ophe, and
the sacred books of the Hebrews seem to refer it to the camp
at Libnah in Palestine (2 Kings xix. 8-35); the Egyptian
legend related by Herodotus seems to prove that it took
place near the Egyptian frontier. Josephus takes the king as
far as Pelusium, and describes the destruction of the
Assyrian army as taking place in the camp before this town.
He may have been misled by the meaning "mud," which attaches
to the name of Libnah as well as to that of Pelusium. Oppert
upheld his opinion, and identified the Libnah of the
biblical narrative with the Pelusium of Herodotus. It is
probable that each of the two nations referred the scene of
the miracle to a different locality.

The Hebrews did not hesitate to ascribe the event to the vengeance of
Jahveh, and to make it a subject of thankfulness. They related that
before their brutal conqueror quitted the country he had sent a parting
message to Hezekiah: "Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive
thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the King of
Assyria. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to
all lands, by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered? Have
the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed,
Gozan and Haran and Rezepk, and the children of Eden which were in
Telassar? Where is the King of Hamath, and the King of Arpad, and the
King of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?" Hezekiah, having
received this letter of defiance, laid it in the temple before Jahveh,
and prostrated himself in prayer: the response came to him through the
mouth of Isaiah. "Thus saith the Lord concerning the King of Assyria, He
shall not come unto this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall
he come before it with a shield, nor cast a mount against it. By the way
that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come unto
this city, saith the Lord. For I will defend this city to save it, for
Mine own sake and for My servant David's sake. And it came to pass that
night, that the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp
of the Assyrians an hundred four-score and five thousand: and when men
arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses."*

* 2 Kings xix. 8-35; Isa. xxxvii. 8-36; this is the second
tradition of which mention has been made, but already
amalgamated with the first to fo