How did King Ezechias defend Jerusalem against Sennacherib, and what trial followed his miraculous recovery?

Following these religious deeds and loyal acts of faith, Sennacherib king of the Assyrians invaded Juda, laying siege to its fortified cities with the intent of capturing them. Recognizing that Sennacherib had arrived and that the full momentum of his campaign was aimed at Jerusalem, King Ezechias took counsel with his princes and valiant men. They agreed to block the water springs situated outside the city walls. Gathering a large multitude of workers, they stopped up all the outlying springs and the brook that flowed through the surrounding countryside, intending to prevent the Assyrian kings from finding abundant water.

Ezechias also labored diligently to repair every broken section of the city wall, erecting defensive towers along the ramparts, building an additional wall on the outside, and strengthening the Millo fortification within the city of David. He produced all sorts of weapons and protective shields. Appointing combat officers over the army, he convened them in the street of the gate and delivered a speech of encouragement. He exhorted them to be courageous and stout-hearted, urging them not to tremble or lose hope before the Assyrian king or the vast horde accompanying him, because a far greater power stood with Juda. While the invader relied merely upon an arm of flesh, Juda possessed the Lord their God to help them and fight their battles. These words of Ezechias brought great reassurance and courage to the defenders.

While Sennacherib remained with his main army besieging the stronghold of Lachis, he dispatched his servants to Jerusalem with messages addressed to King Ezechias and all the people enclosed within the capital. The messengers mocked the defenders, asking what grounds they had for remaining calmly besieged in Jerusalem. They argued that Ezechias was misleading them into starving of hunger and thirst by promising that the Lord would rescue them from the Assyrian monarch. The envoys asserted that this same Ezechias had abolished God's high places and altars, ordering the citizens of Juda and Jerusalem to worship exclusively before one altar and burn incense upon it alone. They challenged whether the gods of any foreign nations had ever rescued their territories from the hands of Sennacherib and his predecessors, concluding that just as no local deity had delivered its worshippers, neither could the God of Jerusalem rescue them from Assyrian subjugation. The messengers uttered many further insults against the Lord God and against His servant Ezechias. In addition, Sennacherib sent written letters packed with blasphemies against the Lord God of Israel, likening Him to man-made idols crafted by human hands. To terrify the defenders and capture the city, the herald shouted these threats in the Hebrew tongue directly to the people sitting on the walls.

Confronted with this public mockery, King Ezechias and the prophet Isaias, son of Amos, turned to heaven in fervent prayer against the blasphemies. In response, the Lord dispatched an angel who struck down all the valiant soldiers, combatants, and commanders throughout the Assyrian encampment. Stripped of his forces, Sennacherib retreated in humiliation to his own country. When he entered the house of his god, his own sons killed him with the sword. The Lord thereby delivered Ezechias and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib and from the hand of all, giving them treasures on every side. Many brought sacrifices to the Lord in Jerusalem and presented gifts to Ezechias, so that his prestige was exalted among all neighboring nations.

In those days, Ezechias fell gravely ill unto death. He prayed to the Lord, who answered his supplication and granted him a sign. However, the king failed to show appropriate gratitude for the favors bestowed upon him, allowing his heart to grow proud. This arrogance stirred divine displeasure against him, Jerusalem, and all Juda. Later, Ezechias recognized his fault and humbled his proud heart alongside the residents of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord was withheld during Ezechias's days.

Ezechias accumulated immense wealth and great honor, gathering vast reserves of silver, gold, gemstones, spices, various weapons, and precious vessels. He built storehouses for grain, wine, and olive oil, along with stalls for livestock and folds for sheep, establishing multiple towns because God had bestowed upon him boundless flocks and possessions. It was this same Ezechias who sealed the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon and directed them through an underground channel toward the western side of the city of David, prospering in all his endeavors. Yet when envoys arrived from the princes of Babylon to inquire about the wonder that had happened upon the earth, God stepped back to test the king and disclose everything harbored within his heart. The remaining acts of Ezechias and his works of mercy are recorded in the annals of the kings of Juda and Israel. When Ezechias died, he was buried in an honored place above the tombs of David's royal lineage, receiving funeral tributes from all Juda and Jerusalem, and his son Manasses succeeded him on the throne.