The Assyrian Attack of Jerusalem

Isaiah 10, which is repeated in 2 Nephi 20, speaks of the Assyrian army’s assault on Judah and its march towards Jerusalem.  This took place around 701 BC when the Assyrians were seeking to conquer Judah completely.  The invading army—which about 20 years before had scattered the northern kingdom—conquered much of Judah before surrounding the city of Jerusalem.  Hezekiah was a king at the time, and what happened is recorded in both Isaiah 37 and 2 Kings 19.  The Assyrians came to the walls of Jerusalem and mocked the people: “Let not thy God in whom thou trustiest deceive, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered?” (2 Kings 19:10-11)  But Isaiah responded boldly, “The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee….  Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it.”  Though the Assyrians vastly outnumbered the people in Jerusalem, they were no match for the Lord: “And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses” (2 Kings 19:21, 32, 35).  The Lord miraculously preserved His people from the hands of the Assyrians, and I believe this is what Isaiah meant in 2 Nephi 20:33, “Behold, the Lord, the Lord of Hosts shall lop the bough with terror; and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down; and the haughty shall be humbled.”

               The verses that refer to the advancing of the Assyrian army towards Jerusalem are 2 Nephi 20:28-34, and in these about a dozen cities are mentioned.  The army apparently advanced from city to city in this order: Aiath, Migron, Michmash, Geba, Ramath, Gibeah, Gallim, Laish, Anathoth, Madmenah, Gebim, Nob, and then finally Jerusalem.  We don’t know today where all of these cities were, but here is what I could find:

·        Nob was a town in the vicinity of Jerusalem

·        The location of Gebim and Gallim are unknown

·        Madmenah may have been a site a couple miles from Mount Scopus

·        Anathoth was a Levitical city, likely about three miles northeast of Jerusalem

·        Laish was a northern city that belonged to the tribe of Dan

·        Gibeah was about three miles north of Jerusalem

·        Geba was in Benjamin about 5.5 miles north of Jerusalem and adjacent to Ramah

·        Michash was also a town of Benjamin  

·        Aiath is thought to be about 3 kilometers east of Bethel, and Migron was somewhere near there

                       

Of course, the most important fact of the story is simply that the Lord did preserve his people miraculously, and that, as Elisha said, “they that be with us are more than they that be with them” (2 Kings 6:16).