{"id":66892,"date":"2019-12-14T19:17:06","date_gmt":"2019-12-14T17:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=66892"},"modified":"2023-07-10T21:39:25","modified_gmt":"2023-07-10T18:39:25","slug":"the-miraculous-liberation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-miraculous-liberation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Miraculous Liberation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[469,898,940,618],"acf":{"old_id":"66892","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":65182,"related_cahpter":"371","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Was it the plague? Rats? The Egyptian pharaoh? Or Hezekiah\u2019s Leadership?","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The miracle of the reconciliation between the prophet and the king, through Hezekiah\u2019s prayer and Isaiah\u2019s vision of God\u2019s answer, was the climax of Hezekiah\u2019s reign and of Isaiah\u2019s prophecy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The miracle of Jerusalem\u2019s salvation is described in a brief prophetic narrative: <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And it came to pass on that night, an angel of the Lord went out and smote the Assyrian camp, one hundred and eighty-five thousand, and the following morning they were all dead corpses. So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and retreated, and stayed in Nineveh. (Is. 37:36\u201337).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Early historians such as Josephus explained this as the plague, which occasionally struck military camps or besieged cities during wartime (Antiquities X, 1:5). Herodotus (2.141) bases his version of this episode on an Egyptian tradition that the Assyrian army encroached on its border was struck by a plague of rats (who were often carriers of disease). Nonetheless, the Egyptians believed that their pharaoh, Taharqa, was responsible for Sennacherib\u2019s retreat.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Modern historians have shown skepticism towards the biblical account, which is reminiscent of the ten plagues of Egypt. The lack of an explanation for Sennacherib\u2019s desertion of Jerusalem in the Assyrian records, however, reinforces the narrative of the miraculous salvation. Sennacherib\u2019s records only mention the conquest of Lachish and its exiles marching in front of the Assyrian king, which, as mentioned earlier, seems exaggerated, as if to compensate for his failure to conquer the capital. Jerusalem, rebelling under Hezekiah\u2019s leadership, merits an unusually brief mention: &#8220;And as for Hezekiah the Judahite\u2026like a caged bird I shut up in Jerusalem his royal city. Earthworks I threw up against him [to besiege him] \u2013 the one coming out of the city-gate, I turned back to his misery.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shalmaneser besieged Samaria for three years before he managed to conquer the city, displaying typical Assyrian obstinacy. Sennacherib, however, withdrew from Jerusalem without offering any explanation. Isaiah\u2019s prophecy echoes the arrogance of the Assyrian records, just like his prophetic response to Sennacherib\u2019s brash words to Hezekiah.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In contrast to the image of the \u201ccaged bird,\u201d Isaiah portrayed God as a mother bird, flying free and hovering protectively over Jerusalem: &#8220;Like hovering birds, even so will the Lord of Hosts shield Jerusalem, shielding and saving, protecting and rescuing&#8221; (Is. 31:5).<\/span><\/p>\n<p>From: Lau and Bin Nun,\u00a0<em>Isaiah: Prophet of Righteousness and Justice\u00a0<\/em>(Maggid Books, 2019).<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":65184,"id":65184,"title":"Isaiah-LauBinNun","filename":"Isaiah-LauBinNun.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-vision-of-a-brighter-future\/isaiah-laubinnun\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"isaiah-laubinnun","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":65181,"date":"2019-11-04 21:10:18","modified":"2019-12-16 08:05:09","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1816,"height":1816,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun-768x768.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun-1024x1024.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun.png","2048x2048-width":1816,"2048x2048-height":1816,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun-1200x1200.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun-420x420.png","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"Excerpts from \"Isaiah: Prophet of Righteousness and Justice\"","main_caption":"The Miraculous Liberation","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Was it the plague? 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