Sennacherib’s Defeat and the Reign of Manasseh

This news led Sennacherib to go back to defend his own territory. He gave up the war, grumbling and crying out that victory had been snatched from him, the victor. He also sent Hezekiah a letter full of insults, declaring that once he had settled his own affairs he would quickly come back to destroy Judea. But Hezekiah, not at all disturbed by these threats, is said to have prayed to God not to let this man’s great insolence go unpunished. So that same night an angel attacked the camp of the Assyrians and brought about the death of many thousands of men. The king fled in terror to the town of Nineveh, and there he was killed by his sons and met an end worthy of him. [a]

At the same time Hezekiah lay sick in body, suffering from disease. When Isaiah announced to him in the words of the Lord that the end of his life was at hand, the king is said to have wept, and so he had fifteen years added to his life. When these came to an end, he died in the twenty-ninth year of his reign and left the kingdom to his son Manasseh.

Manasseh fell far short of his father. He abandoned God and took up the practice of ungodly worship. As punishment for this he was handed over into the power of the Assyrians. His sufferings forced him to admit his error, and he urged the people to abandon their idols and worship God. He did nothing worth special mention, but he reigned for fifty-five years. Then his son Amon received the kingdom, but held it only two years. He inherited his father’s ungodliness and showed no regard for God. Caught in a plot laid by some of his friends, he perished.