XXXVI. (1) IT CAME TO PASS IN THE FOURTEENTH YEAR OF KING HEZEKIAH... — In the judgment of nearly all Assyriologists (Sir Henry Rawlinson, Sayce, Hinckes, Lenormant, Schrader, Cheyne), we have to rectify the chronology. The inscriptions of Sennacherib fix the date of his campaign against Hezekiah in... [ Continue Reading ]
THE KING OF ASSYRIA SENT RABSHAKEH. — The word is a title (_the_ Rabshakeh) probably the chief officer or cup-bearer. In 2 Kings 18; 2 Chronicles 32; 2 Chronicles 32, we have the previous history of the war. Hezekiah, on hearing Sennacherib’s reproach, began to strengthen the fortifications of Jerus... [ Continue Reading ]
ELIAKIM. — It is significant that Eliakim now fills the office which, a short time before, had been filled by Shebna, while the latter is reduced to the inferior position of a scribe (Isaiah 22:15). The change is clearly traceable to Isaiah’s influence. The “scribe” was the secretary who formulated... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE COUNSEL AND STRENGTH FOR WAR... — Reports of Hezekiah’s speech. probably also of his negotiations with Egypt, had reached the ears of the Assyrian king. So Sennacherib. in his inscriptions, speaks of “the king of Egypt as a monarch who could not save those who trusted in him” (Smith, _Assyria... [ Continue Reading ]
IS IT NOT HE, WHOSE HIGH PLACES... — This was this impression left on the mind of the Rabshakeh by what he heard of Hezekiah’s reformation. From the Assyrian stand-point a god was honoured in proportion as his sanctuaries were multiplied, but wherever he went, the Rabshakeh had found “high places “w... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW, THEREFORE, GIVE PLEDGES. — Better, _make a wager._ This would seem to be a taunt interpolated by the Rabshakeh in the midst of his official message. There was something absurd in the idea of Judah coming out as strong in its cavalry. Had they two thousand men who could manage their horses if th... [ Continue Reading ]
AM I NOW COME UP WITHOUT THE LORD... — The words may be simply an empty boast. Possibly, however, Isaiah’s teaching that it was Jehovah who brought the King of Assyria into Judah, and used him as an instrument (Isaiah 7:17), had become known, or Sennacherib may have dreamt, or have said that he had... [ Continue Reading ]
SPEAK, I PRAY THEE, UNTO THY SERVANTS... — The king’s officers, knowing the “little faith” of their people, are not, perhaps, without misgivings of their own. Might not the townsmen, listening eagerly on the wall, recognise in Rabshakeh’s words an echo of Isaiah’s, and lose courage, as feeling that... [ Continue Reading ]
HATH HE NOT SENT ME TO THE MEN THAT SIT UPON THE WALL...? — The words, which in their brutal coarseness have hardly a parallel in history, till we come to Bismarck’s telling the Parisians that they may “stew in their own gravy,” imply that the Assyrians were in a position to cut off the supplies bot... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER LET HEZEKIAH MAKE YOU TRUST IN THE LORD... — Rabshakeh had apparently heard from spies or deserters of Hezekiah’s speech to his people (2 Chronicles 32:7). In contrast with what he derides as trust in a God who was against those who trusted Him, he offers tangible material advantages They ha... [ Continue Reading ]
HATH ANY OF THE GODS OF THE NATIONS... — The Rabshakeh speaks in the natural language of polytheism. The Jehovah of Israel was one of gods many and lords many, a simple national deity; but Asshur and Ishtar, the gods of Assyria, were supreme above them all (_Records of the Past,_ i. 25, 33).... [ Continue Reading ]
HAMATH AND ARPHAD... — See Note on Isaiah 10:9. Looking to the practice of the Assyrians, the question would have had for its answer, not the echoing “Where?” which it suggests to modern ears, but “They are to be seen in the Temples of Assyria, as trophies of its victories.” SEPHARVAIM. — The south... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THEY HELD THEIR PEACE... — Hezekiah seems to have commanded silence, as if distrustful either of the wisdom of the ambassadors or of the effect which any chance words might have upon the garrison and people of Jerusalem. As it was, the only words they had spoken (Isaiah 36:11) had made matters i... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH THEIR CLOTHES RENT. — The act was the natural expression of their horror at the blasphemy of Rabshakeh’s words. (Comp. Matthew 26:65; Acts 14:14.) They would not reply to that blasphemy, and trusted to the effect of this silent protest on the minds of the people who had heard it.... [ Continue Reading ]