Lecture 5.2 Hezekiah's Jerusalem

      Hezekiah had fortified the city and extended the water supply in order to prepare for an attack from the Assyrians. In the Bible we then get a reference to a messiah in the Book of Isaiah. In Isiah 9:1-7 there is a mention of a child born that will rule in the throne of David and bring peace. In addition to that, in Isaiah 10 there is another prophecy that the holy mountain, which we can interpret as Jerusalem, will be not be hurt or destroyed. So both of these chapters in the Book of Isaiah speak of prophecys deal with the an upcoming attack from the Assyrians and how Jerusalem will be saved from this attacks.
       Eventually in the Book of Isaiah we read of the event that could be one of the greatest catalyst in for beginning the legend of Jerusalem as an inviolable city. In Isaiah 36-39 we read of how God delivers Jerusalem from the Assyrians. The Assyrians were able to wipe out all the other cities in Judah, but they weren't able to capture Jerusalem. Thus the people in Jerusalem took this as a sign that their God will always protect this city and their people and he will never let anything bad happen. We have archaeological evidence that the Assyrians went after Jerusalem in the Sennacherib's Prism. The prism mentions that the Assyrians went after the city of Jerusalem, but it never actually states that the city was captured.