CHAPTER XXVIII

THE GREAT DELIVERANCE (B.C. 701) 331

Embassy of the Turtan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh--Misery and licence in the city--The conference--Oration of the Rabshakeh--Its effect on the king's ministers and on the people--Taunting insults of the Rabshakeh--Faithfulness and self-control of the people--Heroic faith of Isaiah--Failure of the embassy--Sennacherib's threatening letter--Hezekiah's prayer--Isaiah promises deliverance in the name of Jehovah--The sign--The angel of death--Scene of the catastrophe--The Egyptian tradition of Sethos and the mice--Death and burial of Hezekiah--The campaign as recorded on the Assyrian monuments--The triumph of indomitable faith--Grandeur of Isaiah--Wane of Assyria--Beautiful tolerance of Isaiah.