Page 145 - ירושלים: גיליון רפואי

“No one shall enter this city”

2 Kings 19:32

The Miracle and Plague in the Story of Jerusalem’s Salvation

During the reign of King Hezekiah in Judah, Jerusalem competed for the title as the
greatest and most sacred among other centers of worship. In 701 BCE, the powerful army
of the Assyrian Empire besieged the city. The cities of Judah fell into the hands of the
Assyrians, one after another, and it appeared that the fate of Jerusalem had been sealed,
and the city would fade into history.
The prophet Isaiah delivered an encouraging prophecy that the Lord would defend the city
of David, and indeed the Assyrian army retreated and the city was saved. Later sources
described a plague of mice that had attacked the Assyrian army during its campaign in
Egypt, or perhaps the retreat had been due to a plague which had spread through the
Assyrian army and killed thousands in one night. Jerusalem was saved from the siege,
shrouded in a sacred halo and secure in her invincibility, which would prove, more than
once, to corrupt her leaders. Researchers studying the history of medicine made efforts
to decipher the mysterious plague, yet no medical diagnosis could be found to explain
the miracle of Jerusalem’s survival.

143 ■ ”‫“לא יבוא אל העיר הזאת‬