=The Great Rebellion of 703 B.C.= The great crisis that called forth the majority of Isaiah's recorded sermons came thirty years later, when Judah was again tempted to enter into an alliance with the other states of Palestine in an endeavor to break free from the rule of Assyria. In common with the other little states of Palestine, it was a victim of its intermediate position between the great world-powers, Assyria and Egypt. Under a new Ethiopian dynasty, Egypt's ambitions were again beginning to stir and Assyria was the chief barrier to their realization. Therefore, Egypt by promises of help encouraged the states of Palestine to revolt against Assyria. In 711 B.C. the Philistine towns of Ashdod and Gath did actually rebel. It was only by going about in the garb of the captive, proclaiming in this objective way what would be the consequence if Judah rebelled against Assyria, that Isaiah was able to arrest the attention of the nation and save it from fatally compromising itself. When the great Assyrian king, Sargon, died in 705 B.C. the temptations to rebel were too strong to be resisted. Merodach-baladan, of the ancient Babylonian royal line, at once instigated a successful revolt in the lower Tigris-Euphrates valley and sent emissaries to Palestine to stir up the vassal states in a general uprising against Assyria. Tyre, Edom, Moab, Ammon the Philistine cities, and certain of the neighboring Bedouin tribes united in raising the standard of revolt against their common foe. Egypt again promised assistance, and, although Isaiah protested with all his powers, Judah was drawn into the coalition. Hezekiah was made the southern leader of the rebellion.