Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:13-37; 2 Chronicles 32:1-7)
“In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked and captured all the fortified cities of Judah. And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh, (Hebrew Rabshakeh is the title of a high-ranking Assyrian military officer; here and throughout chapters 36 and 37, as well as 2 Kings 18 and 19) with a great army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And he stopped by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field. Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, went out to him.
The Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah that this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What is the basis of this confidence of yours? You claim to have a strategy and strength for war, but these are empty words. On whom are you now relying, that you have rebelled against me? Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before this altar’?
Now therefore, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them! For how can you repel a single officer among the weakest of my master’s servants when you depend on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? So now, was it apart from the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD Himself said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”
Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Do not speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.” But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to you and your master, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?” Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out loudly in Hebrew: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot deliver you. Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’
Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with med and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and his own fig tree, and drink water from his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”
But the people remained silent and did not answer a word, for Hezekiah had commanded, “Do not answer him.” Then Hilkiah’s son Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph’s son Joah the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they relayed to him the words of the Rabshakeh.”
The Book of Isaiah is amazing because it contains a great deal of first-hand information about the Assyrian attempts to conquer Jerusalem in the time of Hezekiah. Isaiah was in Jerusalem at the time and witnessed these events. At the time of this story, the Assyrians have taken all the fortified cities of Judah, leaving Jerusalem by itself. Now King Sennacherib’s highest – ranking military officer, the Rabshakeh, has come to Jerusalem.
The first ploy the Rabshakeh uses is intimidation; look at his arguments. 1. The Rabshakeh claims that Hezekiah’s only strategy is to rely on Egypt and gives a classic description of the Egyptians at that point. “that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it.” 2. Hezekiah is trusting in God; however, Hezekiah has been removing all the pagan idols from Jerusalem. Here is where the Rabshakeh’s argument begins to fall apart. The Rabshakeh assumes that the altars and Asherah poles that Hezekiah has removed were dedicated to the God of Israel; meanwhile, nothing could be farther from the truth. 3. The Rabshakeh claims that God has ordered him to conquer Jerusalem. Hmmph! This is a fascinating argument coming as it does from a man who doesn’t understand the difference between demonic false gods and the God of Israel. It’s quite possible that some “god” has given the Assyrians instructions; however, it is not the God of Israel.
“Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”
This is where these arguments fail. God has delivered the Israelites from the Egyptians at a time when that was one of the largest standing armies in the world. God has subsequently delivered both Judah and Israel on multiple occasions. While it is true that the Assyrians have conquered Samaria, the Samaritan citizens have abandoned the God of Israel, choosing to worship pagan demons instead. By refusing to worship the Living God, the Samaritans have sealed their own fate.
The Rabshakeh paints a lovely picture of how peacefully the citizens of Jerusalem will live until the Assyrians carry them off to another land. But these are the ASSYRIANS, the same guys who behead as many people as possible and keep track of the severed heads as a form of keeping score. These are the same warriors who skin leaders alive and who cut them to pieces and subject them to all kinds of other tortures. Anybody foolish enough to believe this argument is likely to die a miserable death. No wonder the representatives of King Hezekiah choose to remain silent!
APPLICATION: Make no mistake. The Assyrian threat to Jerusalem was very real. Hezekiah didn’t need the Rabshakeh to tell him that Egypt was likely to fail him; Hezekiah was bright enough to realize it for himself. Hezekiah sent some of his best people out as envoys but took the precaution of advising them not to respond, no matter what the Assyrians said. Things really did look bleak for Jerusalem and its king.
Have you ever found yourself in a situation similar to that of Hezekiah’s? Perhaps you are heading an organization and suddenly find that those who have promised to help you have deserted you, leaving you vulnerable to attack. Perhaps you find yourself besieged by critics employing some of the same arguments used by the Rabshakeh. What can you do?
Hezekiah’s envoys were wise enough to remain silent, no matter the level of provocation. Being able to remain silent in the face of attack is a precious attribute. The envoys were also wise enough not to believe the Assyrian promises. By this point, Samaria and other fortified cities lay in ruins. Why would Jerusalem be any different?
This chapter ends with the envoys reporting to Hezekiah in extreme grief with their clothing torn as a sign of mourning. Little did they realize what God was about to do for them. Sometimes we too must wait on God, hoping that He will deliver us and wondering if deliverance will really come. But God has never disappointed those who trust in Him. Tomorrow we will learn the rest of the story.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, encourage all who read these words that You have never deserted anyone who has trusted in You. This does not mean we might not suffer, but it does mean that You will be there with us in our suffering and that You will give us hope and deliverance. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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