The Destruction of Sennacherib’s Army

Also known as: The Angel of the Lord Defends Jerusalem, The Angel and Sennacherib’s Army, The Destruction of the Assyrian Army, The Deliverance of Jerusalem, The Defeat of Sennacherib, Hezekiah’s Deliverance

The angelic judgment of 2 Kings 19:35–37 (with Isaiah 37 and 2 Chronicles 32), in which the Angel of the Lord goes out in the night and strikes the camp of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, besieging Jerusalem in the days of King Hezekiah — 185,000 soldiers fall, and Sennacherib withdraws to Nineveh, where his own sons later kill him. The angel speaks no word; his deed itself is the message. It is among Scripture’s clearest signs of an angel as the instrument of divine judgment and protection — delivering Jerusalem in answer to Hezekiah’s prayer and Isaiah’s prophecy, and preserving the city of David and the Temple.