2 Kings 18 · WEB
Hezekiah's Good Reign; Sennacherib Invades; Rabshakeh's Taunts
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Now in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.
2He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.
3He did that which was right in Yahweh's eyes, according to all that David his father had done.
4He removed the high places, broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for in those days the children of Israel burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan.
5He trusted in Yahweh, the God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him.
6For he clung to Yahweh. He didn't depart from following him, but kept his commandments, which Yahweh commanded Moses.
7Yahweh was with him. Wherever he went, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and didn't serve him.
8He struck the Philistines to Gaza and its borders, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.
9In the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it.
10At the end of three years they took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
11The king of Assyria carried Israel away to Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,
12because they didn't obey the voice of Yahweh their God, but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded, and would not obey it, nor do it.
13Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.
14Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, "I have offended. Return from me. That which you put on me, I will bear." The king of Assyria appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
15Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in Yahweh's house and in the treasures of the king's house.
16At that time Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of Yahweh's temple and from the doorposts which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
17The king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army to Jerusalem. They went up and came to Jerusalem. When they had come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the fuller's field.
18When they had called to the king, Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, came out to them with Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.
19Rabshakeh said to them, "Say now to Hezekiah, 'Yahweh's great king, the king of Assyria, says: "What confidence is this in which you trust?
20You say — but they are only vain words — 'There is counsel and strength for war.' Now in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?
21Now, behold, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even in Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
22But if you tell me, 'We trust in Yahweh our God,' isn't that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, 'You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?'
23Now therefore, please make a wager with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.
24How then can you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
25Have I now come up without Yahweh against this place to destroy it? Yahweh said to me, 'Go up against this land and destroy it.'"'"
26Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah said to Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in the Syrian language, for we understand it. Don't speak with us in the Jews' language in the hearing of the people who are on the wall."
27But Rabshakeh said to them, "Has my master sent me to your master and to you, to speak these words? Hasn't he sent me to the men who sit on the wall, to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine with you?"
28Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language and spoke, saying, "Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.
29The king says, 'Don't let Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you out of his hand.
30Don't let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, "Yahweh will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."'
31Don't listen to Hezekiah; for the king of Assyria says, 'Make your peace with me and come out to me; and each of you eat from his vine, and each one from his fig tree, and each one drink the waters of his own cistern;
32until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and of honey, that you may live and not die. Don't listen to Hezekiah when he persuades you, saying, "Yahweh will deliver us."
33Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
34Where are the gods of Hamath and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
35Who are they among all the gods of the countries that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'"
36But the people remained silent and didn't answer him a word; for the king's commandment was, "Don't answer him."
37Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, came with Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.
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Summary
Hezekiah is praised as one of the greatest kings of Judah, surpassing even his predecessors — he removes the high places, breaks the bronze serpent Moses made (now being worshipped), and clings to God without wavering. He initially pays a massive tribute to Sennacherib of Assyria to avoid war, stripping the Temple doors of their gold. But Assyria sends a delegation anyway, led by the Rabshakeh, who delivers a brilliantly crafted psychological assault against Jerusalem's walls in Hebrew — mocking Egypt's help, questioning whether Yahweh can protect, and promising comfortable deportation. The people stay silent as Hezekiah commanded, but his ministers return with torn clothes, shaken to the core.
Themes
- Total trust in Yahweh as the defining characteristic of a faithful king
- The Assyrian empire's psychological warfare tactics against faith
- The destruction of false religion as part of genuine reform
- The contrast between Hezekiah's faithfulness and Ahaz's faithlessness in the previous chapter
Key verses
- 2 Kgs 18:22 — “Rabshakeh's taunt: "If you tell me, 'We trust in Yahweh our God,' isn't that he whose high places Hezekiah has taken away?”
- 2 Kgs 18:35 — “Who are they among all the gods of the countries that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?”
- 2 Kgs 18:5-6 — “He trusted in Yahweh, the God of Israel… he clung to Yahweh. He didn't depart from following him.”
Context & background
Sennacherib's invasion of Judah in 701 BC is one of the best-documented events in the Bible-archaeology interface: Sennacherib's own annals (now in the British Museum, London) record taking 46 Judean cities and besieging Jerusalem, though they conspicuously avoid claiming Jerusalem was conquered. Lachish (modern Tel Lachish, southern Israel) was the second-largest city in Judah and the Assyrian siege of it is depicted in remarkable detail on reliefs in the British Museum. The upper pool conduit (verse 17) is likely the same water system Hezekiah would soon expand (2 Kings 20:20) — Hezekiah's Tunnel, still walkable today in Jerusalem. The Rabshakeh's speech is a masterwork of propaganda, deliberately undermining the one thing standing between Jerusalem and surrender: faith in Yahweh.
Cross-references
- Deut 17:16 — The law against trusting Egypt for horses — the weakness Rabshakeh exploits
- Isa 36-37 — Isaiah's parallel account of the Assyrian invasion, with more of the prophet's role
- Num 21:8-9 — Moses makes the bronze serpent; Hezekiah destroys it when it becomes an idol
- Ps 46:1 — "God is our refuge and strength" — the faith Hezekiah models in this chapter
- Rev 13:5-6 — The beast's blasphemy against God echoes Rabshakeh's taunt against Yahweh