Over 600 years after the Exodus from Egypt, the Jewish people experienced another great miracle on the first day of Pesach, the 15th of Nissan, in the days of King Chizkiyahu.
In 701 BCE, Sancherev, king of Assyria, invaded Judea with a massive army. Only 20 years earlier, the Assyrian forces had conquered the Northern Kingdom and exiled the Ten Tribes. Now they set their sights on Jerusalem.
The Gemara (Sanhedrin 95a) describes the formidable size of the Assyrian forces: 45,000 generals, 60,000 officers, and 2.6 billion soldiers. Their cavalry was so numerous that as they crossed the Jordan River, the horses absorbed all the water through their hair, drying it up entirely. Whether this description is hyperbolic or not, it reflects a threat that dwarfed Judea’s own forces.
In a single day, they advanced a distance that would normally have taken ten days, destroying every city in their path. On the 14th of Nissan, they arrived at Nov, a city on the outskirts of Jerusalem overlooking the holy city. Gazing down at it, Sancherev waved his hand in mockery.
“Is this the city of Jerusalem for which I have disrupted my camps and conquered all these countries? It is smaller and weaker than all the cities of the nations I have conquered" (Melachim II 19:24). He told his soldiers that if each man removed even a small stone from the wall the following day, the wall would crumble - and they would vanquish the city.
Inside the holy city, the Jewish people faithfully brought their Passover offering, korban Pesach, in the Beit HaMikdash, fully aware of the threat of impending destruction. They then brought their korban Pesach home to roast and sat down to the Seder on the first night of Pesach.
One can only imagine the emotions of that Seder night - knowing the enemy soldiers surrounded them just beyond the city walls, uncertain whether they would live to see morning.
That night, a miracle unfolded. An angel of Hashem came and slew 185,000 of Sancherev’s men. The rest of the army fled in disarray, and Jerusalem and its inhabitants were miraculously saved.
We recall Sancherev’s mockery in the opening verse of the haftarah of the last day of Pesach, where Yishayahu declares: “He will stand yet this day in Nov, waving his hand at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem" (10:32). And we see his downfall foretold in the very next verse: “Behold the Master, Hashem the G-d of Hosts, will lop the boughs with terror - the tall ones shall be cut down and the lofty ones fallen."
Yishayahu also prophesied: “For you there shall be singing like the night when a festival is sanctified" (30:29).
The verse describes the joyous song the Jewish people will sing at the time of their redemption from exile - a song like the singing on the night of the festival. This refers specifically to Pesach, the only festival on which Hallel is recited at night.
“The voice of joyous song and salvation will be in the tents of the righteous" (Tehillim 118:15).
In his commentary, the Malbim connects this verse to Yishayahu’s prophecy and ties both to the miraculous salvation of the Jewish people from Sancherev’s army on the first night of Pesach - “the night that the festival was sanctified."
Most commentaries explain that the song refers to the hymn of praise the Jewish people sang after their miraculous deliverance.
The Malbim, however, argues that the song refers to the Hallel the Jewish people were singing while eating their korban Pesach on that fateful night - and that it was precisely at that moment that the great miracle unfolded. The more they sang, with ever-increasing joy, the greater the confusion that spread through the Assyrian camp as Hashem waged war on their behalf.
This is the meaning of the verse: “The voice of joyous song and salvation will be in the tents of the righteous." When the voice of joyous song begins, the voice of salvation follows.
Instead of fear and trepidation, the people of Jerusalem joyously sang praises to Hashem, thanking Him for the miracles of the Exodus as they celebrated the Pesach Seder. Their joy was not dampened. With elated spirits, worshipping Hashem and fulfilling His mitzvot, they were utterly unfazed by the threat of destruction waiting beyond the walls. It was this powerful expression of emunah, bitachon, and simcha that brought about the miracle of their own redemption.
We are once again celebrating Pesach under threat. In Eretz Yisrael, our brothers and sisters are under rocket and missile fire as we face enemies on multiple fronts. The threats from Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah are still very real. Sirens blare daily throughout the country, forcing everyone into shelters. And around the world, the Jewish people face a siege of hostility and rising antisemitism on city streets, university campuses, and in the seats of government.
While we have the mighty army and brave soldiers of the IDF fighting our enemies, we too will sit down to our Seder carrying so many reasons for worry, fear, and uncertainty.
But like the Jews of Jerusalem more than 2,700 years ago, our hearts are filled with emunah and simcha. In the last two-and-a-half years, we have responded to our enemies’ threats of terror and war with unprecedented faith - singing of Hashem’s eternal love for us and our bitachon that He will only do good for us.
On Seder night, we will sing together with this faith and joy, trusting in Hashem that even as they rise up against us in every generation, Hakadosh Baruch Hu will deliver us miraculously from their hands. We will sing Hallel - not only to thank Hashem for the miracles He performed for our ancestors as they left Egypt, but for the open miracles we are witnessing and living through today.
In this merit, Hashem will wage war for us. Like the army of Sancherev, our enemies will be driven away and we will triumph. The city of Jerusalem, the Land of Israel, and Jews around the world will stand strong and secure. And we will merit the Final Redemption - the return to our Homeland, the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash, and the removal of all evil from the face of the earth - and dwell in peace and security forever.
Rabbi Yonason Johnson is the founder and directors of the Maor Centre for Adult Torah Education in Melbourne and is a Rabbi and Maggid Shiur in the Mizrachi Beit Midrash in Melbourne.