah, my friend", Hezekiah stood up from his chair. The old man bowed low as Hezekiah crossed the room. He embraced the old prophet, and Isaiah reciprocated, even with his staff in his hand. It was the night before the Judean army was ready to march, and Hezekiah had requested a meeting with the wisest man he knew before he left with them.
"Hezekiah", said Isaiah warmly as they broke the embrace. "You've grown into a man!"
Hezekiah laughed. "It's been too long, old friend. I'm sorry, I've been so busy...". Isaiah nodded compassionately.
"I understand, Hezekiah. You have been given a great responsibility. It is not an easy burden to bear. But the Lord will guide you through, if you just trust Him".
They sat down and Isaiah placed his staff on the table. Hezekiah noticed that his beard was even grayer and longer than he'd remembered it. His wrinkles were deeper, too... but there was a kindness and a peace in the old prophet's eyes that Hezekiah noticed was more obvious as Isaiah aged.
"Isaiah, we are marching tomorrow. The Philistines are too close to Jerusalem- they mean us nothing but harm". Isaiah nodded, and Hezekiah tried to tell if he already knew this to be the truth, or if he was absorbing and analyzing the information for the first time.
To his relief, Isaiah said, "Hezekiah, Judea MUST survive. It is the Lord's plan that we thrive and flourish, for the good of the world. He has ordained YOU to carry on the struggle that your father refused to". He smiled at Hezekiah, who had obviously been nervous that Isaiah would condemn his act of war, and then Isaiah added, "You are concerned that it is not God's wish, is that not right? It's for this reason that you've called me here today?"
Hezekiah was amazed at how easily Isaiah could read him. He nodded and said "Yes. Yes it is".
Isaiah sighed deeply and thoughtfully before addressing the issue. "We are all the Lord's children, Hezekiah. Even those who fail to recognize it, or who chose to deny it. And the Lord has a love for us all. Even for our enemies. Even for HIS enemies! In the days of Moses, do you think God didn't weep when he destroyed the Egyptian army in the red sea? God is love. Remember that". Hezekiah nodded, and Isaiah paused before leaning forwards and starting off again, passionately. "But God's chosen people MUST be protected. We cannot allow ourselves to be banished to the pages of history. Forgotten by the world. We have a mission on this earth- I have foreseen it. And, I'll admit, we have lost sight of that vision of late, and we've forgotten our place of great responsibility. But with you, Hezekiah" he said softly, smiling. "With you, we can finally start to prepare ourselves again for the coming of the Messiah. And in order to do that, Judea MUST protect herself. You do understand the gravity of that point, don't you, Hezekiah?"
"I do, Isaiah", Hezekiah said sadly. He knew his duty, but it brought him no pleasure to go to war. Isaiah looked at him kindly and said "Then, let us pray to our Lord for protection, for victory and for forgiveness for what we must do. Let us pray for the souls of our enemies, and ask the Lord to have mercy on them, as He has mercy on us". And so, as the last of the daylight disappeared behind the mountains, the two men prayed together, before Hezekiah mounted his horse and rode out with his bodyguards to meet his troops. Isaiah watched from the city walls, and prayed again to the Lord for the soul of his King.
---
"We cannot keep going, captain. The sea is a mere mile to our West. We must surrender...".
The Philistine Lieutenant was interrupted yet again by the sound of the Judean war horns behind him, and Captain Ada rolled his eyes and slumped his shoulders. For weeks, ever since the Judeans had appeared one morning surrounding them in the hills south of Jerusalem the main bulk of the Philistine army had been in a slow and, at times rapid, retreat.
At first, they had attempted to fight, standing their ground. There had even been talk amongst the Philistine commanders of settling in for a guerrila war within the Judean mountains close to the town of Heron. But they had received no help from the local population, leaving them exposed and hungry. Attempts to resupply the army from the south had been disrupted by Egyptian "bandits"... although Ada was still convinced that they had been professional soldiers in cahoots with the Judeans. Maybe they had even been Judeans in disguise. It was certainly possible.
The new King Hezekiah had truly surprised them with his speed, and panic set in as it became clear to the Philistines that they were actually surrounded. Once that truth came to light, the idea of a guerilla war was quickly abandoned, and the Philistine commanders unanimously decided that instead, they had to move quickly. They had to break out of the circle around them as soon as they could. It was a wise decision- to hesitate would have been to allow reinforcements from Jerusalem to seal the circle even more. That same night, before the Judeans could properly settle in around them, they attacked a single garrison using the full force of their army. Although they made great progress through the gap in the encirclement at first, several Philistine soldiers had been left behind and killed or captured as the Judeans caught wind of the break-out, and descended upon them from three sides.
But now, instead of being allowed to limp away to lick their wounds, those who were lucky and skilled enough to break through the Judean line were being chased. They were about 5000 men left, standing on a craggy plateau, overlooking the desert and the sea in the distance. They were tired, hungry, hot and more than a little lost. And the Judeans were closing in on them again...
Captain Ada looked back at the sea. It was shimmering and gleaming in the distance. He loved the sea, even though it was biggest obstacle right now. He was glad that he got to see it one last time.
He turned to his Lieutenant. A dark man in his late 20's, with a mature and heavy beard, sweating and panting in the sun. He put his hand on the Lieutenant's shoulder. "Stay close to me" he said, intensely over the rising sound of orders being barked by his subordinates around him. "If I die, then you have my permission to surrender". With that, Captain Ada lifted his sword and, shrieking a war-cry, charged across the plateau towards the oncoming Judean army.
The Lieutenant followed suit, part of a giant wave of shouting, clanging, angry soldiers, knowing that they faced imminent death. Arrows shot into men all around him, but to his amazement he kept running. The Judean chariots raced towards his line, each one knocking 3 or 4 men off their feet as they plowed into the Philistine army...
Captain Ada stabbed a second, then a third man in his fury, and heard them cry out. His adrenaline was still overflowing, but he felt the first heavy blow on his helmet, probably from a heavy sword, and it nearly knocked him unconscious. Before he could recover, a stinging blade entered his chest under his armor and, before he could cry out, it was joined by a second and then a third. He fell to his knees looking deep into the angry eyes on the twisted faces of his attackers. As he fell in agony to the floor, feet stamping all around him, blades still piercing his limp body, he heard his Lieutenant call the surrender. Captain Ada closed his eyes to the sound of the Judean army shouting the name of their King and celebrating their victory;
"HEZEKIAH! HEZEKIAH!"
before he was pulled into the abyss that lies beyond the action of death.
The middle envoy bowed low, and the two either side of him bowed along with him, although not as low.
"HEZEKIAH! HEZEKIAH!"
before he was pulled into the abyss that lies beyond the action of death.
Chapter 9
"The first thing we shall do", Hezekiah said to Yosef, putting his arm over his shoulders and walking with him up through the main gate towards the centre of Jerusalem, "to celebrate our victory over the Philistines, is to celebrate the Passover, both for us AND to honour the Lord our God who led us to victory again".
Hezekiah led his tired but relieved army up through the city, and the crowds had gathered in the narrow streets to sings and clap and praise their new king's first military victory. Yosef smiled at his friend. Hezekiah smiled back at him. "My father took away the Passover, as he took away so many of my people's rights and traditions. But I have come to bring it all back, Yosef".
That night, Yosef and his wife Rachel arrived at the palace to join Hezekiah and his mother Abijah for dinner. They were shown straight up to the dining room in the palace, the same room where Hezekiah years before had spied on his parents arguing about the deportation of the Samaritans.
"Shalom, my friend", Hezekiah embraced Yosef and then Rachel before she could bow to him. She smiled back, "Shalom, my King..." and, seeing his puzzled look, corrected herself; "Hezekiah". He and Yosef both laughed, and even Rachel joined in in the end.
"Shalom, my friend", Hezekiah embraced Yosef and then Rachel before she could bow to him. She smiled back, "Shalom, my King..." and, seeing his puzzled look, corrected herself; "Hezekiah". He and Yosef both laughed, and even Rachel joined in in the end.
"So what next, Hezekiah?" Yosef asked his friend after they had prayed and began eating the delicious lamb, flatbread and chopped vegetables with garlic sauce and wild herbs. Hezekiah poured his guests more wine, and mused.
"You mean, what next for Judea, right?". Yosef nodded, and Rachel looked on. Abijah smiled at her. Such a sweet girl- so loyal and innocent, but yet worldly for her age. She looked at her son, and sighed at not having been able to find him a suitable wife. Still, she knew that Hezekiah was busy. He had a burden, ordained on him by God Himself, to complete. Maybe a wife would distract him...
"My reign will not be wasted", Hezekiah said firmly, and all three at the table listened attentively. "My father..." he looked at his mother before continuing, "My father did not serve the Lord our God, the God of our ancestors, Moses and Jacob. And it lead to ruin and disaster for the nation. We are not a people governed solely by God anymore. We are controlled by a foreign force, and its because my father refused to trust in the Lord. And so" he began again, strongly, "First of all, we shall hold the Passover, in memory of the faithfulness that our Lord show us in delivering us from Egypt. I have already invited all of the other tribes to join us in the capital, from Beersheba to Dan. My envoys have been returning over the last few days with their response, all of which so far have been positive. It seems that the tribes around us have been waiting for the day that we can return to the Lord!".
"Praise the Lord!" said Rachel suddenly, and her husband smiled at her, putting his hand on hers under the table to show that he was proud of her.
Hezekiah nodded pensively and smiled back at her. "Indeed. The Lord has been good and faithful to us. We must show our loyalty once again. We shall continue to tear down the pagan shrines that still exist in our city. My father may have put them up..." he paused. "But his son shall take them down. The Temple will be officially reopened again in a few days, that we may begin our loyal worship and service to the Lord".
"And with the Philistines defeated as far as Gaza", Yosef contributed between mouthfuls, "Our only real enemies have been quashed. Judea is at peace at last, and it is all thanks to Hezekiah".
At this, Hezekiah looked at his friend, unsure of whether or not he should reveal all of his future plans just yet. Yosef was about to ask for confirmation when Hezekiah suddenly decided that he shouldn't. "Best not to, not just yet..." he thought to himself. "The time for the whole extent of my plans will come..."
Instead, he smiled at Yosef. "Exactly. We are at peace. And most importantly, we are back with God". They celebrated that night, as they all felt that world had begun again.
---
And so, for a few years, Judea enjoyed a glorious age. The Temple was reopened a few days later. Every single one of Ahaz's shrines to Baal was, as Hezekiah had promised, removed. The rubbish dump outside of the walls of Jerusalem, was filled with the bronze and stone idols, which were additionally buried and covered in generic daily waste. Before long, they were almost completely submerged in litter. Isaiah watched and smiled as the people took on a new form, a blessed form of worship and obedience to their Lord. The streets felt somehow more well kept. Isaiah felt that the people smiled more. He looked up at the Temple from the stone steps below, and thanked the Lord for all the busy activity happening inside, and all the blessed worshipers who were now passing through its doors. Jerusalem had been transformed, and it thrived.
But, as Hezekiah already knew, no matter how much you do right, life is never completely able to be tamed. Hezekiah was reminded of this one day in his 5th year as King, when he was sat in his upper office in the palace with Yosef one morning, and there was a knock at the door...
Chapter 10
"THREE envoys?", Hezekiah said cheerfully as the heavy wooden door swung open and three men stood in front of him. His guards followed them into the room and closed the door behind them, standing stony-faced and attentive. Yosef, who was sitting with his back to the three visitors, stood up and walked to the wall, giving him a better viewpoint of the visitors.
The middle envoy bowed low, and the two either side of him bowed along with him, although not as low.
"Your Highness. I am Abrax, and I come in the name of the Pharaoh of Egypt and Ethiopia".
Hezekiah immediately had a strong suspicion as to why they had come, and he felt the blood run through his veins more quickly with nervousness and excitement. The Egyptians, he remembered from his father's reign, only ever came to Judea for one thing- to find allies. Yosef looked between the two men, his arms crossed but feeling a lot less relaxed than he looked.
"Your Highness. King Sargon of Assyria is dead" said the envoy flatly. Hezekiah didn't react, but the news did come as a shock to him. The tyrant King, who had deported the Samaritans from their fallen city to the north into slavery over 15 years ago and replaced them with his own subjects, was dead. Hezekiah nodded but didn't answer.
"Your Highness" the envoy continued cautiously. He was aware that the delivering of his message, if it were to be misjudged or rejected, could mean that he and his companions might not leave the room alive. "Now is the time to STRIKE. Pharaoh wants you to join us in our struggle against the Assyrian repression. Sargon's son, Sennacherib, has taken the throne. But we have a window of opportunity, while he settles into his new position, in order to free ourselves from the rule of this tyrannical family".
Yosef's eyes widened as he looked at Hezekiah and saw him nodding in agreement. He didn't dare say anything. He might be Hezekiah's closest friend and confident, but this was official state business at the highest level, and he was not allowed to speak in this meeting unless invited to. He stayed quiet and watched the king.
Hezekiah sighed deeply, well aware that he was standing on a turning point in history. He looked at the envoys, all three bald and young, with strange gold necklaces round their necks, and clothes that suggested they came from far warmer climates.
"Thank you, gentlemen, for the message. And I thank Pharaoh for his considerable offer. I shall need to consult my advisers"
---
The envoys left the next morning, having been treated lavishly at Hezekiah's orders. As they left the gates of Jerusalem, bathed in the early morning sun, Hezekiah watched them. He knew that they carried a message back to Pharaoh that had sealed the country's fate. He closed his eyes, and prayed that he had made the right decision.
Chapter 11
"What will you do, Hezekiah?"
Yosef asked the question softly, knowing that he was disturbing his friend who was deep in thought. It had to be asked- the moment of action had come.
It was just a few weeks after the meeting with the envoys. The Assyrians, knowing nothing about the secret meeting between Hezekiah and the Egyptian envoys, had sent a small caravan to the gates of Jerusalem to collect their bi-annual tribute, a payment for the ongoing peaceful relationship that Judea was currently enjoying with the Assyrian Empire. Normally, the gates would have been opened to them. And if they'd have been arriving at night, or on the Sabbath, then surely a small force of messengers would have been sent out to them to tell them to set up camp and wait for sunrise before entering the city.
But this day, the gates of Jerusalem remained shut, and the tribute caravan stood confused outside the walls, looking up for Jewish soldiers on the city gates but seeing nobody.
Hezekiah didn't turn round when Yosef asked him that all-important question. He merely looked out from his palace, over the rooftops of the City of David, past the wall, and over the rocky and dry hills surrounding Jerusalem. The small Assyrian force of four camels, a wagon, four horsemen and twenty infantrymen which had been sent to collect the tribute from the king waited below the gate, growing increasingly confused and impatient.
"Joah", said Hezekiah, addressing his messenger behind him. Yosef turned to look at him stand up more to attention at the anticipation of receiving his master's orders, but Hezekiah continued to stare out over the hills. "Tell the tribute collectors that Jerusalem will no longer pay under their threats. They have received their last tribute from us. That is all"
"Yes, sire", said Joah obediently and he left the room immediately, followed by the two guards who were standing either side of the doorway. Yosef watched them all leave until it was just he and the king alone. As he turned back to his friend, unable to fully quench the pain of fear in his stomach caused by was he had just witnessed, Hezekiah turned to look at him for the first time since he entered the room. He breathed out heavily through his nose, and smiled under his now formidable beard. Putting his hand on Yosef's shoulder, he simply said,
"From now on, we shall simply trust in the Lord".
Chapter 12
Hezekiah refusing to pay tribute to the Assyrian King at first felt like a momentous, defiant move. It had been one thing to tell the Egyptian envoys weeks before that Jerusalem would comply with their call for rebellion... but to actually go through with it by not paying the tribute was truly a step into the unknown...
But then, for a time after that, Hezekiah heard nothing. Hezekiah, Yosef, the messenger and a handful of Hezekiah's most trusted courtiers, as well as the Assyrian caravan, were, at first, the only ones who knew what had happened.
But then, for a time after that, Hezekiah heard nothing. Hezekiah, Yosef, the messenger and a handful of Hezekiah's most trusted courtiers, as well as the Assyrian caravan, were, at first, the only ones who knew what had happened.
"Are you going to announce it?", Yosef asked Hezekiah one night shortly after the caravan had been refused entrance into the city and sent away empty handed.
Hezekiah sighed. He knew his friend Yosef. He knew how he thought. He was logical, tactful and in many ways ruthless. And so, Hezekiah knew that he wouldn't understand the answer he was about to give.
"I am", he said, as he dipped a folded piece of bread into a bowl of bean paste. Putting it in his mouth and chewing it, he looked at Yosef, who was clearly desperate to say something but, for whatever reason, couldn't spit it out.
"You understand why I have to tell the people what we've done, don't you, Yosef?"
Yosef ignored the question, and instead put forwards his arguments.
"Hezekiah..." he leant forwards. He wouldn't even have dreamed of using Hezekiah's title, even though they were technically discussing state business. He'd been told by the king that it was not only unnecessary but that, in the case of Yosef, his closest advisor, confident and friend, it was actually forbidden. "The people will panic. You realize that, don't you?"
"It's possible, I'll admit. It's something I've worried over and concerned myself with ever since I concluded that I must tell them", Hezekiah replied, a sadness in his voice.
"And with panic", Yosef continued, feeling that he was gaining ground, "comes instability. Think of the business. We've finally got merchants from all over the world willing to come and trade in Jerusalem, after YEARS of them being scared away by the threat of a Philistine attack. You've cleared the roads of bandits and roaming gangs of rogue Philistine soldiers. The pathways are clear for trade routes, at last!" Hezekiah nodded, allowing him to continue. "So", Yosef began to conclude, "if you tell the people that we have demolished our relationship with the Assyrians... well, even a fool would be able to see that that spells trouble for the city. And the merchants are no fools- they'll leave and maybe never come back. Jerusalem could get a reputation as being a troublesome city, and it may take a generation to clear our name. You'll not see decent commerce in this city again during your lifetime".
Hezekiah, still unable to satisfy his hunger that night, continued to dip bread in the paste.
"So, what would YOU have me do, Yosef? You don't think I should tell the people?"
Yosef sighed, realizing that he was increasingly being portrayed as the villain in this story.
"I think that telling the people will only cause trouble. DEFINITELY. Whereas..." he extended his hand to demonstrate an alternative idea, "Maybe you don't have to tell them at all, if the Assyrians decide that we're not a big enough target to worry about". Hezekiah looked at him from the other side of the table quizzically. "Think about it. You never know- maybe the caravan was assaulted and killed by bandits before they could give the message. It still happens on occasion. And even if they DID deliver the message, maybe the Assyrians realize that we're not worth the fight. Just one small city, all the way over here on the outskirts of their lands. They've got a while Empire to keep together- what difference does our small tribute make to them?"
"You might be right, Yosef", Hezekiah said solemnly. Yosef began to nod, before realizing that Hezekiah's demeanor meant that he was about to deal a hammer-blow to his arguments. "But if we believe that what we have done is right, then why hide it? Hiding it makes it look like we're trying to cover something up. That's what the old priests do, that's what the PAGANS do! But we are the chosen children of the Lord our God... And we shall trust Him..."
"But...", Yosef began, but was cut off by Hezekiah politely raising his hand to silence him.
"We shall lead by example. The people will be told what their King has done, and they shall have the choice as to whether they stay here in the city of Jerusalem, or if they want to leave". He paused, as another thought came to him. "I am a king who will rule not by fear or lies. I will rule by the truth that God has entrusted to me". He watched Yosef closely to measure his reaction.
"We shall lead by example. The people will be told what their King has done, and they shall have the choice as to whether they stay here in the city of Jerusalem, or if they want to leave". He paused, as another thought came to him. "I am a king who will rule not by fear or lies. I will rule by the truth that God has entrusted to me". He watched Yosef closely to measure his reaction.
Yosef rubbed his chin in worry and reached for another olive. Chewing on it pensively, he knew that Hezekiah had been talking to Isaiah and that these ideas were the fruit of their conversations. He looked out at the moon, still unable to find the faith that Hezekiah and Isaiah shared in their God...
---
A thousand miles away, under the same moon, a messenger was passing a papyrus to King Sennacherib. He scowled at the messenger, unrolling the papyrus. His huge eyes read the message, scanning the page lit up by the firelight behind him. The tent was silent, apart from the gentle whinnying of horses outside. Sennacherib's guards standing either side of him looked dead-eyed at the trembling messenger in front of them. Sennacherib's jaw tightened under his thick, black and perfectly kept beard. The papyrus crumpled in his hands as his mind already prepared him for the revenge he was about to take on King Hezekiah for his disobedience...
Chapter 13
Rather than make an official formal announcement, Hezekiah thought it best to allow the news of their rebellion against the Assyrians to leak out through his courtiers and into the public domain. It was meant to normalize it- over-dramatizing the event with a big speech heard by all gathered in Jerusalem might well cause panic and then a riot, with so may terrified people squeezed all in one place. No- better for the news to spread organically and for the news to seep in gradually.
And it appeared that Hezekiah was right. Nothing abnormal happened. The news reached the marketplace, the people spoke and consulted and some fretted about it... But when nothing was heard for months from the Assyrians the people of Jerusalem, and even Hezekiah himself, began to forget that there would surely be repercussions.
In fact, it was this forgetfulness that meant that Hezekiah was taken by surprise when a messenger approached his office one morning. Hezekiah had just finished dictating a letter to his ambassador in Egypt. In fact, the messenger was just leaving as the Assyrian messenger entered. Before Hezekiah could react, the messenger, a dark-skinned man with a well-trimmed beard stood before him in bronze armour.
"King Hezekiah", he began before Hezekiah could speak, and he held out a scroll for Hezekiah to take. Slowly, suspiciously, Hezekiah took the scroll, looking at the man's dark, brown and unforgiving eyes. He unrolled the scroll, turned to the window, and began to read.
"From the hand of King Sennacherib, King of Assyria, King of the World, at Lachish"
Hezekiah spun round to look at the messenger, his eyes wide. The messenger, in contrast, was stony faced and callous. He knew the reason for the terror that lay behind Hezekiah's eyes.
Hezekiah had heard some time before from his scouts and neighboring cities that Sennacherib was on the march in the area. He had begun preparations for war immediately, but suddenly his scouts had gone quiet. Hezekiah presumed they were dead. He'd heard nothing for weeks, and despite the strong suspicion that his scouts had been killed, Hezekiah had, perhaps naively, secretly hoped that the new Assyrian King had become distracted by rebellions in long-flung parts of the Empire and had departed far from Jerusalem and the surrounding areas. He had continued with his preparations for war but lived in his own mind in this blissful state of ignorance... right up until the messenger had delivered the scroll he was holding in his hands, and Sennacherib had appeared again into his life and, worse still just miles from Jerusalem. Hezekiah did his best not to panic.
Lachish was Hezekiah's second city, just to the south of Jerusalem. A days march from Jerusalem, Sennacherib was now no further away from Hezekiah's doorsteps than the Philistines had been 10 years earlier. But there was worse news still to come.
"King Hezekiah. Your decision to forego your tribute payment was most unwise. Now, your allies are surrendering. Your second city is surrounded, and will soon fall to me..."
Hezekiah closed his eyes, already imagining the panic within the walls of Lachish. Even with his army ready to be on the move at a moment's notice, Hezekiah doubted he'd be able to break the siege. Sennacherib was clearly on a campaign to destroy any rebellion from his rule forever. He would have brought enough forces to not only resist Hezekiah's troops, but to destroy them completely.
"You shall pay the price for your arrogance, King Hezekiah". And the message ended like that. It was the most ominous of endings, and Hezekiah had to admit that it left him rattled. He looked out of the window he was standing by. The rooftops of Jerusalem lay before him. Maybe some people in the city had already heard from the travelling merchants about their inability to enter the city of Lachish. But most pottered around, or worked strenuously, focusing on their daily tasks, completely unaware of what was about to befall them.
"No message. Return to your master", Hezekiah spun round and spat the words at the Assyrian messenger, who smirked as he gave an over-the-top low bow before departing, without looking directly at Hezekiah. As soon as he was out of sight, Hezekiah yelled, "JOAH!". He could hear his messenger clambering past the Assyrian who was leaving, before appearing in the doorway.
"Yes, sire!", he said, panting but ready.
"I want you to gather the following people in this room within the hour- Yosef, Isaiah, Shebna, Hilkiah, General Kalev and yourself"
Joah was dismissed and disappeared from the room. Hezekiah sat down and put his head in his hands.
"And if he doesn't?" Yosef asked, skeptically.
As Rabshekah said this, inside the tunnel within Jerusalem, a workman swung his pick for what felt like the ten-thousandth time that day. He was about to take his next swing when something suddenly made him hesitate. He paused and listened carefully, his ear flat against the rock. Then. he smiled back at his companions.
"This is it!!!" he shouted
---
That evening, Hezekiah bent down so that he was kneeling onto the cold stone floor of the Temple. He used his left hand to support his weight, and held Sennacherib's letter rolled up in his right hand. He put his second knee down on the solid floor and spread the letter on the floor. In front of him was the Holy of Holies, the small room where God himself dwelt. A single curtain divided it off, and nobody was allowed to enter. Even the High Priest himself was forbidden to enter, except for once every year. Hezekiah, not wanting to add broken protocol to his worries, decided it was best to stay outside of that room, even in this most desperate of situations.
"Lord..." he almost spluttered. After a few deep breaths to gather himself, he continued. "Your servant requires your council and your steady hand. See here...", he indicated down at the letter on the floor in front of him. "Your enemies have surrounded your sacred city. Your chosen people have already fallen to foreign heretics. We, the chosen left in Jerusalem, are the only ones who still stand. But we are desperate". He paused and listened to the wind as it gently passed by the top of the hill on which the Temple stood so elegantly. "We are dying, Lord. Deliver us from the hand of Sennacherib, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God".
From the shadows, Isaiah watched Hezekiah praying to the Lord, and he smiled compassionately, pleased that his king had listened to his advice.
A few hours later, Hezekiah was asleep in his bed, exhausted from hunger and worry. So was the rest of Jerusalem. The Assyrians were asleep too. Even the guards, who were supposed to be awake and alert for hours at a time, were on the sleepy side of consciousness that night.
Everyone was asleep. Except for Isaiah. He was sat on the steps of the temple, with the Book of Moses laid out beside him...
The water in the Siloam pool went, just for a few seconds, from a steady stream to a mere dribble.
Isaiah waited...
A horse gave an angry snort in the Assyrian camp.
Isaiah sat and waited...
Everything across the city and the plains outside it was quiet.
And Isaiah sat... and watched... and waited...
Phil Raymond
#HistoricalFiction
#WritingCommunity
Hezekiah spun round to look at the messenger, his eyes wide. The messenger, in contrast, was stony faced and callous. He knew the reason for the terror that lay behind Hezekiah's eyes.
Hezekiah had heard some time before from his scouts and neighboring cities that Sennacherib was on the march in the area. He had begun preparations for war immediately, but suddenly his scouts had gone quiet. Hezekiah presumed they were dead. He'd heard nothing for weeks, and despite the strong suspicion that his scouts had been killed, Hezekiah had, perhaps naively, secretly hoped that the new Assyrian King had become distracted by rebellions in long-flung parts of the Empire and had departed far from Jerusalem and the surrounding areas. He had continued with his preparations for war but lived in his own mind in this blissful state of ignorance... right up until the messenger had delivered the scroll he was holding in his hands, and Sennacherib had appeared again into his life and, worse still just miles from Jerusalem. Hezekiah did his best not to panic.
Lachish was Hezekiah's second city, just to the south of Jerusalem. A days march from Jerusalem, Sennacherib was now no further away from Hezekiah's doorsteps than the Philistines had been 10 years earlier. But there was worse news still to come.
"King Hezekiah. Your decision to forego your tribute payment was most unwise. Now, your allies are surrendering. Your second city is surrounded, and will soon fall to me..."
Hezekiah closed his eyes, already imagining the panic within the walls of Lachish. Even with his army ready to be on the move at a moment's notice, Hezekiah doubted he'd be able to break the siege. Sennacherib was clearly on a campaign to destroy any rebellion from his rule forever. He would have brought enough forces to not only resist Hezekiah's troops, but to destroy them completely.
"You shall pay the price for your arrogance, King Hezekiah". And the message ended like that. It was the most ominous of endings, and Hezekiah had to admit that it left him rattled. He looked out of the window he was standing by. The rooftops of Jerusalem lay before him. Maybe some people in the city had already heard from the travelling merchants about their inability to enter the city of Lachish. But most pottered around, or worked strenuously, focusing on their daily tasks, completely unaware of what was about to befall them.
"No message. Return to your master", Hezekiah spun round and spat the words at the Assyrian messenger, who smirked as he gave an over-the-top low bow before departing, without looking directly at Hezekiah. As soon as he was out of sight, Hezekiah yelled, "JOAH!". He could hear his messenger clambering past the Assyrian who was leaving, before appearing in the doorway.
"Yes, sire!", he said, panting but ready.
"I want you to gather the following people in this room within the hour- Yosef, Isaiah, Shebna, Hilkiah, General Kalev and yourself"
Joah was dismissed and disappeared from the room. Hezekiah sat down and put his head in his hands.
Chapter 14
"Shalom, Yosef. Close the door behind you. You are the last one here"
Yosef obeyed and strode over to Hezekiah's desk, where the other six men were already standing round it. Despite the short notice, it had taken less than an hour to gather the men from their various locations in Jerusalem. When the urgent message had come to them, each one had known that to delay or to refuse might well have cost the lives of everyone in their city, everyone they knew and loved.
"Gentlemen", Hezekiah said solemnly. "I received word this morning from King Sennacherib of Assyria". A few of the men looked at each other, trying to see if they could anticipate what was coming from the faces of their companions. But before they could guess, Hezekiah came out with the devastating news. "He has besieged Lachish to the south". The men nodded solemnly, doing their best not to betray their sense of horror and fear.
"What are we to do, sir?", asked Hilkiah, the palace administrator.
For the first time since they had entered the room, a small smile appeared on Hezekiah's face, and Hilkiah, along with a couple of others furrowed their brow in confusion at Hezekiah's reaction.
"I have some ideas", Hezekiah said, nodding slowly and narrowing his eyes.
---
"Does everyone understand what they must do?" Hezekiah asked firmly. They had been in the office for the rest of the morning. The midday sun was now high and the room was hot and stuffy. Still, every man in the room knew the very specific part he had to play. They all made it clear that they understood. Hezekiah nodded, happy with the plans. He was also happy that he'd prayed to the Lord before the men had arrived, for that was here his best plans always came from. And these plans... were genius.
The men filed out of the room. As soon as each one left the room, they began working, in their minds, on their feet and with their hands, on their part of the great plan...
Hezekiah caught Isaiah's arm.
"Isaiah..." he said, "I need to talk to you". He waited for Yosef, the last of the other 5 to leave the room, to close the door behind him.
"Yes, Hezekiah? How can I serve you?", Isaiah asked.
"You can forgive me..." said Hezekiah sadly, "for what I'm about to do. But first, pray with me". They prayed together in the room before Hezekiah looked at Isaiah sadly and simply said, "Follow me...", before walking out of the room.
Chapter 15
"Do you think the Lord will forgive me for this?", Hezekiah asked Isaiah, unable to look at him.
Instead, he simply stared ahead at the Temple, the great House of God that Hezekiah himself had reopened and made beautiful, lively and functional again after so many years of neglect. A group of his workmen, surrounded by a semi-circle of soldiers, was using hammers and tools to remove the gold and silver plates from the Temple doors. They were piling them up onto blankets at the foot of the steps. It was tiresome, tedious and, worst of all, depressing work. Hezekiah felt tears welling up in his eyes as he watched. How had it come to this...?
Isaiah looked at the young man, and put his hand on his shoulder. Hezekiah nodded sadly.
"You must do what is best for the PEOPLE, Hezekiah" Isaiah reminded him. "The silver, the gold... even the Temple itself. ALL can be replaced. But the PEOPLE", Isaiah stressed, "... PEOPLE are the CROWN and GLORY of God. You are sacrificing something that means nothing to the Lord for something that means EVERYTHING to Him. That is, the lives of His people".
Hezekiah knew that he was right. Still, though, he couldn't believe that the beauty of the Temple was being sacrificed to appease a tyrant like Sennacherib.
---
As the three cartloads, surrounded by 20 horsemen each, left Jerusalem the following afternoon, Hezekiah and Yosef watched them as they began to cross the flats outside of Jerusalem towards Lachish.
"Do you think it will work?", Yosef asked his friend. Hezekiah shook his head and shrugged. "I can only pray that it does, Yosef. I pray that Sennacherib accepts the tribute, and departs from Judea.
"And if he doesn't?" Yosef asked, skeptically.
"Then we'll have to pray harder" Hezekiah said. Yosef laughed, not knowing that Hezekiah was serious. The three carts slowly disappeared into the distance.
---
That night, Hezekiah sat on cushions around a low table with his mother Abijah, Yosef and Rachel in Yosef's house. The atmosphere was tense. All were nervous. None knew what to talk about. Hezekiah felt like he couldn't even look anyone else in the eye. He ate crumbs, often staring for long periods into space, and drank his wine, barely able to say a word.
"Hezekiah", his mother said sympathetically. "Eat something, my son..."
Hezekiah grew tired of the atmosphere. He put his plate down and stood up suddenly.
"My apologies, everyone. I'm really not good company tonight. Please stay and enjoy the rest of the night. I'm going to depart..."
"Hezekiah..." said Yosef. "Eat, please".
Hezekiah paused, unable to even look at his friend. They knew what he had done, what he'd had to do, in order to appease the Assyrian King. The shame he felt was unbearable.
Rachel looked at him, and read his mind on his face. She decided to trust her intuition again.
"So God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him" she quoted, and Yosef and Abijah looked at her suddenly. Hezekiah looked at her too, his hands on his hips, quizzically. Rachel continued.
"God made us, Hezekiah, to reflect himself. I feel..." she said, breathing in at the thought of giving a potentially dangerous opinion, "that our God is a God who loves us, more than silver and gold. More than ANYTHING. And I think, in your situation, God would have sacrificed the beauty of His Temple to save His children, too". She smiled up at Hezekiah, and Yosef and Abijah looked, mouths open, between the two of them.
Hezekiah smiled and almost cried at Rachel's kind and sympathetic words. He nodded and sat down, giving Rachel nothing more than a loving smile to say thank you for her council. Yosef looked proudly at his wife, as the tension faded, and they began to enjoy their meal again.
---
"Does your King REALLY think that he's done nothing wrong?", spat Sennacherib. While Hezekiah and his friends finished their dinner late that night, the King of Assyria stood in front of the three carts of silver and gold panels, as well as piles of treasure brought from inside the Temple.
"King Sennacherib...", the captain, who'd dismounted his horse prepared to defend his king bravely in front of this tyrant. To the sides and behind the carts, his fellow mounted soldiers formed a semi-circle, with the carts in the middle. In the darkness all around them, they could feel the weight of the Assyrian camp, their soldiers sneering and looking greedily at them. Somewhere close in the distance lay the city of Lachish, freshly smoldering and giving off the stench of death as Sennacherib's troops rampaged and looted the newly fallen city. "King Hezekiah would like you to see this tribute as a peace offering, to repair the relationship between our two people". A laugh went up from the crowd surrounding the Judean soldiers. Even Sennacherib smirked.
"The problem is, I don't think Hezekiah knows how much trouble he has caused me", said Sennacherib bitterly. "He's taken part in a rebellion against my rule that has cost Assyrian lives. And he THINKS... " Sennacherib threw the blanket covering one of the carts back, revealing the shimmer of gold in the firelight. The eyes of many of his soldiers widened. "...That he can replace those lives with his "sacred" gold?"
The captain stood firm, although he suddenly felt that he had less answers than before.
"Tell your men to dismount", ordered Sennacherib suddenly. His eyes narrowed as he formed a callous plan. "We shall keep the gold, and your horses. You could WALK back to Jerusalem, Captian. But I recommend you and your men RUN home. Jerusalem is where we're coming next, once my men have taken everything they want from THIS city,". Sennacherib signaled behind him in the direction of Lachish. Although the city was obscured by hills, the faint glow of fire could be seen, and the strong smell of death was enough to make the Judean soldiers gag. Sennacherib's men laughed and jeered again.
"...and if you're not in the city walls by the time we catch up with you," Sennacherib concluded, still looking straight at the captain, "you and your men will be the first to die".
"HEZEKIAAAHHH!!!"
This time, a gust of wind picked up the sound and sent the word rising, high over the wall with the Jerusalemites peering down, high over the rooftops of Jerusalem and then down, down in through the open window where King Hezekiah sat at his stone desk.
"Go", said Hezekiah to Joah. "It doesn't matter now. Do your duty, as we discussed".
Joah gathered his writing material into his hand and left the room, leaving Hezekiah alone.
Hezekiah took a deep breath and closed his eyes, as the awful sound of trumpets carried from over the wall. The time had come.
---
Having given Rabshekah the order to besiege Jerusalem, Sennacherib had turned straight round with his bodyguard and returned to Lachish. He had left troops waiting there in the destroyed and battered city, and was returning to prepare them and eventually lead them against other rebels within the Empire. Rabshekah was therefore in charge of the capture of Jerusalem. Sennacherib expected an easy victory. Rabshekah was determined to give it to him.
Rabshekah was eating his rations with his commanders when the gates of Jerusalem suddenly began to open. It had been a few hours since Rabshakeh had called over the wall, and the sun was less strong now, and lower in the sky. Rabshakeh and his men dropped their plates and jumped on their horses, shouting at their men to prepare their weapons. The Jews were willing to throw away their lives by trying to force their way out of the siege? Well, the Assyrians were ready to oblige...
But from the gates, three men, surrounded by a small cohort of soldiers rode out towards the Assyrian camp. They saw the Assyrians like a giant field spread out in almost every direction around the city. A sea of soldiers, horses, chariots and tents, with smoke billowing from cooking fires, all for as far as they could see into the distance. It was an awful and intimidating sight, and the three men all knew that the worst part was that it could be one of the last things they ever saw...
Eliakim, Shebna and Joah rode in silence towards the edge of the camp, and Rabshekah rode towards them, two chariots either side of him. They met in the middle, between the edge of the Assyrian camp and the Jerusalem city gate.
"Where is King Hezekiah?" said Rabshakeh abruptly.
"Sir", said Joah confidently, and Rabshakeh raised his eyebrows at the idea that this man was about to give him an excuse. "King Hezekiah has sent us, his loyal subjects, to parlay with King Sennacherib. He was most disappointed that his tribute payment was not able to avoid this situation..."
"Your King's "tribute" was an insult to the great King Sennacherib, King of the world" Rabshakeh cut him off. Joah had no answer, and Rabshakeh continued. "And this is the price he shall pay for his rebellion. Send him out now".
"We are here on the King's behalf" said Joah calmly, even though he was almost shaking with nerves. His companions looked at him nervously, but stood firm. Rabshakeh narrowed his eyes.
"The Egyptians have abandoned you, you do know this?" Joah gave away nothing, and Rabshakeh smiled an intimidating smile. "And so... what allies do you have left? Who will save you from the wrath of your master, King Sennacherib?"
To the amazement of everyone present, Shebna spoke up at that moment, and answered what was meant to be a rhetorical question. "The Lord our God, the God of our ancestors Moses and Abraham and Jacob, has not abandoned His people". The chuckles and head shaking that came from the three Assyrians didn't faze Shebna, who ignored the two either side and continued to stare directly at Rabshakeh.
With a sly smile, Rabshakeh mocked surprise. "But haven't you heard? The Lord is with US. It was He who told us to march against your king and punish him for his disobedience. So", he began to conclude, "by opposing King Sennacherib, the Lord's servant, you are opposing the Lord"
He knew he had rattled at least a couple of the Jews in front of him. A few of the Judean horsemen who had escorted Hezekiah's three envoys looked at each other, clearly worried. Rabshakeh continued to glare callously at the Jewish envoys. To his surprise, the three directly in front of him appeared to remain firm.
One of the horsemen rode up and whispered in Eliakim's ear. Eliakim nodded in agreement.
"Rabshakeh- This is official and private state business, so please speak in Aramaic. All present speak that language. We do not need to publish this meeting to the soldiers on the wall, all of whom speak on Hebrew"
Rabshakeh looked over the Jews in front of him. The city wall, now lined with soldiers, was a mere 50 feet away. He could see their turbans fastened with headbands and long earflaps, and even their full beards. Rabshakeh smiled.
"People of Jerusalem". Deliberately disobeying the request, he shouted over the envoys to the men on the wall. "Your King, Hezekiah, is deceiving you! Have you not heard what happened in Lachish? Were they not also loyal to the Lord? And yet, did he spare them from King of Sennacherib's wrath? Does that not tell you that the Lord is with the King of Assyria? Oppose him no more!" He raised his voice even louder, much to the discomfort and anger of the group of messengers in from of him. "You will not be spared if you resist him. You CANNOT be spared! The Lord will not save you!"
Rabshakeh got the reaction he'd been hoping for, as he saw some of the guards talking in a panic-stricken way to each other. The day was still hot, and Rabshakeh hadn't finished his afternoon meal yet. He looked at Eliakim, who was still staring coldly at him. He was suddenly weary of the young man's insolence. "That is our message for Hezekiah" he said dismissively to Eliakim. "I hope, for your city's sake, that he has more sense than you three. We'll wait right here for his response".
With that, Rabshakeh spun his chariot round and rode back to the Assyrian camp, his companions following him, leaving the messengers staring after them, a cloud of dust disappearing into the desert. Nobody spoke as they headed back into the city.
"Sir", he said breathlessly. "The wells have been poisoned". Rabshakeh tightened his jaw in frustration. He looked at the city of Jerusalem in the distance.
"What are your orders, sir?", the Lieutenant asked him, out of earshot of the men. But Rabshakeh didn't answer. He was too busy formulating a new plan...
---
"How long before it's finished, Hilkiah?" Hezekiah asked at the mouth of the entrance to the tunnel at the pool of Siloam. From the entrance, shirtless workmen were hurriedly heaving huge clumps of rock into carts. They were filled quickly, and had to be pulled away by two horses every half-hour or so, to be replaced by a new cart, and the process repeated.
"Sire" Hilkiah bowed quickly, surprised by Hezekiah's unannounced visit. He quickly gathered his thoughts. "Errr... 3 more days, sir, and we shall break through".
Hezekiah nodded in comprehension, and Joah, stood behind him, made notes. After a moment of thought, Hezekiah looked at Hilkiah.
"3 days is too long. It needs to be finished in 2".
---
"Sir- the siege weapons are in position. They are ready for tomorrow's attack" reported a messenger who came riding up to Rabshakeh and his Lieutenant. They were making their way down from the stinking well back towards the Assyrian camp. Rabshakeh's Leuitenant looked at him and Rabshakeh shook his head.
Looking at the city over the messenger's shoulder, Rabshakeh said firmly:
"Change of plan. We attack today".
---
"Yosef..."
Rachel was scared to comment to her husband about what she'd seen and heard in his absence. He'd been gone for most of the last few weeks. Every day he'd gotten up before sunlight, and only came back long after she'd gone to bed. She'd hardly seen him. But today, he'd surprised her at home by showing up unannounced. He barely spoke to her as he searched his house for something to eat before he headed back out.
"Yes, my love?", Yosef said, surprisingly cheerfully for one who was working so hard. He continued to piece together a simple meal without looking at her. Rachel knew that he couldn't talk for long. She had to make her question count.
"Will they attack?" she asked, knowing that she needn't clarify. He stopped his search and looked at her. She continued. "They have moved towards us. They're right next to the wall, with those machines that look like houses... I saw them over the wall, from the hill when I went to the market this morning..."
Yosef took his plate and sat down at the table. He signaled to his wife to sit beside him, and she obeyed. The little house on the corner of the busy street was filled with fear at that moment, Rachel could feel it.
Finally, Yosef spoke. "They will probably try to get entrance into the city, my love. That's why they're here" Rachel closed her eyes, and her hand went up to her mouth to stop her from crying out.
Yosef continued. "But have faith, my love. The Lord will deliver us". He stroked her hair as tears began to roll down her cheeks.
"I'm afraid, Yosef", she whispered between her tears, and he put his forehead against her.
"Listen. So am I", he whispered honestly, which made her cry even louder. "But listen to me. The Lord is guiding Hezekiah, and Hezekiah is guiding all of us. And we haven't stopped working in His name since we got our orders. The Lord is WORKING, Rachel". He was pleased to see her crack a smile between her tears, and suddenly her resolve returned. "He makes all things work together for our good" she said, wiping her tears. Yosef smiled, kissed her forehead, and said
"Get ready to see a miracle to tell our children about, my love"
---
"The siege engines cannot penetrate such a thick wall, sir", the siege engineer insisted.
The engines were in position, and a few of the Jewish soldiers on the top of the wall peered down at the Assyrians standing below. But nothing was happening. Normally, the Assyrians were known for their efficient use of siege engines. They could have ladders up in seconds, with men scaling them, and after that ramps leading to allow more support soldiers to overwhelm the men defending the wall. The battering rams would smash away at weak sections, and once a part of the wall collapsed, more soldiers would stream in through the gap, killing everyone they found.
But Yosef was right. He, along with General Kalev and Joshua the wall architect and hundreds of skilled workmen HAD been working non-stop. And now, Rabshekah was faced with the fruit of their labour- the outer wall of the city was now a colossal 25 feet wide. Too thick for a battering ram, and wide enough on which to hold a substantial amount of Jewish defenders. The Assyrians had been expecting a repeat of Lachish. What the Jews gave them was a logistical nightmare for which they weren't prepared.
Rabshakeah sighed, believing entirely what the man said. He nodded and turned his chariot around. His Lieutenant caught up with him, and they rode away from the wall, back to the Assyrian camp slowly.
"These people have had time to prepare," he said, defensively. "We should have struck sooner". Secretly, he began to wonder if God really WAS on their side. But he didn't confide this doubt to his subordinate.
"What orders now, sir?", the Lieutenant asked.
After a moment's consideration, Rabshekah looked over at him, and stated, "We shall simply wait. Soon enough, they will run out of water. That will kill them before starvation does..."
---
"...and if you're not in the city walls by the time we catch up with you," Sennacherib concluded, still looking straight at the captain, "you and your men will be the first to die".
Chapter 16
"I think that's enough, now..." Shebna said, holding his nose to avoid having to breathe in the stench.
Ever since their meeting that day, Hezekiah's men had not sat idol. In fact, they had barely stopped moving, apart from to eat, so seriously had they each taken their responsibilities. For this reason, while the escorts for the tribute caravan were being stripped of their horses and told to march back to Jerusalem to spare their lives, Shebna was standing on the edge of the rubbish tip outside of the city walls. It was the same place where Hezekiah had had the Baal statues dumped years earlier, and a few of them could still be uncovered if you dug a little below the surface. It was way past midnight, and Shebna had spent the last few hours gathering every stinking and rotting corpse of dead rats, dogs and cats that they could find, along with any sufficiently revolting and disgusting matter they came across. They had been piling it all onto four separate carts. By the time they finished, they had a healthy pile on each cart, and the valley itself was noticeably cleaner.
"Yes, sir..." said one of the workmen, as he flung the last rat corpse onto the pile. He smiled at Shebna, who nodded his appreciation to his countryman for the sacrifice he had agreed to make.
Shebna looked out over the walls of Jerusalem. In the distance, he thought he could see the yellow glow of the burning city of Lachish to the south. Sennacherib's men would be ransacking the city, and his camp would not be far away. Shebna and his workmen would have to work throughout the rest of the night... and quickly.
"Everyone", Shebna called out to the 15 other men stood around in the valley, "Grab the carts, and follow me!"
---
Eliakim watched his father Hilkiah proudly and yet nervously as he directed each of the workmen they had gathered. While Shebna was finishing collecting animal corpses from outside the city, Hilkiah had made noticeably less progress on his own assignment. It had taken all of the previous afternoon and all night to collect suitably strong men from around Jerusalem, and to find enough tools to equip them.
"THIS group" Hilkiah was explaining to half of the men, who stood up straight in the early morning dusk, "will start from the Gihon Spring outside the city with my son Eliakim. He has all the plans, and will direct you in every way. Listen and obey every word he says and your efforts will not be in vain". Hilkiah then turned to the other half of the men. "The rest of you will do the same with me, beginning at the other end at the Siloam Pool within the city walls. With the Lord's blessing, we will meet in the middle".
One of the craftsmen raised his hand to ask a question, and Hilkiah nodded for him to continue.
"Excuse me question, sir, but that's got to be nearly 2000 feet of solid rock"
"About that, yes" said Hilkiah flatly. The workman was lost for words. "This will be the only project that is required of you for the next few weeks. You will do no other work. It's possible you won't see your families, and count yourself lucky if you get 2 hours of sleep a night". Some of the men laughed nervously, others shuffled in discomfort at what they were now committed to doing. "But I promise you", Hilkiah said, more gently and comfortingly, "If you complete this project in time, then Jerusalem will forever be in your debt..."
---
"25 feet wide?" the architect raised his eyebrows to make sure he'd heard Yosef correctly. General Kalev, who had replaced the long retired General Balthazar, was standing next to him, his arms folded. Having been trying to track down the architect for the latter part of the previous night, they were now all three finally communed in the architect's tent early that morning.
"Yes" said Yosef, trying to supress a yawn, and added, "And we need to start work on it today. Right now, if possible". General Kalev, his curly black hair tied behind his head, looked at the architect, and stroked his beard upon seeing that the architect, whose name was Joshua, didn't answer immediately.
"The Palace Administrator has taken half the strong men in Jerusalem for a project that's going to last a few weeks, too. I just got the message from my secretary this morning". He looked at Yosef and Kalev, trying to gauge their reaction, but they gave away nothing. "So, I don't even know how many men we'll have available..."
"Recruit from wherever you can" said Kalev firmly and grufly, and Joshua gulped at his intimidating presence. Yosef sensed the tension. "We must begin today, Joshua. We've already fallen behind..."
Chapter 17
Less than 3 weeks later, with the ransacked and smoldering city of Lachish behind them no longer able to offer its invaders any new benefits, Sennacherib moved his entire army north through the hills towards Jerusalem. Black smoke still billowed from the city behind them, and anyone who came across that scene would have thought it a terrible site.
Sennacherib rode upfront on his chariot, pulled by three jet-black horses. The horses were all caparisoned with ornamental coverings, and they all wore shimmering head crests. Unlike the rest of the chariots, the Royal Chariot was adorned with a cream-colored parasol to provide the King with shade from the hot desert sun. Sennacherib wore a bronze helmet, which covered his black hair and sat just above his thick bushy eyebrows. At nearly 40, he carried an authority that was lost on younger men. His beard was braided, and his wrists adorned by heavy rosette bracelets. He always rode with a sword kept in a scabbard, decorated with lions. He was dressed in a long embroidered blue and white robe under which he wore his chain mail so that, upon being hit by an arrow, his enemies would believe he was invincible.
His thousands of troops following him in three columns behind him were quite a sight. Most had braided hair with pointed helmets. The captains and higher ranks wore plumes in their helmets. Each column was lead by 4 rows of charioteers, with spearmen, archers and finally slingers at the back. Every infantryman carried a wicker shield.
In the middle, protected by all sides, were the siege weapons. Ladders that could be thrown up in a matter of seconds allowed the infantry easy access to overwhelm the city walls. Siege ramps, with grooves for the soldier's grip, allowed whole cohorts of men to run up and over even the highest of walls. And the giant siege engines smashed their huge heavy bulbs into the sides of brittle and weak parts of the city walls.
In front of the army, heading at twice the speed of the Assyrian army, were hundreds of refugees who had left Lachish. They were running towards Jerusalem. As his grandfather had done years before with Samaria, Sennacherib had already deported hundreds of Jews from Lachish to all over the Assyrian Empire. These refugees were not worth him chasing. After all, they were mainly women and children- he already had enough house slaves. Besides, they would also surely spread the horror stories of Sennacherib's siege at Lachish into Jerusalem. They would be key to Sennacherib's psychological warfare against Hezekiah's resistant capital city...
Sennacherib held his hand up as soon as Jerusalem came into view. They were at the top of a hill, south of the city. The message to halt reverberated behind him.
"Rabshakeh!", Sennacherib called his supreme commander by his title. Rabshakeh moved his horse closer.
"Yes, sir", he said attentively. Sennacherib answered without looking at him, his eyes fixed on the city ahead of him.
"Take it" he said callously, and the Rabshakeh didn't respond. Sennacherib looked at him, and narrowed his eyes. "Kill them all".
Chapter 18
"HEZEKIAAAHHH!!!"
This time, a gust of wind picked up the sound and sent the word rising, high over the wall with the Jerusalemites peering down, high over the rooftops of Jerusalem and then down, down in through the open window where King Hezekiah sat at his stone desk.
"Go", said Hezekiah to Joah. "It doesn't matter now. Do your duty, as we discussed".
Joah gathered his writing material into his hand and left the room, leaving Hezekiah alone.
Hezekiah took a deep breath and closed his eyes, as the awful sound of trumpets carried from over the wall. The time had come.
---
Having given Rabshekah the order to besiege Jerusalem, Sennacherib had turned straight round with his bodyguard and returned to Lachish. He had left troops waiting there in the destroyed and battered city, and was returning to prepare them and eventually lead them against other rebels within the Empire. Rabshekah was therefore in charge of the capture of Jerusalem. Sennacherib expected an easy victory. Rabshekah was determined to give it to him.
Rabshekah was eating his rations with his commanders when the gates of Jerusalem suddenly began to open. It had been a few hours since Rabshakeh had called over the wall, and the sun was less strong now, and lower in the sky. Rabshakeh and his men dropped their plates and jumped on their horses, shouting at their men to prepare their weapons. The Jews were willing to throw away their lives by trying to force their way out of the siege? Well, the Assyrians were ready to oblige...
But from the gates, three men, surrounded by a small cohort of soldiers rode out towards the Assyrian camp. They saw the Assyrians like a giant field spread out in almost every direction around the city. A sea of soldiers, horses, chariots and tents, with smoke billowing from cooking fires, all for as far as they could see into the distance. It was an awful and intimidating sight, and the three men all knew that the worst part was that it could be one of the last things they ever saw...
Eliakim, Shebna and Joah rode in silence towards the edge of the camp, and Rabshekah rode towards them, two chariots either side of him. They met in the middle, between the edge of the Assyrian camp and the Jerusalem city gate.
"Where is King Hezekiah?" said Rabshakeh abruptly.
"Sir", said Joah confidently, and Rabshakeh raised his eyebrows at the idea that this man was about to give him an excuse. "King Hezekiah has sent us, his loyal subjects, to parlay with King Sennacherib. He was most disappointed that his tribute payment was not able to avoid this situation..."
"Your King's "tribute" was an insult to the great King Sennacherib, King of the world" Rabshakeh cut him off. Joah had no answer, and Rabshakeh continued. "And this is the price he shall pay for his rebellion. Send him out now".
"We are here on the King's behalf" said Joah calmly, even though he was almost shaking with nerves. His companions looked at him nervously, but stood firm. Rabshakeh narrowed his eyes.
"The Egyptians have abandoned you, you do know this?" Joah gave away nothing, and Rabshakeh smiled an intimidating smile. "And so... what allies do you have left? Who will save you from the wrath of your master, King Sennacherib?"
To the amazement of everyone present, Shebna spoke up at that moment, and answered what was meant to be a rhetorical question. "The Lord our God, the God of our ancestors Moses and Abraham and Jacob, has not abandoned His people". The chuckles and head shaking that came from the three Assyrians didn't faze Shebna, who ignored the two either side and continued to stare directly at Rabshakeh.
With a sly smile, Rabshakeh mocked surprise. "But haven't you heard? The Lord is with US. It was He who told us to march against your king and punish him for his disobedience. So", he began to conclude, "by opposing King Sennacherib, the Lord's servant, you are opposing the Lord"
He knew he had rattled at least a couple of the Jews in front of him. A few of the Judean horsemen who had escorted Hezekiah's three envoys looked at each other, clearly worried. Rabshakeh continued to glare callously at the Jewish envoys. To his surprise, the three directly in front of him appeared to remain firm.
One of the horsemen rode up and whispered in Eliakim's ear. Eliakim nodded in agreement.
"Rabshakeh- This is official and private state business, so please speak in Aramaic. All present speak that language. We do not need to publish this meeting to the soldiers on the wall, all of whom speak on Hebrew"
Rabshakeh looked over the Jews in front of him. The city wall, now lined with soldiers, was a mere 50 feet away. He could see their turbans fastened with headbands and long earflaps, and even their full beards. Rabshakeh smiled.
"People of Jerusalem". Deliberately disobeying the request, he shouted over the envoys to the men on the wall. "Your King, Hezekiah, is deceiving you! Have you not heard what happened in Lachish? Were they not also loyal to the Lord? And yet, did he spare them from King of Sennacherib's wrath? Does that not tell you that the Lord is with the King of Assyria? Oppose him no more!" He raised his voice even louder, much to the discomfort and anger of the group of messengers in from of him. "You will not be spared if you resist him. You CANNOT be spared! The Lord will not save you!"
Rabshakeh got the reaction he'd been hoping for, as he saw some of the guards talking in a panic-stricken way to each other. The day was still hot, and Rabshakeh hadn't finished his afternoon meal yet. He looked at Eliakim, who was still staring coldly at him. He was suddenly weary of the young man's insolence. "That is our message for Hezekiah" he said dismissively to Eliakim. "I hope, for your city's sake, that he has more sense than you three. We'll wait right here for his response".
With that, Rabshakeh spun his chariot round and rode back to the Assyrian camp, his companions following him, leaving the messengers staring after them, a cloud of dust disappearing into the desert. Nobody spoke as they headed back into the city.
Chapter 19
"Tell Hezekiah that he must not be afraid"
Eliakim, Joah and Shebna were all sat in Isaiah's small house in the lower end of the city, close to the wall. The sun was setting that evening. Hezekiah, upon hearing the report from his three messengers that day, had sent them to consult with Isaiah. In their absence from their previous duties, Hezekiah himself took over the role of supervisor to his plans. He had been busy talking to Hilkiah over a map of Jerusalem as they left his office.
"He must not falter. Not now. ESPECIALLY not now..." said Isaiah, feeding a piece of bread to a bird that was sat on his windowsill. "The Lord WILL deliver Jerusalem"
At that moment, as Isaiah spoke, the Assyrian army was closing its circle around Jerusalem. There was now no point of entry or exit from the city.
"They have us surrounded, Isaiah", Joah said nervously. The other two looked at him, aware that his stiff reserve from earlier in the day had evaporated as the gravity of the situation had sunk in. To go up on top of the city walls, which is what Joah had done just before their meeting with Hezekiah earlier that day, was to see nothing but the Assyrian army preparing themselves for the onslaught that was to come. Jerusalem, it would seem, was about to fall in the same way that Lachish had barely a month earlier. In Joah's mind, it was becoming clear that that was an inevitability.
"Our people have always been lead out of trouble, in the most unlikely of circumstances", Isaiah said profoundly, stroking the bird's head. He looked out of the window at the moon before turning back to the three. Looking Joah straight into his eyes, he added, "Don't tell God how big your problem is. Tell your problem how big your God is". Joah smiled, as he felt the warmth of a reassuring nod from Isaiah.
---
"The circle is complete, sir", Rabshakeh's Leuitant reported. Rabshakeh nodded. "Good. The men need water. According to our scouts, there are twelve wells surrounding Jerusalem. Have our engineers access them quickly".
"Yes sir", the man said sharply, and rode away to the sound of swords being sharpened and heavy siege weapons being moved to the front of the camp.
---
Hezekiah was praying alone in the Temple. Hilkaih had left an hour earlier to continue the final stages of the project. In the meantime, Hezekiah had gone to pray. He spent hours on his knees or face down on the floor, pleading with the Lord for wisdom, guidance and salvation.
---
"We attack tomorrow, once the men have received fresh water", Rabshakeh told his generals. "The siege weapons are at the front of the line. Prepare them to attack".
Chapter 20
"Sir!" said Rabshakeh's Leuitenant as he rode up the following morning. Rabshakeh could tell immediately that he was bringing bad news. The day was not beginning well.
Rabshakeh looked at him blankly, allowing him to catch his breath.
"Sir- the water supply has been... contaminated" he waited nervously for Rabshakeh's reaction. He was unsurprised when the supreme commander almost exploded. "WHAT??!!"
---
Rabshakeh rode alongside his Lieutenant, overtaking him at times as their horses negotiated the rocky terrain outside of Jerusalem. There, at the top of a small hill, lay one of twelve identical round stone wells. A group of his soldiers and workmen stood around it, some peering in and looking worried. They parted quickly as soon as they saw their superiors approaching.
The stone lid of the well had been removed and lay idle on the floor. As Rabshakeh dismounted, he could already smell the stench emanating from it.
He walked towards the well cautiously, his Leuitenant a bit more confidently as he already knew what to expect. "Bring it up", he said to a workman, who diligently began pulling on a rope attached to a wooden pale.
The water in the pale was brown, but that was the least of the problems. In it there was at least one decomposing rat's corpse, along with waste and gunk that Rabshakeh couldn't have identified even if he'd wanted to.
"The Jews must have filled it with waste from the city, sir", the officer said. He added cautiously, "I assume the others are in the same state".
Rabshakeh looked at him angrily, but before he could speak, they spotted a scout riding up the hill from whence they'd ridden a minute earlier. Before he spoke, Rabshakeh knew what he was going to say.
"Sir", he said breathlessly. "The wells have been poisoned". Rabshakeh tightened his jaw in frustration. He looked at the city of Jerusalem in the distance.
"What are your orders, sir?", the Lieutenant asked him, out of earshot of the men. But Rabshakeh didn't answer. He was too busy formulating a new plan...
---
"How long before it's finished, Hilkiah?" Hezekiah asked at the mouth of the entrance to the tunnel at the pool of Siloam. From the entrance, shirtless workmen were hurriedly heaving huge clumps of rock into carts. They were filled quickly, and had to be pulled away by two horses every half-hour or so, to be replaced by a new cart, and the process repeated.
"Sire" Hilkiah bowed quickly, surprised by Hezekiah's unannounced visit. He quickly gathered his thoughts. "Errr... 3 more days, sir, and we shall break through".
Hezekiah nodded in comprehension, and Joah, stood behind him, made notes. After a moment of thought, Hezekiah looked at Hilkiah.
"3 days is too long. It needs to be finished in 2".
---
"Sir- the siege weapons are in position. They are ready for tomorrow's attack" reported a messenger who came riding up to Rabshakeh and his Lieutenant. They were making their way down from the stinking well back towards the Assyrian camp. Rabshakeh's Leuitenant looked at him and Rabshakeh shook his head.
Looking at the city over the messenger's shoulder, Rabshakeh said firmly:
"Change of plan. We attack today".
---
Chapter 21
"Yosef..."
Rachel was scared to comment to her husband about what she'd seen and heard in his absence. He'd been gone for most of the last few weeks. Every day he'd gotten up before sunlight, and only came back long after she'd gone to bed. She'd hardly seen him. But today, he'd surprised her at home by showing up unannounced. He barely spoke to her as he searched his house for something to eat before he headed back out.
"Yes, my love?", Yosef said, surprisingly cheerfully for one who was working so hard. He continued to piece together a simple meal without looking at her. Rachel knew that he couldn't talk for long. She had to make her question count.
"Will they attack?" she asked, knowing that she needn't clarify. He stopped his search and looked at her. She continued. "They have moved towards us. They're right next to the wall, with those machines that look like houses... I saw them over the wall, from the hill when I went to the market this morning..."
Yosef took his plate and sat down at the table. He signaled to his wife to sit beside him, and she obeyed. The little house on the corner of the busy street was filled with fear at that moment, Rachel could feel it.
Finally, Yosef spoke. "They will probably try to get entrance into the city, my love. That's why they're here" Rachel closed her eyes, and her hand went up to her mouth to stop her from crying out.
Yosef continued. "But have faith, my love. The Lord will deliver us". He stroked her hair as tears began to roll down her cheeks.
"I'm afraid, Yosef", she whispered between her tears, and he put his forehead against her.
"Listen. So am I", he whispered honestly, which made her cry even louder. "But listen to me. The Lord is guiding Hezekiah, and Hezekiah is guiding all of us. And we haven't stopped working in His name since we got our orders. The Lord is WORKING, Rachel". He was pleased to see her crack a smile between her tears, and suddenly her resolve returned. "He makes all things work together for our good" she said, wiping her tears. Yosef smiled, kissed her forehead, and said
"Get ready to see a miracle to tell our children about, my love"
---
"The siege engines cannot penetrate such a thick wall, sir", the siege engineer insisted.
The engines were in position, and a few of the Jewish soldiers on the top of the wall peered down at the Assyrians standing below. But nothing was happening. Normally, the Assyrians were known for their efficient use of siege engines. They could have ladders up in seconds, with men scaling them, and after that ramps leading to allow more support soldiers to overwhelm the men defending the wall. The battering rams would smash away at weak sections, and once a part of the wall collapsed, more soldiers would stream in through the gap, killing everyone they found.
But Yosef was right. He, along with General Kalev and Joshua the wall architect and hundreds of skilled workmen HAD been working non-stop. And now, Rabshekah was faced with the fruit of their labour- the outer wall of the city was now a colossal 25 feet wide. Too thick for a battering ram, and wide enough on which to hold a substantial amount of Jewish defenders. The Assyrians had been expecting a repeat of Lachish. What the Jews gave them was a logistical nightmare for which they weren't prepared.
Rabshakeah sighed, believing entirely what the man said. He nodded and turned his chariot around. His Lieutenant caught up with him, and they rode away from the wall, back to the Assyrian camp slowly.
"These people have had time to prepare," he said, defensively. "We should have struck sooner". Secretly, he began to wonder if God really WAS on their side. But he didn't confide this doubt to his subordinate.
"What orders now, sir?", the Lieutenant asked.
After a moment's consideration, Rabshekah looked over at him, and stated, "We shall simply wait. Soon enough, they will run out of water. That will kill them before starvation does..."
---
"This is it!!!" he shouted
Chapter 22
A week passed, and the Assyrians waited for the order to attack the wall. They figured that, after enough starvation and lack of water, any defenders they found on the wall would be too weak from lack of food, and too thirsty to even lift up their swords. The Assyrian infantry joked that it would be like cutting down wheat.
But the order never came. A second week passed. In the third week, Rabshekah sat in his tent, his elbows on the table in front of him, his fingers linked in front of his mouth, watching the city. How were they able to withstand so long, with no food and, even more miraculously, no WATER, coming into the city? Could it be that God really WAS on their side? Rabshekah had to tell himself not to believe in such foolishness, but it was getting more and more difficult to do so with each passing day...
After weeks of backbreaking labour, the workmen at either end of the tunnel within Jerusalem finally heard their countrymen hacking away at the rock from the other end. Excitedly, despite their exhaustion, they had experienced a renewed energy at realizing how close they were and began hacking away at the rock in a frenzy. With a mighty final blow, one of the workmen smashed the thin wall of rock to see his fellow workman's dirty and sweating face on the other side of it. A great cheer had gone up as they cleared the remaining rubble. Before they'd even got to the floor, the two front men from either group leant forwards and hugged each other through the gap. The rest of the rubble was cleared away, and later that afternoon, the damn blocking the Gihon Spring was cleared. The water rushed through the newly built tunnel and inundated the Siloam Pool in Jerusalem at the end of it with fresh, clean water, to a great cheer from spectators and tired workmen alike. They had succeeded in their mission, and Hilkiah and his son Eliakim embraced each other, laughing. Jerusalem had a constant source of fresh water.
Since then, for the last three weeks, life had continued pretty much as normal for the Jerusalemites, apart from the strict rationing and inability to leave the city walls. Rabshekah was still scratching his head about how the soldiers on the wall still looked so healthy and fit when a messenger entered his tent.
Moodily, Rabshekah took the scroll and, remaining seated, read the message. The messenger watched as Rabshekah's jaw suddenly tightened. His face twisted to anger. Without saying a word, he screwed the scroll up into a ball and held it in his hand, breathing loudly through his nose in rage. The messenger knew better than to ask what the message had contained. He bowed and left the tent, leaving Rabshekah seething alone.
Chapter 23
"King Hezekiah- you MUST think of the well-being of your people. You are a logical man, and yet you toy with the lives of your own countrymen?"
Hezekiah re-read the letters again and again. He was alone in the Temple that evening.
It had been three weeks since Rabshekah had received his new orders from King Sennacherib. They were orders which had filled him with rage and sent him into a foul mood for days. The scroll that had been delivered to him, which he'd screwed up in front of the messenger, had informed him that the King of Assyria had left Lachish with his troops. He had marched directly north with his forces to the small town of Libnah, which was also rebelling against Assyrian rule. Sennacherib had ordered Rabshekah to join him in the task of taking the city. Rabshekah, believing that he'd lost his King's trust in taking so long to conquer Jerusalem, reluctantly left the Assyrian camp with a small force the next day, leaving his Lieutenant in charge of the siege until a replacement of higher rank could be brought in to take over.
The siege remained stagnant for a few weeks, with the Assyrians sticking firmly to their policy of patience... and both sides were beginning to suffer. The Assyrians, camped outside the walls in the dry arid flats around the city had spent almost all their efforts attempting to cleanse the wells of the putrid, stinking debris that Shebna and his men had dumped in there. Every time a pale went down, if it brought up anything at all it was only more animal corpses and slime. These had to be transported away quickly, for fear of disease. It was painful, thirsty work that appeared to make no real progress, and the Assyrians were often forced to drink the few drops of clean water they could extract from the muck that they brought up from the well. Fresh water was ordered from the closest parts of the Empire to quench the besieger's thirst, but with so many thousands of troops, each caravan full of water vases that arrived lasted only a few minutes. In such desperate situations, where the fear of death by drought was real, Assyrian discipline was beginning to falter, and rationing water became virtually impossible. To let another man take a drink from the small amount of water you held was quite possibly to condemn yourself to death.
Inside Jerusalem, despite their new easy-access fresh water stream, Hezekiah was beginning to wonder how much longer the people could withstand being locked in. Strict rations had been placed on the people to preserve what little food was left. It had only been designed to be a week-long policy. But after a week, the Assyrian camp still blackened the desert outside the walls, and Hezekiah reluctantly had to authorize it for another week. Now, in their third week of rations with no trade and cabin-fever beginning to set in, Hezekiah was feeling the strain that comes before full-on panic...
The letters had arrived in Hezekiah's hands late one morning, about three weeks after Rabshakeh had left to join his master in Libnah. Joah, without saying a word, simply walked up the Hezekiah who was sat at his desk, bowed, and handed them to him. Hezekiah noticed that he had bags under his eyes, and his cheekbones were far too pronounced. His eyes looked like they couldn't focus properly. Hezekiah doubted that he'd eaten properly in days. He himself knew what that felt like...
"King Hezekiah", the letter from King Sennacherib began, and Hezekiah sighed as he struggled to concentrate. The pain of hunger was distracting him again. "you MUST think of the well-being of your people. You are a logical man, and yet you toy with the lives of your own countrymen? Another city falls to my hands. Their God, who is also YOUR God, has abandoned them. In a few days, Libnah will lie like Lachish- dead, and smouldering, her riches in my coffers, and her citizens lying lifeless, face-down in the desert"
"Why put yourself and your people through this? You have put up a good fight- for that, you have gained my respect. You have held out to the last, and I applaud you for that. But you must stop now, while you are ahead. Don't wait for your people to starve and force you to open the gates, Hezekiah. And certainly don't wait for your God to intervene- He is not coming"
"And even if He were to come, could He stop me? Has any God EVER stopped me? Did the gods of Gozan, Harran and Rezeph save them from my wrath? They didn't. And where is the king of Hamath, or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sephravaim, Hena and Ivvah? Those names will soon be erased from history, Hezekiah. As will yours, unless you surrender to me and open your gates..."
Hezekiah rubbed his eyes in frustration before he read the final paragraph.
"By the time this letter reaches you, Libnah will already have fallen. As soon as that happens, I shall personally be bringing the rest of my troops to your gates. If they are not open by the time you see my chariot on the horizon, then I shall have no mercy. We shall tear down your walls, and every skeleton who lives in Jerusalem will be ripped apart by my troops. There will be no deportation of your race this time. There will be no survivors. You have 2 days".
Hezekiah rubbed his eyes in frustration before he read the final paragraph.
"By the time this letter reaches you, Libnah will already have fallen. As soon as that happens, I shall personally be bringing the rest of my troops to your gates. If they are not open by the time you see my chariot on the horizon, then I shall have no mercy. We shall tear down your walls, and every skeleton who lives in Jerusalem will be ripped apart by my troops. There will be no deportation of your race this time. There will be no survivors. You have 2 days".
---
That evening, Hezekiah bent down so that he was kneeling onto the cold stone floor of the Temple. He used his left hand to support his weight, and held Sennacherib's letter rolled up in his right hand. He put his second knee down on the solid floor and spread the letter on the floor. In front of him was the Holy of Holies, the small room where God himself dwelt. A single curtain divided it off, and nobody was allowed to enter. Even the High Priest himself was forbidden to enter, except for once every year. Hezekiah, not wanting to add broken protocol to his worries, decided it was best to stay outside of that room, even in this most desperate of situations.
"Lord..." he almost spluttered. After a few deep breaths to gather himself, he continued. "Your servant requires your council and your steady hand. See here...", he indicated down at the letter on the floor in front of him. "Your enemies have surrounded your sacred city. Your chosen people have already fallen to foreign heretics. We, the chosen left in Jerusalem, are the only ones who still stand. But we are desperate". He paused and listened to the wind as it gently passed by the top of the hill on which the Temple stood so elegantly. "We are dying, Lord. Deliver us from the hand of Sennacherib, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God".
From the shadows, Isaiah watched Hezekiah praying to the Lord, and he smiled compassionately, pleased that his king had listened to his advice.
A few hours later, Hezekiah was asleep in his bed, exhausted from hunger and worry. So was the rest of Jerusalem. The Assyrians were asleep too. Even the guards, who were supposed to be awake and alert for hours at a time, were on the sleepy side of consciousness that night.
Everyone was asleep. Except for Isaiah. He was sat on the steps of the temple, with the Book of Moses laid out beside him...
The water in the Siloam pool went, just for a few seconds, from a steady stream to a mere dribble.
Isaiah waited...
A horse gave an angry snort in the Assyrian camp.
Isaiah sat and waited...
Everything across the city and the plains outside it was quiet.
And Isaiah sat... and watched... and waited...
Chapter 24
Hezekiah woke as the sun rose the next morning. Despite his exhaustion, he hadn't slept well. Strange dreams, dreams from his childhood had kept him only just on the edge of sleep for the second half of the night. He rubbed his eyes as the orange sun lifted itself over the hills outside the city. Immediately, his stomach groaned with hunger.
He was startled out of his morning daydream by the sound of running footsteps heading up the stairs towards him. Immediately, instinctively, he grabbed the sword that he always kept tucked in between his sheets.
The Assyrians had broken the broken through the city walls in the night. He knew it. They were surely rampaging through the city slaughtering people in their beds, and had finally reached his palace. He was moments away from being hacked to death by a mob of armed, highly trained and angry soldiers. Well, he would go out without a sword in his hand. Stood in the middle of the bedroom, he faced the heavy wooden door. Suddenly, he remembered that he'd always promised himself that he'd do his best to die with the Word of God in his hand. He rushed to his desk, and picked up the scroll, which was the book of Genesis. Holding it his left hand, he went back to the middle of the room, faced the door, raised the sword behind his head, and waited for the moment to strike the first Assyrian through the door as hard and fatally as he could. "Kill then move, Hezekiah...", he reminded himself. "Don't dawdle or hesitate. As soon as one is down, move on to the one behind him"...
He suddenly realized that the Assyrians behind the door hadn't started to batter his door down. What were they waiting for? Had they lost their nerve? Unlikely. Did they doubt he was in there? Maybe it had been so easy to get to the king's chambers that they couldn't believe their luck, and were second-guessing themselves.
Hezekiah couldn't believe what he was hearing when he heard a gentle knock on the door.
"Sire?", he heard someone say in Hebrew.
Hezekiah paused. Assyrians didn't knock, didn't call enemy kings "Sire", and, even though they were almost all polyglots, few spoke Hebrew with such an accent. He lowered his weapon. "Joah?" he said, sharply.
Joah opened the door using the only other key in existence, apart from the one that Hezekiah kept, and bowed as soon as he saw Hezekiah standing in the middle of the room. Hezekiah put his sword on the desk before Joah had stood up straight.
"You're awake, sire!", Joah said, smiling. "If you please, sire, follow me immediately. There is something you need to see..."
---
The Assyrian camp lay disheveled in front of the walls of Jerusalem. Fires blazed unattended, sending black and thick smoke north with the wind. The corpses of thousands Assyrian soldiers lay face down in the sand, others face up looking open-eyed at the sun. Horses walked through the corpses, sniffing them in an attempt to find food. Vultures already circled above, and the bravest could be seen picking at flesh down below. Fights eventually started to break out among the birds, despite the huge quantity of sun-scorched flesh they would soon be able to feast on...
Hezekiah looked, mouth open at the scene.
"I... I don't understand..." he said. Joah stood next to him, and as the morning wore on, ordinary citizens made the trip to the top of the wall to look out over the grizzly scene.
Shebna came up behind Hezekiah. Hezekiah looked at him as he said "Lord have mercy..." in astonishment.
"It seems your homemade poison worked even better than YOU thought possible, Shebna..." Hezekiah said, still looking out at the field of corpses and destruction.
Shebna shook his head. "Sire...", he began. "The poison could not have destroyed an army of such a size. Even if every man had drunk from the wells, which I doubt they did..." he trailed off, and Hezekiah looked thoughtfully at him. Shebna shook his head in disbelief. "No" he continued. "Something far more powerful was at work here..."
Hezekiah looked off into the distance. He remembered the desperate prayer he'd made the previous night. He remembered what Isaiah had said about having faith, about trusting in the Lord for their deliverance. Just then, the first group of soldiers, under the command of General Kalev, was heaving open the city gates, ready to make the first reconnaissance mission through the Assyrian camp, checking for any survivors and evidence of what had happened. "Could it be...", Hezekiah thought to himself, as General Kalev ordered the troops to follow him out of the gate, "... that my prayer was actually answered? That, just as He'd delivered Moses from the hand of the Egyptians, so the Lord also struck down the Assyrians with His mighty hand and delivered Jerusalem last night?". He resolved to find Isaiah later on, once the clean-up operation had fully begun, and ask him...
Hezekiah smiled to himself as he walked down the steps of the wall. He had a feeling that he knew what the old prophet would say...
Again, I'd like to finish by saying thank you for reading my work. It has been an incredible experience researching and compiling this historical fiction piece. Hezekiah was an amazing person, guided by Isaiah, one of the greatest prophets in history. I hope I have done them both justice.
Epilogue
It has been nearly 20 years since Jerusalem was saved by the Lord from the Assyrians. King Hezekiah ruled our city justly and wisely until his death at the age of 52. Unfortunately, his son King Manasseh has turned away again from the word of the Lord, just as his grandfather did, and the city of Jerusalem has entered into darker times than ever before...
After his defeat at Jerusalem, King Sennacherib of Assyria continued his oppression of the Empire. He besieged and destroyed Libnah, with Rabshekah by his side, but they never turned back and avenged their troops at the gates of the Holy City. Sennacherib was highly superstitious, and the circumstances around his army's defeat that fateful night are too shrouded in stories of angels and supernatural intervention for his comfort.
He was assassinated just this year, and I do not doubt that in his dying seconds he still lamented how King Hezekiah, leader of a small resistance force on the western edge of his Empire, was able to hold out against his overwhelming forces.
Isaiah passed away a few years back. He remained one of Hezekiah's most loyal advisers and friends right to the end, and I know that the King missed him greatly in the years up until he himself passed from this world.
The tunnel which brings water from the spring to the Siloam pool is still flowing nicely. I visit it sometimes. King Manasseh has authorized for a statue of Baal to be placed either side of it, to bless the water there. I sigh and cast my eyes up to the heavens when I wonder what King Hezekiah would think if he saw how much his son had taken us back to the way of King Ahaz before him...
But, those flowing waters remind me that even when we are surrounded by darkness and evil, the Lord is still always at work. And He will lead our people to greatness once again.
As my wife Rachel reminds me often, "We must simply have faith".
He was assassinated just this year, and I do not doubt that in his dying seconds he still lamented how King Hezekiah, leader of a small resistance force on the western edge of his Empire, was able to hold out against his overwhelming forces.
Isaiah passed away a few years back. He remained one of Hezekiah's most loyal advisers and friends right to the end, and I know that the King missed him greatly in the years up until he himself passed from this world.
The tunnel which brings water from the spring to the Siloam pool is still flowing nicely. I visit it sometimes. King Manasseh has authorized for a statue of Baal to be placed either side of it, to bless the water there. I sigh and cast my eyes up to the heavens when I wonder what King Hezekiah would think if he saw how much his son had taken us back to the way of King Ahaz before him...
But, those flowing waters remind me that even when we are surrounded by darkness and evil, the Lord is still always at work. And He will lead our people to greatness once again.
As my wife Rachel reminds me often, "We must simply have faith".
Historical notes
Of the named characters in this story, Yosef, Rachel, Zaccahrus, Abrax, General Kalev, Joshua the architect and Captain Ada are all fictional. Everyone else mentioned is real (although, obviously not all of their words or actions can be 100% corroborated by history). Allow me to separate the fact from fiction for you...
King Ahaz (c. 752-716 BC) came to the throne in 732 BC, when he was 20 years old. His relationship with the Assyrians was certainly "complicated" at best. He was propositioned by several neighboring kings to join their resistance against the Assyrian Empire. But rather than join them, Ahaz actually approached the Assyrians and asked them to protect him from them. They obliged. The Assyrian King at the time, Tiglath-Pileser, sacked Damascus and a number of other key towns in the region, deporting the Jewish population to places all over his empire and replacing them with Assyrian subjects (an act that would continue to be a popular move for the Assyrians at the time).
But from now on, Ahaz was in the Assyrian's debt. Isaiah attempted to council Ahaz to trust in the Lord and to avoid any cooperation with the Assyrians, but it appears that Ahaz took no notice. The Bible paints a very negative picture of Ahaz. It's certainly true that he was one of a long line of Jewish Kings of the era who was heavily criticized, at the time and forevermore, for abandoning the traditional Jewish religious practices.
In fact, 2 Kings 16:3 states:
"He followed the ways of the kinds of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire"
Unless this refers to a ceremonial cleansing, this couldn't possibly refer to Hezekiah. However, 2 Chronicles 28:3 uses the word "children", which could suggest that he had other children, whom he had sacrificed. In any case, it's certain that Ahaz was an ardent Baal worshiper (2 Chronicals 28:1-2). He had the Temple in Jerusalem closed, and filled the city with alters and idols (2 Chronicals 28:24). Hezekiah's 29 year reign was spent undoing many of the religious reforms that had been brought about by his father.
In 722 BC, when King Sargon took Samaria after a 3-year siege (2 Kings 17:5-6), I don't doubt that Ahaz would have felt a tension between loyalty to fellow Jews and the "debt" he owed the Assyrians. However, he put up no resistance to Sargon's deportation of the Samaritans.
Sargon claimed to deport 27,280 to unspecified places in the Empire (source: Nimrud Prisms). According to 2 Kings 17: 6, they were settled "in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes". The Khabur River is in Syria (near the Euphrates), and the Medes were an ancient people who lived in what is modern-day Iran. It would be nearly 200 years before the Samaritans were freed and allowed to return to Samaria.
Ahaz died at 36, and his son Hezekiah (739 BC - 687 BC) took over the throne at 25. I realize that this would mean that Ahaz was only 11 when Hezekiah was conceived, but it's been suggested that Ahaz was in fact 25 when he came to the throne, making him 16 when Hezekiah was conceived. Either way, Ahaz was a young father.
Hezekiah was actually married to a woman called Hephzibah who, according to rabbinic literature, was Isaiah's daughter. They had a son together, named Manasseh, who was born in 709 B.C, meaning he would have been about 8 when the siege began. However, I decided to omit them from the story. It was a hard decision to take, but in the end I decided on that action because very little is said about either of them in the texts from the time, and I wanted to focus more on Hezekiah's actions.
Upon becoming king, Hezekiah immediately began to reverse his father's religious reforms (2 Kings 18:3-6). He defeated the Philistines "as far as Gaza and its territory" (2 Kings 18:8) and celebrated an early Passover (2 Chronicles 30:2). There is a wonderfully detailed description of that celebration in 2 Chronicles 30:15-27.
The reasons behind Hezekiah's rebellion against Sennacherib (at around 702-701 BC) are not clear. The Bible simply states "He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him" (2 Kings 18:7). However, what is stated in the story is a realistic idea of what happened given the circumstances and the evidence that we have. Sargon II died far from home, and the kings in the region must have seen it as their window of opportunity to rebel. They might get lucky, in the sense that Sargon's heir would be more sympathetic towards their plight for independence. Ambassadors were sent to Hezekiah, who agreed to the coalition (source: Jerusalem: The Biography). Unfortunately for them, Sennacherib was not open for negotiations.
He lead an extremely successful campaign of repression throughout the Middle-East. Any state that rebelled, from Babylon in the East to Jerusalem in the West, was under threat of Assyrian reprisal.
I have pieced together the role of Egypt and represented it as best I could in this story. It would appear that they were keen to get rid of the Assyrians, often siding with Judea and other tribes and stirring up rebellion in order to cause problems for the Assyrian kings. However, Isaiah discouraged Hezekiah from relying on Egyptian help, pleading him to trust in the Lord instead (Isaiah 31:1). In the story, the Egyptian envoy Abrax is meant to represent Babylonian ambassadors who were apparently sent to ask for Hezekiah's support after Babylonia itself rebelled against Sennacherib. The Egyptians, though, certainly supported this rebellion, as we see from their own offer of military support.
Hezekiah attempted to appease Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:14-16) with gold from the temple, even stripping off "the gold with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the Lord" to give as a bribe for peace. Sennacherib was, however, unimpressed by the gesture. He kept the gold and besieged Jerusalem anyway. The story of Sennacherib forcing the horsemen to walk back to Jerusalem is fiction, although not unfathomable for a king who clearly held a lot of contempt for the people around him at the time.
Realizing that the Assyrians were not taking the threat of rebellion lightly, Hezekiah began to prepare for war. He created the "broad wall", 25ft wide, which can still be seen in Jerusalem to this day. In the story, I had Yosef and General Kalev work with Joshua the architect to fortify the main outer-wall instead, but the point of Hezekiah's improved defenses is still the same.
He constructed a tunnel from the Gihon Spring (outside the city) to the Siloam Pool. With two groups working from each end heading towards each other, this involved cutting through 1,700 feet of sheer rock- an astounding achievement for the time by anyone's standards. According to Simon Seban Montefiore:
"While they were still excavating with their axes, each man toward his fellow, and while there were still three cubits to cut through, they heard the voice of a man calling to his fellows, for there was a fissure in the rock on the right and the left. And when the tunnel was driven through, the quarry-men hewed the rock, each man toward his fellow, axe against axe; and the water flowed from the spring toward the reservoir for 1,200 cubits and the height of the rock above the heads of the quarry-men was 100 cubits".
The Siloam Tunnel is also mentioned in 2 Kings 20:20, and can still be visited in Jerusalem. I couldn't find it's exact date of construction anywhere, but it was certainly part of Hezekiah's siege preparation, and so was most likely constructed anywhere between 705 BC and 701 B.C. For the purpose of the story, I made it so that construction finished during the siege itself.
The final siege preparation that I mentioned in the story was Shebna's poisoning of the wells. In actual fact, 2 Chronicles 32:4 says that the wells were merely blocked. However, some historians have suggested that it wouldn't be too far-fetched to believe that intentional contamination was used in some cases. I went with the poisoning idea for the story (largely for dramatic effect), but the point remains that when the Assyrians arrived outside Jerusalem, they were seriously deprived of water.
2 Kings 18:37 says the following:
"Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary , and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said"
In the story, I took these three characters and, as they were clearly quite high up in Hezekiah's hierarchy, made it so that they were in charge of Hezekiah's three main defensive projects. The tearing of one's clothes (known as Keriah) is an ancient Jewish practice as a gesture of mourning at someone's death. It's found throughout the old testament (Genesis 37:34, Samuel 1:11). But it would also appear, as in this case, that it was often used as a sign of great distress or trauma. Much later, in the New Testament (Acts 14:14) we hear how the apostles Paul and Barnabas were attempting to preach the Gospel in Lystra. After they performed a miracle in the name of Jesus, the local people mistook them for the Ancient Greek Gods Zeus and Hermes, and tried to offer sacrifices to them. Paul and Barnabas were horrified at this, and we are told:
"When the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed into the crowd, shouting: "Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you."
Again, here is an example of the ritual clothes-tearing being used to express great distress.
Rabshakeh is actually a title, meaning "chief of the princes". However, the Bible uses it as a name and I have followed suit. His full speech to the Judeans at the wall can be read in 2 Kings 18:17-37.
Isaiah did act as a council for Hezekiah- in fact, he was probably the person who influenced him the most in terms of religious practices and policies. The scene in the story where Shebna, Joah and Eliakim visit him at home is based on 2 Kings 19:5-7. Rabshakeh being called away to join Sennacherib is in 2 Kings 19:8.
Sennacherib wrote a demeaning and intimidating letter to Hezekiah (2 Kings 19:9-13), who famously went to the Temple and spread it out in desperation to God. (2 Kings 19:14).
At this point, there was a discrepancy between Biblical record and historical evidence. In 2 Kings 19:35, we're told that "the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp". Although this is technically possible, it's also plausible that this number has been conflated over time, or mistranslated. This would not be the first time that an army's size was misrepresented. When the Spartans met the Persians at Thermopylae (480 BC), it was claimed that the Persians brought an army of 1 million. Modern estimates put the actual number as close to 80,000. However, we mustn't get bogged down in semantics. The point is that, in both cases, the smaller forces stood gallantly against an intimidating army of far superior size.
Of course, I must now address the question of faith within this story. There can be no doubt that Sennacherib's forces suffered a massive defeat outside the walls of Hezekiah's Jerusalem. The Bible as well as a number of historical sources. Even the Sennacherib Annals (3 stone columns from c. 690 BC which describe Sennacherib's reign and conquests) confirm that Sennacherib did not breach Jerusalem.
However, the Bible (based on the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible) claims that this was due to divine intervention. Possibly a plague or some kind of epidemic is the most likely explanation for this. Whether you believe that this was the work of God depends on your religious viewpoint.
The Assyrians, on the other hand, claim that they received a second even larger tribute form Hezekiah which, this time, they look and departed. Personally, I find this hard to believe, seeing as Hezekiah had already gone to the extreme lengths of stripping the Temple from inside out to pay for the first tribute (which didn't succeed in getting Sennacherib to leave). Furthermore being locked in his city and somehow having to fund his defense projects must have been costly, so it seems unlikely to me that he'd have been able to raise a tribute that was even larger than the first. Finally, Sennacherib was a proud man whose entire Empire was in danger of falling apart at that time. He knew that Jerusalem was a key city (in a strategic position) around which other rebellious states could gather and could even run to for sanctuary. I think he would have wanted to destroy and ransack Jerusalem more than any other city in the area, so I find it difficult to believe that he was simply paid to leave.
According to 2 Kings 19:37, Sennacherib (740 BC - 681 BC) was assassinated by his sons while worshiping at the Temple in Nineveh (now Northern Iraq), the city that he'd taken a special interest in transforming. This account appears to be generally accepted by historians (thanks to the Bible, Babylonian chronicles and other Assyrian records from the time).
Upon ascension to the throne, Hezekiah's son and heir King Manasseh (709 BC- 643 BC), just like his father before him, immediately reversed his predecessor's religious reforms (2 Kings 21:1-5). Much like Ahaz, he is heavily criticized in the Bible for his Baal worship and for doing "much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger". The Bible's account for his life can be found in 2 Kings 21:1-18 and 2 Chronicles 32:33-33:20.
One final note. According to Matthew 1:1-16, Ahaz, Hezekiah and Manasseh all belonged to the line of successive Judean kings which lead back to Solomon and his father King David, and eventually to Abraham. Going forwards, their descendants would be Jacob, the father of Joseph, who was the husband of Mary, Jesus' mother. As a Christian myself I found this profound, as it reminded me that even in the darkest times of life, God is always patiently working for a better future.
I hope I've covered everything that needed to be said in the historical notes. As I said at the beginning- this is my first historical fiction piece, and so undoubtedly I still have a lot to learn. However, if you'd like to make a comment or, if you yourself have information about the topic that you think would be interesting or useful to share, then please write it in a comment, too (constructive criticism only, please).
But from now on, Ahaz was in the Assyrian's debt. Isaiah attempted to council Ahaz to trust in the Lord and to avoid any cooperation with the Assyrians, but it appears that Ahaz took no notice. The Bible paints a very negative picture of Ahaz. It's certainly true that he was one of a long line of Jewish Kings of the era who was heavily criticized, at the time and forevermore, for abandoning the traditional Jewish religious practices.
In fact, 2 Kings 16:3 states:
"He followed the ways of the kinds of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire"
Unless this refers to a ceremonial cleansing, this couldn't possibly refer to Hezekiah. However, 2 Chronicles 28:3 uses the word "children", which could suggest that he had other children, whom he had sacrificed. In any case, it's certain that Ahaz was an ardent Baal worshiper (2 Chronicals 28:1-2). He had the Temple in Jerusalem closed, and filled the city with alters and idols (2 Chronicals 28:24). Hezekiah's 29 year reign was spent undoing many of the religious reforms that had been brought about by his father.
In 722 BC, when King Sargon took Samaria after a 3-year siege (2 Kings 17:5-6), I don't doubt that Ahaz would have felt a tension between loyalty to fellow Jews and the "debt" he owed the Assyrians. However, he put up no resistance to Sargon's deportation of the Samaritans.
Sargon claimed to deport 27,280 to unspecified places in the Empire (source: Nimrud Prisms). According to 2 Kings 17: 6, they were settled "in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes". The Khabur River is in Syria (near the Euphrates), and the Medes were an ancient people who lived in what is modern-day Iran. It would be nearly 200 years before the Samaritans were freed and allowed to return to Samaria.
Ahaz died at 36, and his son Hezekiah (739 BC - 687 BC) took over the throne at 25. I realize that this would mean that Ahaz was only 11 when Hezekiah was conceived, but it's been suggested that Ahaz was in fact 25 when he came to the throne, making him 16 when Hezekiah was conceived. Either way, Ahaz was a young father.
Hezekiah was actually married to a woman called Hephzibah who, according to rabbinic literature, was Isaiah's daughter. They had a son together, named Manasseh, who was born in 709 B.C, meaning he would have been about 8 when the siege began. However, I decided to omit them from the story. It was a hard decision to take, but in the end I decided on that action because very little is said about either of them in the texts from the time, and I wanted to focus more on Hezekiah's actions.
Upon becoming king, Hezekiah immediately began to reverse his father's religious reforms (2 Kings 18:3-6). He defeated the Philistines "as far as Gaza and its territory" (2 Kings 18:8) and celebrated an early Passover (2 Chronicles 30:2). There is a wonderfully detailed description of that celebration in 2 Chronicles 30:15-27.
The reasons behind Hezekiah's rebellion against Sennacherib (at around 702-701 BC) are not clear. The Bible simply states "He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him" (2 Kings 18:7). However, what is stated in the story is a realistic idea of what happened given the circumstances and the evidence that we have. Sargon II died far from home, and the kings in the region must have seen it as their window of opportunity to rebel. They might get lucky, in the sense that Sargon's heir would be more sympathetic towards their plight for independence. Ambassadors were sent to Hezekiah, who agreed to the coalition (source: Jerusalem: The Biography). Unfortunately for them, Sennacherib was not open for negotiations.
He lead an extremely successful campaign of repression throughout the Middle-East. Any state that rebelled, from Babylon in the East to Jerusalem in the West, was under threat of Assyrian reprisal.
I have pieced together the role of Egypt and represented it as best I could in this story. It would appear that they were keen to get rid of the Assyrians, often siding with Judea and other tribes and stirring up rebellion in order to cause problems for the Assyrian kings. However, Isaiah discouraged Hezekiah from relying on Egyptian help, pleading him to trust in the Lord instead (Isaiah 31:1). In the story, the Egyptian envoy Abrax is meant to represent Babylonian ambassadors who were apparently sent to ask for Hezekiah's support after Babylonia itself rebelled against Sennacherib. The Egyptians, though, certainly supported this rebellion, as we see from their own offer of military support.
Hezekiah attempted to appease Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:14-16) with gold from the temple, even stripping off "the gold with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the Lord" to give as a bribe for peace. Sennacherib was, however, unimpressed by the gesture. He kept the gold and besieged Jerusalem anyway. The story of Sennacherib forcing the horsemen to walk back to Jerusalem is fiction, although not unfathomable for a king who clearly held a lot of contempt for the people around him at the time.
Realizing that the Assyrians were not taking the threat of rebellion lightly, Hezekiah began to prepare for war. He created the "broad wall", 25ft wide, which can still be seen in Jerusalem to this day. In the story, I had Yosef and General Kalev work with Joshua the architect to fortify the main outer-wall instead, but the point of Hezekiah's improved defenses is still the same.
He constructed a tunnel from the Gihon Spring (outside the city) to the Siloam Pool. With two groups working from each end heading towards each other, this involved cutting through 1,700 feet of sheer rock- an astounding achievement for the time by anyone's standards. According to Simon Seban Montefiore:
"While they were still excavating with their axes, each man toward his fellow, and while there were still three cubits to cut through, they heard the voice of a man calling to his fellows, for there was a fissure in the rock on the right and the left. And when the tunnel was driven through, the quarry-men hewed the rock, each man toward his fellow, axe against axe; and the water flowed from the spring toward the reservoir for 1,200 cubits and the height of the rock above the heads of the quarry-men was 100 cubits".
The Siloam Tunnel is also mentioned in 2 Kings 20:20, and can still be visited in Jerusalem. I couldn't find it's exact date of construction anywhere, but it was certainly part of Hezekiah's siege preparation, and so was most likely constructed anywhere between 705 BC and 701 B.C. For the purpose of the story, I made it so that construction finished during the siege itself.
The final siege preparation that I mentioned in the story was Shebna's poisoning of the wells. In actual fact, 2 Chronicles 32:4 says that the wells were merely blocked. However, some historians have suggested that it wouldn't be too far-fetched to believe that intentional contamination was used in some cases. I went with the poisoning idea for the story (largely for dramatic effect), but the point remains that when the Assyrians arrived outside Jerusalem, they were seriously deprived of water.
2 Kings 18:37 says the following:
"Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary , and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said"
In the story, I took these three characters and, as they were clearly quite high up in Hezekiah's hierarchy, made it so that they were in charge of Hezekiah's three main defensive projects. The tearing of one's clothes (known as Keriah) is an ancient Jewish practice as a gesture of mourning at someone's death. It's found throughout the old testament (Genesis 37:34, Samuel 1:11). But it would also appear, as in this case, that it was often used as a sign of great distress or trauma. Much later, in the New Testament (Acts 14:14) we hear how the apostles Paul and Barnabas were attempting to preach the Gospel in Lystra. After they performed a miracle in the name of Jesus, the local people mistook them for the Ancient Greek Gods Zeus and Hermes, and tried to offer sacrifices to them. Paul and Barnabas were horrified at this, and we are told:
"When the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed into the crowd, shouting: "Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you."
Again, here is an example of the ritual clothes-tearing being used to express great distress.
Rabshakeh is actually a title, meaning "chief of the princes". However, the Bible uses it as a name and I have followed suit. His full speech to the Judeans at the wall can be read in 2 Kings 18:17-37.
Isaiah did act as a council for Hezekiah- in fact, he was probably the person who influenced him the most in terms of religious practices and policies. The scene in the story where Shebna, Joah and Eliakim visit him at home is based on 2 Kings 19:5-7. Rabshakeh being called away to join Sennacherib is in 2 Kings 19:8.
Sennacherib wrote a demeaning and intimidating letter to Hezekiah (2 Kings 19:9-13), who famously went to the Temple and spread it out in desperation to God. (2 Kings 19:14).
At this point, there was a discrepancy between Biblical record and historical evidence. In 2 Kings 19:35, we're told that "the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp". Although this is technically possible, it's also plausible that this number has been conflated over time, or mistranslated. This would not be the first time that an army's size was misrepresented. When the Spartans met the Persians at Thermopylae (480 BC), it was claimed that the Persians brought an army of 1 million. Modern estimates put the actual number as close to 80,000. However, we mustn't get bogged down in semantics. The point is that, in both cases, the smaller forces stood gallantly against an intimidating army of far superior size.
Of course, I must now address the question of faith within this story. There can be no doubt that Sennacherib's forces suffered a massive defeat outside the walls of Hezekiah's Jerusalem. The Bible as well as a number of historical sources. Even the Sennacherib Annals (3 stone columns from c. 690 BC which describe Sennacherib's reign and conquests) confirm that Sennacherib did not breach Jerusalem.
However, the Bible (based on the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible) claims that this was due to divine intervention. Possibly a plague or some kind of epidemic is the most likely explanation for this. Whether you believe that this was the work of God depends on your religious viewpoint.
The Assyrians, on the other hand, claim that they received a second even larger tribute form Hezekiah which, this time, they look and departed. Personally, I find this hard to believe, seeing as Hezekiah had already gone to the extreme lengths of stripping the Temple from inside out to pay for the first tribute (which didn't succeed in getting Sennacherib to leave). Furthermore being locked in his city and somehow having to fund his defense projects must have been costly, so it seems unlikely to me that he'd have been able to raise a tribute that was even larger than the first. Finally, Sennacherib was a proud man whose entire Empire was in danger of falling apart at that time. He knew that Jerusalem was a key city (in a strategic position) around which other rebellious states could gather and could even run to for sanctuary. I think he would have wanted to destroy and ransack Jerusalem more than any other city in the area, so I find it difficult to believe that he was simply paid to leave.
According to 2 Kings 19:37, Sennacherib (740 BC - 681 BC) was assassinated by his sons while worshiping at the Temple in Nineveh (now Northern Iraq), the city that he'd taken a special interest in transforming. This account appears to be generally accepted by historians (thanks to the Bible, Babylonian chronicles and other Assyrian records from the time).
Upon ascension to the throne, Hezekiah's son and heir King Manasseh (709 BC- 643 BC), just like his father before him, immediately reversed his predecessor's religious reforms (2 Kings 21:1-5). Much like Ahaz, he is heavily criticized in the Bible for his Baal worship and for doing "much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger". The Bible's account for his life can be found in 2 Kings 21:1-18 and 2 Chronicles 32:33-33:20.
One final note. According to Matthew 1:1-16, Ahaz, Hezekiah and Manasseh all belonged to the line of successive Judean kings which lead back to Solomon and his father King David, and eventually to Abraham. Going forwards, their descendants would be Jacob, the father of Joseph, who was the husband of Mary, Jesus' mother. As a Christian myself I found this profound, as it reminded me that even in the darkest times of life, God is always patiently working for a better future.
I hope I've covered everything that needed to be said in the historical notes. As I said at the beginning- this is my first historical fiction piece, and so undoubtedly I still have a lot to learn. However, if you'd like to make a comment or, if you yourself have information about the topic that you think would be interesting or useful to share, then please write it in a comment, too (constructive criticism only, please).
Phil Raymond
#HistoricalFiction
#WritingCommunity
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