2 Kings 18:27

_BUT RABSHAKEH SAID UNTO THEM, HATH MY MASTER SENT ME TO THY MASTER, AND TO THEE, TO SPEAK THESE WORDS? HATH HE NOT SENT ME TO THE MEN WHICH SIT ON THE WALL, THAT THEY MAY EAT THEIR OWN DUNG, AND DRINK THEIR OWN PISS WITH YOU?_ But Rab-shakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master? ... His object was to stir and terrify the populace into immediate submission, and with that view, turning to the crowd which was congregated on the walls, he represented to them, by coarse, but graphic terms, in their own Hebrew tongue, the extreme privations to which, in spite of the delusive assurances of Hezekiah, they would inevitably be reduced by Sennacherib during a protracted siege (2 Chronicles 32:11). The result is mentioned as if it had been the purpose and design of the siege....

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 27. _THAT THEY MAY EAT THEIR OWN DUNG_] That they may be duly apprised, if they hold on Hezekiah's side, Jerusalem shall be most straitly besieged, and they be reduced to such a state of _famine_ as to be obliged to eat their own excrements....

THAT THEY MAY EAT ... - “My master hath sent me,” the Rab-shakeh seems to say, “to these men, whom I see stationed on the wall to defend the place and bear the last extremities of a prolonged siege - these men on whom its worst evils will fall, and who have therefore the greatest interest in avoiding it by a timely surrender.” He expresses the evils by a strong coarse phrase, suited to the rude soldiery, and well calculated to rouse their feelings. The author of Chronicles has softened down the words 2 Chronicles 32:11....

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 ...

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

HEZEKIAH AND SENNACHERIB This chapter describes the reign of Hezekiah of Judah, his religious reforms, and the invasion of Judah by Sennacherib, king of Assyria, who sent one of his officers to demand the surrender of Jerusalem....

THE LAST KINGS OF *ISRAEL AND *JUDAH BOOK OF 2 KINGS _PHILIP SMITH_ CHAPTER 18 HEZEKIAH’S RULE AS KING OF *JUDAH V1 Hezekiah, Ahaz’s son, began to rule as king of *Judah. He did so in the 3rd year of Hoshea’s rule. Hoshea (Elah’s son) was king of *Israel. V2 Hezekiah was 25 years old when he became the king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. V3 Hezekiah did what pleased the *Lord. So Hezekiah was like his *ancestor, David. V4 Hezekiah removed the places where people *worshipped on the high hills. He broke the images that people had made out of stone. And he cut down the images of the female god called Asherah. He broke in pieces the snake that Moses had made of bronze (brown metal). [Its name was Nehushtan.]