The Rescue of Jerusalem

In the summer of 701 BC, the powerful Assyrian army laid siege to Jerusalem, threatening the Hebrew kingdom with destruction. Had Jerusalem perished, so too would Hebrew society itself. Rabbinical Judaism and its two offshoots — Christianity and Islam — could never have arisen.

But suddenly, the invaders fled, leaving the City of David intact. Why? The Assyrian retreat has been one of history’s most enduring mysteries. Now, in this ground-breaking account, award-winning writer Henry Aubin proves beyond doubt that Jerusalem was saved by the army of the Kushite pharaoh of Egypt, made up largely of Black Africans known as Nubians, from what is now Sudan. Led by the great general Taharqa, who would go on to become a pharaoh himself, this African army seldom figures in modern biblical scholarship — the result, Aubin argues, of a racist campaign over the last two centuries to erase the Kushite contribution to Israel’s survival.