Death of King Hezekiah

Legends of the Jews turns to Death of King Hezekiah.

The sheer scale of it is staggering. This wasn't just an army; it was a mobile city. The camp stretched for four hundred parasangs – an ancient unit of distance, roughly equivalent to a league or a few miles, depending on who you ask. And the animals? A solid line of saddle-beasts, neck to neck, stretching forty parasangs long. Forty! You could walk for days and still be passing Sennacherib’s horses.

The army was even divided into four divisions, just to keep things organized, I guess. And here’s the kicker: the first division, according to the legend, nearly emptied the Jordan River just by quenching their thirst! Can you imagine? The second division had to drink from the puddles left by the horses. The third division had to dig for water. And by the time the fourth division arrived, they were just kicking up dust.

It's a vivid image, isn't it? This unstoppable force, descending upon Hezekiah's kingdom. It makes you wonder, how could anyone possibly stand against that? What hope could there be in the face of such overwhelming power?

Of course, that's where the story gets even more interesting. But that's a tale for another time. What this image leaves us with is the question of how we face seemingly impossible odds. What do we do when we feel hopelessly outnumbered, outmatched, and outgunned? Perhaps the story of Hezekiah, and the fate of Sennacherib's massive army, can offer some clues.

This Assyrian king, who had conquered the whole world, equipped an army against Hezekiah like unto which there is none, unless it be the army of the four kings whom Abraham routed, or the army to be raised by Gog and Magog in the Messianic time. Sennacherib's army consisted of more than two millions and a half of horsemen, among them forty-five thousand princes sitting in chariots and surrounded by their paramours, by eighty thousand armor-clad soldiers, and sixty thousand swordsmen. The camp extended over a space of four hundred parasangs, and the saddle-beasts standing neck to neck formed a line forty parasangs long. The host was divided into four divisions. After the first of them had passed the Jordan, it was well nigh dry, for the soldiers had all slaked their thirst with water of the river. The second division found nothing to quench their thirst except the water gathered under the hoofs of the horses. The third division was forced to dig wells, and when the fourth division crossed the Jordan, they kicked up great clouds of dust.