Isaiah 37

Many people in ancient times expressed grief and mourning by cutting their beards and head hair, dressing in what many Bible translations call “sackcloth,” and throwing ashes on themselves. Today, we’ll dress in black or wear armbands.

Two of Assyrian King Sennacherib’s sons murdered him in 681 BC.

Also known as Cush, Nubia was in what is now Sudan, a nation south of Egypt. Nubian kings ruled Egypt for almost a century. Tirhakah ruled from 690-664 BC. Since this attack reportedly took place a decade earlier, in 701 BC, some say the Bible writer got the facts messed up. But others say Sennacherib didn’t move on Jerusalem until about 689 BC. One of his records says “I fought every day very bloody battles against Tarqu, king of Egypt and Ethiopia, the person cursed by all the great gods.”

Jews taught that God’s footrest was the lid on the Ark of the Covenant, the gold-covered chest that held the Ten Commandments (1 Chronicles 28:2). Two winged beings called cherubim rested at each end of the lid. “Cherubim” is Kerubim in Hebrew. These are celestial beings mentioned throughout the Bible. Ancient Middle Eastern creatures with similar names, such as kirubu, reportedly served gods. The creatures were portrayed in statues of beings such as human-headed lions with wings. These statues guarded entrances to cities and palaces.

Jerusalem escaped this Assyrian invasion. But much of Judah was decimated by Assyrians, who destroyed many of the cities and executed or enslaved the citizens. Sennacherib’s report claims they destroyed 46 of Judah’s cities. He said the “terrifying splendor” of his army sent the enemy soldiers running for their lives and deserting their posts.

Second Kings 19:35 says the same thing. Sennacherib’s own records confirm that he didn’t get inside Jerusalem this time. He reports, instead, that he trapped King Hezekiah behind Jerusalem’s walls “like a bird in a cage.” A Greek writer 250 years later, Herodotus, wrote that the army got stopped by a rat infestation that killed some of the soldiers. Some scholars speculate that the rats carried diseases—plagues such as bubonic, septicemic, pneumonic. Those three diseases—all from the same bacterium (yersinia pestis)—affect the immune system, blood, and lungs.

The Ararat Mountains was a territory roughly 200 miles (320 km) northeast of Assyria’s capital at Nineveh, today known as Mosul.