מלכים ב י״ט:ל״ב-ל״ז

ולא יקדמנה. לא יערך לפניה מגן:

He will not advance upon it. He will not set a shield before it.²⁷The first soldiers attacking a city were the shield bearers.—Radak

סוללה. צבור אדמה להגביה תל לעמוד עליו להלחם על העיר, ועל שם שהוא כובשו וחובטו בעצים ומקבות כדי שיהא נדוש וכבוש בחוזק, קורהו סוללה, לשון (ישעיה סב י): סולו סולו המסילה:

A ramp. A heap of earth to raise a mount upon which to stand to wage war against the city, and because one presses it down and beats it with sticks and sledge hammers, so that it becomes trodden and pressed down with strength, it is called סוללה, an expression of, “Beat down [=סולו], beat down [=סולו] the highway.”²⁸Yeshayohu 62:10. See also II Shmuel 20:15.

ויהי בלילה ההוא. כששב סנחריב מעל כוש, ובא עד נוב שהיתה סמוכה לירושלים:

And it was that night. When Sancheiriv returned from [battling] with Cush, and he came as far as Nov, which was near Yerusholayim.²⁹Although his astrologers told him that he would be successful in conquering Yerusholayim if he were to attack it on that very day, Sancheiriv in his arrogance decided to camp overnight in Nov and wait for the following day. This ultimately led to his downfall. See Maseches Sanhedrin 95a. Dovid who was Chizkiyohu's ancestor, incurred guilt by causing the deaths of the kohanim of Nov, and it was therefore decreed that his descendants would be liable for punishment for many years. This was the last day of the decree, as stated in Yeshayohu 10:32, “Yet today he will stand in Nov.”

מאה ושמונים וחמשה אלף. כולם ראשי גייסות:

One hundred eighty-five thousand. All of them were heads of companies.³⁰Sancheiriv's camp was enormous. Each of these 185,000 officers was in charge of 2,000 men. See Rashi above, in 18:24.

וישב בנינוה. היא ראש לארץ אשור:

And dwelt in Nineveh. It was the capital of Ashur.

בית נסרוך אלהיו. נסר מתיבתו של נח:

In the temple of Nisroch his god. A board from Noach's ark.³¹נסרת is a contraction of נסר מתיבתו של נח. ³²Sancheiriv believed it was the deity which saved Noach from the Flood, so it will save him also. See Maseches Sanhedrin 96a.

הכהו בחרב. שמעו אותו שאמר לשוחטן לפניו אם יצילוהו, שלא יהרגוהו שרי המלכות שמתו בניהם על ידו (סנהדרין צו א):

Slew him with a sword. They heard him that he said he would slaughter them³³Sancheiriv asked his wise men what was the merit that the Bnei Yisroel had that God fights their battles. They replied that their forefather Avrohom brought his son for a burnt offering. So he decided that he too will offer his two sons. When his sons heard this, they killed him.—Radak before him if they would spare him, so that they would not kill him---the princes of the kingdom, whose sons perished on account of him.