Bible Study Isaiah 36
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Isaiah 36 · WEB

The Rabshakeh's Challenge

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Now it happened in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all of the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
2The king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah with a large army. He stood by the aqueduct of the upper pool in the fuller's field highway.
3Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came out to him.
4Rabshakeh said to them, "Now tell Hezekiah, 'This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: "What confidence is this in which you trust?
5I say that your counsel and strength for war are only vain words. Now in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?
6Behold, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even in Egypt, which if a man leans on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
7But 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?'
8Now therefore, please make a pledge to 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.
9How 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?
10Have I come up now without Yahweh against this land to destroy it? Yahweh said to me, 'Go up against this land and destroy it.'"'"
11Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and don't speak to us in the Jews' language in the hearing of the people who are on the wall."
12But Rabshakeh said, "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?"
13Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, "Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.
14This is what the king says: 'Don't let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you.
15Don't let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, "Yahweh will surely deliver us. This city won't be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."'
16Don't listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: 'Make your peace with me and come out to me, and each of you eat from his own vine, and each one from his own fig tree, and each one drink the waters of his own cistern;
17until 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.
18Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, "Yahweh will deliver us." Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
20Who are they among all the gods of these countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'"
21But they were silent and didn't answer him a word, for the king's commandment was, "Don't answer him."
22Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.
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Summary

In 701 BC, Sennacherib king of Assyria sends his field commander, the Rabshakeh, to Jerusalem to demand its surrender after capturing the other fortified cities of Judah. The Rabshakeh delivers a bold propaganda speech in Hebrew, mocking trust in Egypt and in Yahweh alike, and inviting the people to surrender peacefully. Hezekiah's officials beg him to speak in Aramaic so the common people on the wall won't be demoralized, but he deliberately raises his voice louder. The people remain silent as the king commanded, and Hezekiah's officials return to him with torn clothes, reporting what was said.

Themes

  • Intimidation and psychological warfare
  • The challenge to trust in God versus human power
  • Silence as faithful obedience
  • The arrogance of earthly power against God
  • False equivalence between Yahweh and the gods of other nations

Key verses

  • Isa 36:15 — “Don't let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, 'Yahweh will surely deliver us. This city won't be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.'”
  • Isa 36:20 — “Who are they among all the gods of these countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?”
  • Isa 36:21 — “But they were silent and didn't answer him a word, for the king's commandment was, 'Don't answer him.'”
  • Isa 36:7 — “But 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?'”

Context & background

This chapter runs nearly parallel to 2 Kings 18:13–37 and records a real historical crisis: Sennacherib's western campaign of 701 BC, confirmed by Assyrian annals and the famous Taylor Prism. Assyria's empire was centered in modern northern Iraq (Nineveh is modern Mosul), and Sennacherib had already swept through the Levant, capturing Lachish (modern Tel Lachish in southern Israel). Jerusalem, in the central highlands of modern Israel, was the last major city holding out. The Rabshakeh's speech is a masterpiece of psychological warfare — spoken in Hebrew rather than Aramaic (the diplomatic language) to reach the common soldiers on the wall and break their morale from within.

Cross-references

  • 2 Kgs 17:6 — The fall of Samaria, which the Rabshakeh cites as proof of Assyrian power
  • 2 Kgs 18:13–37 — Near-verbatim parallel account of this same event
  • Isa 31:1–3 — Isaiah warned against trusting in Egypt and horses; the Rabshakeh mocks exactly this misplaced trust
  • Isa 7:3 — Isaiah previously met Ahaz at this same aqueduct of the upper pool; now Assyria stands there
  • Ps 46:1–3 — "God is our refuge and strength" — the faith the Rabshakeh seeks to destroy

Check your reading

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  1. Observe

    Why does the Rabshakeh say Judah cannot trust Egypt (v. 6)?

  2. Observe

    What does the Rabshakeh do when Hezekiah's officials ask him to speak in Aramaic?

  3. Interpret

    What is the rhetorical strategy behind the Rabshakeh's claim in verse 10 that "Yahweh said to me, 'Go up against this land and destroy it'"?

  4. Interpret

    Why is the people's silence in verse 21 presented as a positive faithful response?

  5. Apply

    Where in modern life does the Rabshakeh's tactic — making faith in God look naive — show up?

  6. Apply

    What does Hezekiah's "don't answer him" model when facing mockery or pressure?

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