The number 185 is linked to God's miraculous deliverance, when an angel struck down 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night.
In 2 Kings 19:35 (and Isaiah 37:36), it is told that the Lord's angel went out and killed 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp during Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem. The number 185 is thus symbolically connected to divine protection and miraculous intervention against overwhelming enemies. In Jewish tradition, this event is seen as a powerful example of God defending His people and His holy city Jerusalem, and the number reminds us that human military power is insignificant compared to God's strength. Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem took place around 701 BC. The Assyrian king had already conquered most of Judah, and Sennacherib's own annals (preserved on the so-called Taylor prism) confirm the siege of Jerusalem but remarkably do not mention a conquest of the city. In the Talmud (Sanhedrin 95b), it is discussed how the destruction of the Assyrian army occurred. Among the explanations, it is mentioned that the angel burned their souls while their bodies remained intact, and that the event took place on the first night of Passover – something that links it to the original Passover miracle in Egypt.*