2 Kings 18:25

_AM I NOW COME UP WITHOUT THE LORD AGAINST THIS PLACE TO DESTROY IT? THE LORD SAID TO ME, GO UP AGAINST THIS LAND, AND DESTROY IT._ Am I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? ... This particular remark forms the foundation on which the Jewish writers, followed by Procopius, rest their conjecture that Rab-shakeh was a renegade Israelite, as it seems to imply that he was acquainted with the predictions of Isaiah respecting the judgments which God was about to inflict upon the Hebrews through the instrumentality of the Assyrians. But there is no certain evidence of the truth of this hypothesis. The language of Rab-shakeh might have been only bluster. Perhaps he may have been encouraged by some false prophet, who pretended to have had a revelation to him upon this matter; or he might have inferred that he was sent on a mission of judicial punishment to the Hebrews f...

17-37 Rabshakeh tries to convince the Jews, that it was to no purpose for them to stand it out. What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? It were well if sinners would submit to the force of this argument, in seeking peace with God. It is, therefore, our wisdom to yield to him, because it is in vain to contend with him: what confidence is that which those trust in who stand out against him? A great deal of art there is in this speech of Rabshakeh; but a great deal of pride, malice, falsehood, and blasphemy. Hezekiah's nobles held their peace. There is a time to keep silence, as well as a time to speak; and there are those to whom to offer any thing religious or rational, is to cast pearls before swine. Their silence made Rabshakeh yet more proud and secure. It is often best to leave such persons to rail and blaspheme; a decided expression of abhorrence is the best testimony against...

Verse 2 Kings 18:25. _AM I NOW COME UP WITHOUT THE LORD_] As Rab-shakeh saw that the Jews placed the utmost confidence in God, he wished to persuade them that by Hezekiah's conduct Jehovah had departed from them, and was become ally to the king of Assyria, and therefore they could not expect any help from that quarter....

The Rab-shakeh probably tries the effect of a bold assertion, which had no basis of fact to rest upon....

EXPOSITION 18-25 THE HISTORY OF THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH AFTER THE FALL OF SAMARIA. 2 KINGS 18:1 THE ACCESSION OF HEZEKIAH. HIS SUCCESSES. HIS WAR WITH SENNACHERIB. 2 KINGS 18:1 THE EARLY YEARS Or HEZEKIAH. From his narrative of the destruction of the kingdom of Samaria, the writer

2 Kings 18:17...

IV. THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH, MANASSEH AND AMON 1. Hezekiah and Sennacherib's Invasion CHAPTER 18 _ 1. Hezekiah, King of Judah (2 Kings 18:1; 2 Kings 2 Chron. 29-32)_ 2. The Revival (2 Kings 18:4) 3. Victory over the Philistines (2 Kings 18:8) 4. Israel's captivity (2 Kings 18:9) 5. Sennacherib's invasion (2 Kings 18:13) 6. Sennacherib's messengers and message ...

2 KINGS 18:13 TO 2 KINGS 19:37. SENNACHERIB'S CAMPAIGN. 2 Kings 18:13. In the fourteenth year: if Hezekiah began to reign five years before the fall of Samaria (722 B.C.), and Sennacherib did not succeed till 706 B.C., this date cannot be correct. The king of Assyria took upwards of 200,000 Jewish captives. 2 Kings 18:14. Lachish (p. 28) was besieged by Sennacherib, and his exploits there are depicted on a bas-relief in the British Museum. 2 Kings 18:16. which Hezekiah overlaid: Skinner asks, Should it be Solo

_Am I now come up without the Lord_ Rab-shakeh goes one step further, and with a bold assertion claims Jehovah's support. Perhaps he thought his lie would receive some credence because he had already been able to reduce the towns all round Jerusalem. And if it did, one great stay of the king's courage would be broken down. -How fearful a word was this. The rest were but vain cracks: this was a thunderbolt to strike dead the heart of Hezekiah. If Rab-shakeh could have been believed, Jerusalem could not but have flown open" (Bp Hall). Rab-shakeh would know and use the name of the God of Israel, without regarding Him otherwise than as a local deity, just as Asshur was of Assyria....

B. SENNACHERIB'S INITIAL SURRENDER DEMANDS 18:17-19:7 The Assyrian king was not satisfied with the tribute paid by Hezekiah. He wanted nothing less than the total surrender of Jerusalem. While he himself was engaged in military operations in the lowland region of Palestine, he sent an embassy to Jerusalem to demand capitulation (2 Kings 18:17-37). In response to the bombastic demands and blasphemous assertions of these pagans, Isaiah delivered an oracle promising deliverance for Judah (2 Kings 19:1-7). Whereas older commentators viewed the actions and words of the Assyrian envoys in this section as improbable, more recent scholars have been forced to concede the historical verisimilitude of 2 Kings 18:17