King Hezekiah

A clay seal from King Hezekiah of Judah was found dating from the 8th century B.C. The inscription on the seal reads:

"HEZEKIAH (SON OF) AHAZ,

KING OF JUDAH"

Another clay seal was found with an impression mentioning one of his servants. It reads as follows:

"YEHOZARAH SON OF HILQIYAHU (HILKIAH)

SERVANT OF HIZQIYAHU (HEZEKIAH)"

Although this servant "Yehozarah" is not specifically mentioned in the Bible, he may have been the brother of Eliakim son of Hilkiah who is mentioned in 2 kings 18:18 which says:

"And when they had called to the king (Hezekiah), Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to them."

The major event which occurred during the time of Hezekiah was the invasion of Judah by Sennacherib king of Assyria. Eventually Sennacherib sends an army

Assyrian inscription(II Kings 19:36-37)

'On the twentieth day of the month Tebet Sennacherib king of Assyria his son slew him in rebellion... Esarhaddon his son sat on the throne of Assyria.'

The Greek historian Herodotus, recorded a startling account of Sennacherib's final retreat back to Assyria. After surrounding Jerusalem, Sennacherib must have also sent troops to do battle against the Egyptians. Herodotus wrote that an Egyptian priest told him that as the Assyrians approached the boundary of Egypt:

"Behold an army of field mice plagued their enemy by night . . . chewed through their arrows and their bows, and the hand grips on their shields, so that on the next morning they fled without their weapons and a great number of them perished in battle. This Egyptian king still stands in Hephaestus's sanctuary holding a mouse in his hand, and bearing the inscription, "Look to me and live in safety."

Although this was not referring to what happened to the Assyrians in II Kings 19:35,

Some scholars have used this as an explaination for the Assyrians leaving the siege of Jerusalem.A better explaination would be a battle with the Ethiopians.Such

a meeting has been recorded in Egyptian history.II Kings 19:8-9 states that Rabshakeh the Assyrian believed that Tirhakah the Ethiopian had come to defend Jerusalem.It is apparent that the Ethiopians,who ruled Egypt at that time,were come to meet Assyria in the battlefield.