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.