The prophet Isaiah is, in this and the three following chapters, an
historian; for the scripture history, as well as the scripture
prophecy, is given by inspiration of God, and was dictated to holy men.
Many of the prophecies of the foregoing chapters had their
accomplishment in Sennacherib's invading Judah and besieging Jerusalem,
and the miraculous defeat he met with there; and therefore the story of
this is here inserted, both for the explication and for the
confirmation of the prophecy. The key of prophecy is to be found in
history; and here, that we might have the readier entrance, it is, as
it were, hung at the door. The exact fulfilling of this prophecy might
serve to confirm the faith of God's people in the other prophecies, the
accomplishment of which was at a greater distance. Whether this story
was taken from the book of the Kings and added here, or whether it was
first written by Isaiah here and hence taken into the book of Kings, is
not material. But the story is the same almost verbatim; and it was so
memorable an event that it was well worthy to be twice recorded,
2 Kings 18:1-19:37,
and here, and an abridgment of it likewise,
2 Chronicles 32:1-33
We shall be but short in our observations upon this story here, having
largely explained it there. In this chapter we have,
I. The descent which the king of Assyria made upon Judah, and his
success against all the defenced cities,
Isaiah 36:1.
II. The conference he desired to have with Hezekiah, and the managers
on both sides,
Isaiah 36:2,3.
III. Rabshakeh's railing blasphemous speech, with which he designed to
frighten Hezekiah into a submission, and persuade him to surrender at
discretion,
Isaiah 36:4-10.
IV. His appeal to the people, and his attempt to persuade them to
desert Hezekiah, and so force him to surrender,
Isaiah 36:11-20.
V. The report of this made to Hezekiah by his agents,
Isaiah 36:21,22.
Sennacherib's Insolent Message.
B. C. 710.
1 Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah,
that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the
defenced cities of Judah, and took them.
2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to
Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by
the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's
field.
3 Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was
over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the
recorder.
4 And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus
saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is
this wherein thou trustest?
5 I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) I
have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust,
that thou rebellest against me?
6 Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt;
whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it:
so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.
7 But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it
not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken
away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before
this altar?
8 Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the
king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if
thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.
9 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the
least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for
chariots and for horsemen?
10 And am I now come up without the LORD against this land to
destroy it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and
destroy it.
We shall here only observe some practical lessons.
1. A people may be in the way of their duty and yet meet with trouble
and distress. Hezekiah was reforming, and his people were in some
measure reformed; and yet their country is at that time invaded and a
great part of it laid waste. Perhaps they began to grow remiss and cool
in the work of reformation, were doing it by halves, and ready to sit
down short of a thorough reformation; and then God visited them with
this judgment, to put life into them and that good cause. We must not
wonder if, when we are doing well, God sends afflictions to quicken us
to do better, to do our best, and to press forward towards perfection.
2. That we must never be secure of the continuance of our peace in this
world, nor think our mountain stands so strong that it cannot be moved.
Hezekiah was not only a pious king, but prudent, both in his
administration at home and in his treaties abroad. His affairs were in
a good posture, and he seemed particularly to be upon good terms with
the king of Assyria, for he had lately made his peace with him by a
rich present
(2 Kings 18:14),
and yet that perfidious prince pours an army into his country all of a
sudden and lays it waste. It is good for us therefore always to keep up
an expectation of trouble, that, when it comes, it may be no surprise
to us, and then it will be the less a terror.
3. God sometimes permits the enemies of his people, even those that are
most impious and treacherous, to prevail far against them. The king of
Assyria took all, or most, of the defenced cities of Judah, and then
the country would of course be an easy prey to him. Wickedness may
prosper awhile, but cannot prosper always.
4. Proud men love to talk big, to boast of what they are, and have, and
have done, nay and of what they will do, to insult over others, and set
all mankind at defiance, though thereby they render themselves
ridiculous to all wise men and obnoxious to the wrath of that God who
resists the proud. But thus they think to make themselves feared,
though they make themselves hated, and to carry their point by great
swelling words of vanity,
Jude 1:16.
5. The enemies of God's people endeavour to conquer them by frightening
them, especially by frightening them from their confidence in God. Thus
Rabshakeh here, with noise and banter, runs down Hezekiah as utterly
unable to cope with his master, or in the least to make head against
him. It concerns us therefore, that we may keep our ground against the
enemies of our souls, to keep up our spirits by keeping up our hope in
God.
6. It is acknowledged, on all hands, that those who forsake God's
service forfeit his protection. If that had been true which Rabshakeh
alleged, that Hezekiah had thrown down God's altars, he might justly
infer that he could not with any assurance trust in him for succour and
relief,
Isaiah 36:7,
We may say thus to presuming sinners, who say that they trust in the
Lord and in his mercy. Is not this he whose commandments they have
lived in the contempt of, whose name they have dishonoured, and whose
ordinances they have slighted? How then can they expect to find favour
with him?
7. It is an easy thing, and very common, for those that persecute the
church and people of God to pretend a commission from him for so doing.
Rabshakeh could say, Have I now come up without the Lord? when
really he had come up against the Lord,
Isaiah 37:28.
Those that kill the servants of the Lord think they do him service and
say, Let the Lord be glorified. But, sooner or later, they will
be made to know their error to their cost, to their confusion.
Sennacherib's Insolent Message.
B. C. 710.
11 Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak,
I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we
understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in
the ears of the people that are on the wall.
12 But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and
to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men
that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and
drink their own piss with you?
13 Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the
Jews' language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king,
the king of Assyria.
14 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he
shall not be able to deliver you.
15 Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The
LORD will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered
into the hand of the king of Assyria.
16 Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria,
Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me:
and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree,
and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern;
17 Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land,
a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
18 Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will
deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his
land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the
gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my
hand?
20 Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have
delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver
Jerusalem out of my hand?
21 But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for
the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.
22 Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the
household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the
recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the
words of Rabshakeh.
We may hence learn these lessons:--
1. That, while princes and counsellors have public matters under
debate, it is not fair to appeal to the people. It was a reasonable
motion which Hezekiah's plenipotentiaries made, that this parley should
be held in a language which the people did not understand
(Isaiah 36:36),
because reasons of state are secret things and ought to be kept secret,
the vulgar being incompetent judges of them. It is therefore an unfair
practice, and not doing as men would be done by, to incense subjects
against their rulers by base insinuations.
2. Proud and haughty scorners, the fairer they are spoken to, commonly
speak the fouler. Nothing could be said more mildly and respectfully
than that which Hezekiah's agents said to Rabshakeh. Besides that the
thing itself was just which they desired, they called themselves his
servants, they petitioned for it: Speak, we pray thee;
but this made him the more spiteful and imperious. To give rough
answers to those who give us soft answers is one way of rendering evil
for good; and those are wicked indeed, and it is to be feared
incurable, with whom that which usually turns away wrath does but make
bad worse.
3. When Satan would tempt men from trusting in God, and cleaving to
him, he does so by insinuating that in yielding to him they may better
their condition; but it is a false suggestion, and grossly absurd, and
therefore to be rejected with the utmost abhorrence. When the world and
the flesh say to us, "Make an agreement with us and come out
to us, submit to our dominion and come into our interests, and
you shall eat every one of his own vine," they do but deceive
us, promising liberty when they would lead us into the basest captivity
and slavery. One might as well take Rabshakeh's word as theirs for
kind usage and fair quarter; therefore, when they speak fair,
believe them not. Let them say what they will, there is no land
like the land of promise, the holy land.
4. Nothing can be more absurd in itself, nor a greater affront to the
true and living God, than to compare him with the gods of the heathen;
as if he could do no more for the protection of his worshippers than
they can for the protection of theirs, and as if the God of Israel
could as easily be mastered as the gods of Hamath and Arphad, whereas
they are vanity and a lie. They are nothing; he is the great I
AM: they are the creatures of men's fancy and the works of men's
hands; he is the Creator of all things.
5. Presumptuous sinners are ready to think that, because they have
been too hard for their fellow-creatures, they are therefore a match
for their Creator. This and the other nation they have subdued, and
therefore the Lord himself shall not deliver Jerusalem out of their
hand. But, though the potsherds may strive with the potsherds of the
earth, let them not strive with the potter.
6. It is sometimes prudent not to answer a fool according to his
folly. Hezekiah's command was, "Answer him not; it will but
provoke him to rail and blaspheme yet more and more; leave it to God to
stop his mouth, for you cannot." They had reason enough on their side,
but it would be hard to speak it to such an unreasonable adversary
without a mixture of passion; and, if they should fall a railing like
him, Rabshakeh would be much too hard for them at that weapon.
7. It becomes the people of God to lay to heart the dishonour done to
God by the blasphemies of wicked men, though they do not think it
prudent to reply to those blasphemies. Though they answered him not
a word, yet they rent their clothes, in a holy zeal for the glory
of God's name and a holy indignation at the contempt put upon it. They
tore their garments when they heard blasphemy, as taking no pleasure in
their own ornaments when God's honour suffered.
Matthew Henry "Verse by Verse Commentary for 'Isaiah' Matthew Henry Bible Commentary".
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