Isaiah, which had lately been sent to Rabshakeh, received from him comfort and assurance that this heathen idolater should not prevail; against whom the king also besought aid from Almighty God, repeating the most insolent and blasphemous parts of Sennacherib's letter before the altar of God in the temple, confessing this part thereof to be true, That the king of Ashur had destroyed the nations and their lands, and had set fire on their gods, for they were no gods, but the work of mens hands, even wood ' and stone 3,' &c.

The reason that moved Sennacherib to desire to possess himself in haste of Jerusalem, was that he might thereinto have retreated his army, which was departed, as it seemeth, from the siege of Pelusium in Egypt, for fear of Tirhakah; and though the scriptures are silent of that enterprize, (which in these books of the Kings, and of the Chronicles, speak but of the affairs of the Jews in effect,) yet the ancient Berosus, and out of him Josephus and St. Jerome, together with Herodotus, remember it as followeth. Herodotus calleth Sennacherib king of Arabia and Assyria, which he might justly do, because Tiglath his grandfather held a great part thereof, which he wrested from Pekah king of Israel; as Gilead over Jordan, and the rest of Arabia Petræa adjoining: The same Herodotus also maketh Sethon king of Egypt, to be Vulcan's priest, and reporteth that the reason of Sennacherib's return from Pelusium in Egypt, which he also besieged, was, that an innumerable multitude of rats had in one night eaten in sunder the bow-strings of his archers, and spoiled the rest of their weapons in that kind, which no doubt might greatly amaze him; but the approach of Tirhakah, remembered by Josephus and Berosus', was the more urgent. St. Jerome upon Isaiah xxxvii. out of the same Berosus, as also in part out of He

3 2 Kings 19. 4 Hierod. 1. 2. p. 69. '5 Joseph. Ant. 1, 10. c. 1.

rodotus', whom Josephus citeth somewhat otherwise than his words lie, reports Sennacherib's retreat in these words. 'Pugnasse autem Sennacherib regem Assyriorum contra Egyptos, et obsedisse Pelusium; jamque extructis aggeribus, urbi capiendæ, venisse Taracham regem Æthiopium in auxilium; et ⚫úna nocte juxta Jerusalem, centum octoginta quinque millia exercitus Assyrii pestilentia corruisse, ⚫ narrat Herodotus; et plenissime Berosus Chaldaicæ scriptor historiæ, quorum fides de propriis libris pe' tenda est:' That Sennacherib king of the Assyrians fought against the Egyptians, and besieged Pelusium; and that when his mounts were built for taking of the city, Tarhaccas king of the Ethiopians came to help them, and that in one night near Jerusalem, one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrian army perished by pestilence. Of these things, (saith Jerome,) Herodotus reports, and more at large Berosus, a writer of Chaldæan story, whose credit is to be taken from their own books. Out of Isaiah it is gathered, that this destruction of the Assyrian army was in this manner. Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of Hosts with thunder and shaking, and a great noise, a whirlwind and a tempest, and a flame of devouring fire. But Josephus hath it more largely out of the same Berosus, an authority, (because so well agreeing with the scriptures,) not to be omitted: Sennacheribus autem ab Ægyptiaco bello revertens, ostendit ibi exercitum, quem sub Rabsacis imperio reliquerat, peste divinitus ⚫ immissa deletum, prima nocte posteaquam urbem oppugnare cœperat; absumptis cum ducibus et tri⚫ bunis, centum octoginta quinque millibus militum; qua clade territus, et de reliquis copiis solicitus, 'maximis itineribus in regnum suum contendit, ad regiam quæ Ninus dicitur. Ubi paulo post per in⚫sidias seniorum, e filiis suis, Adramelechi, et Selen

6 Herod. Euterp. 1. 2. 7 To wit in part; for Herodotus mentioneth nothing, either of Tarhaca or of Jerusalem, or of the army there. 6 Isa. xxix. 6,

Joseph. Ant. 1. 10. c. 1.

⚫nario, vitam amisit; occisus in ipso templo quod dicitur Arasci; quem præcipuo cultu dignabatur; quibus ob parricidium a popularibus pulsis et in Armeniam fugientibus, Asaracoldas minor filius in regnum successit: Sennacherib, (saith Josephus,) returning from the Egyptian war, found there his army, which he had left under the command of Rabshakeh, destroyed by a pestilence sent from God, the first night that he had begun to assault the town; one hundred fourscore and five thousand of the soldiers being consumed, with their captains and colonels. With which destruction being terrified, and withal afraid what might become of the rest of his army, he made great marches into his kingdom, to his royal city, which is called Ninus, where shortly after, by the treason of two of the eldest of his sons, Adramelech, and Selennar or Sharezer, he lost his life in the temple dedicated to Arasces, or Nesroch, whom he especially worshipped. These his sons being for their parricide chased away by the people, and flying into Armenia", Asaracoldas his younger son succeeded in the kingdom: who in the beginning of his reign sent new troops out of Assyria and Samaria, to fortify the colony therein planted by his grandfather Salmanassar. What this Nesroch was, it is uncertain; Jerome in his Hebrew traditions hath somewhat of him, but nothing positively. It is certain, that Venus Urania was worshipped by the Assyrians; and so was Jupiter Belus, as Dion, Eusebius, and Cyrillus witness. Many fancies there are, what cause his sons had to murder him; but the most likely is, that he had formerly disinherited those two, and conferred the empire on Ezarhaddon. Tobit tells us, That it was fifty-five days after Sennacherib's return, ere he was murdered by his sons; during which time he slew great numbers of the Israelites in Nineveh, till the most just God turned the sword against his own breast.

10 Selennar, otherwise Sharezer, who slew him as he was praying to Nisroc his god, 2 Kings 19. 11 2 Kings xix. 37. Esd. 1. c. 4. 2.

SECT. III.

Of Hezekiah's sickness and recovery; and of the Babylonian king that congratulated him.

AFTER this marvellous delivery, Hezekiah sickened, and was told by Isaiah, that he must die; but after that he had besought God with tears for his delivery, Isaiah, as he was going from him, returned again, and had warrant from the spirit of God to promise him recovery after three days, and a prolongation of his life for fifteen years. But Hezekiah, somewhat doubtful of his exceeding grace, prayeth a sign to confirm him': whereupon, at the prayer of Isaiah, the shadow of the sun cast itself the contrary way, and went back ten degrees upon the dial of Ahaz. The cause that moved Hezekiah to lament, (saith Jerome,) was, because he had as yet no son, and was then in despair that the Messiah should come out of the house of David, or at least of his seed. His disease seemeth to be the pestilence, by the medicine given him by the prophet, to wit, a mass of figs, laid to the blotch or sore.

This wonder, when the wise men of Chaldæa had told to Merodach, king of Babylon, the first of that house, he sent to Hezekiah, to be informed of the cause; at which time Hezekiah shewed him all the treasure he had, both in the court and in the kingdom; for which he was reprehended by the prophet Isaiah, who told him, The days are at hand, that all that is in thine house, and whatsoever thy fathers have laid up in store to this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, saith the Lord'. It may seem strange, how Hezekiah should have got any treasure worth the shewing; for Sennacherib had robbed him of all the year before. But the spoil of the same Sennacherib's camp repaid all with ad

1 2 Kings 20 2 Isa. 39.

vantage, and made Hezekiah richer upon the sudden than ever he had been; which unexpected wealth was a strong temptation to boasting. After this time Hezekiah had rest, and, spending without noise that addition which God had made unto his life, he died, having reigned nine and twenty years. Only one offensive war he made, which was against the Philistines with good success. Among his other acts, (shortly remembered in Ecclesiasticus) he devised to bring water to Jerusalem.

In two respects they say that he offended God; the one, that he rejoiced too much at the destruc tion and lamentable end of his enemy; the other, that he so much gloried in his riches, as he could not forbear to shew them to strangers. But the reason which moved Hezekiah, (speaking humanly,) to entertain the ambassadors of Merodach in this friendly and familar manner, was, because he came to visit him, and brought him a present, congratulating the recovery of his health; as also, in that Merodach had weakened the house of Sennacherib, his fearful enemy. For Merodach, who was commander and lieutenant under Sennacherib in Babylon, usurped that state himself, in the last year of that king, and held it by strong hand against his son Ezarhaddon, who was not only simple, but impaired in strength, by the molestation of his brothers. This advantage Merodach espied, and remembering, that their ancestor Phul Belochus, had set his own masster Sardanapalus beside the cushion, thought it as lawful for himself to take the opportunity which this king's weakness did offer, as it had been for Belochus to make use of the other's wickedness; and so, finding himself beloved of the Babylonians, and sufficiently powerful, he did put the matter to hazard, and prevailed. The assertion of this history is made by the same arguments that were used in maintaining the common opinion of writers, touching Phul Belochus, which I will not here again rehearse. So