Assyria vs. Israel: The Miracle the Saved Monotheism

The Assyrian empire, under the monarch Sennacherib, who reigned from 705 to 681 BCE, was the most formidable military power of the pre-Roman world and, in 701, the dominating force in the Near East. That year, it invaded the kingdom of Judea with a massive army and laid siege to a poorly defended Jerusalem, and yet the Jews somehow survived. What was thought to be a surefire campaign to annihilate the ancestors of today’s Jews—to wipe out Judaism—failed, and the colossal Assyrian empire ended up on the ash heap of history. How did it happen?