I
S A I A H
CHAP. XXXVI.
The
prophet Isaiah is, in this and the three following chapters, an historian; for
the scripture history, as well as the scripture prophecy, is given by
inspiration of God, and was dictated to holy men. Many of the prophecies of
the foregoing chapters had their accomplishment in Sennacherib's invading Judah
and besieging
Jerusalem, and the miraculous defeat he met with there;
and therefore the story of this is here inserted, both for the explication and
for the confirmation of the prophecy. The key of prophecy is to be found in
history; and here, that we might have the readier entrance, it is, as it were,
hung at the door. The exact fulfilling of this prophecy might serve to confirm
the faith of God's people in the other prophecies, the accomplishment of which
was at a greater distance. Whether this story was taken from the book of the
Kings and added here, or whether it was first written by Isaiah here and hence
taken into the book of Kings, is not material. But the story is the same
almost verbatim; and it was so memorable an event that it was well worthy to
be twice recorded, 2 Kings xviii. and xix., and here, and an abridgment of it
likewise, 2 Chron. xxxii. We shall be but short in our observations upon this
story here, having largely explained it there. In this chapter we have, I. The
descent which the king of
Assyria
made upon Judah, and his success against all the defenced
cities, ver. 1. II. The conference he desired to have with Hezekiah, and the
managers on both sides, ver. 2, 3. III. Rabshakeh's railing blasphemous
speech, with which he designed to frighten Hezekiah into a submission, and
persuade him to surrender at discretion, ver. 4-10. IV. His appeal to the
people, and his attempt to persuade them to desert Hezekiah, and so force him
to surrender, ver. 11-20. V. The report of this made to Hezekiah by his
agents, ver. 21, 22.
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Sennacherib's
Insolent Message.
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B.
C. 710.
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1 Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of
king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the
defenced cities of Judah, and took them. 2 And the king of Assyria
sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army.
And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's
field. 3 Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which
was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the
recorder. 4 And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah,
Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this
wherein thou trustest? 5 I say, sayest thou, (but they
are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on
whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me? 6 Lo, thou
trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it
will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to
all that trust in him. 7 But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD
our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath
taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this
altar? 8 Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the
king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on
thy part to set riders upon them. 9 How then wilt thou turn away
the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy
trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 And am I now come
up without the LORD
against this land to destroy it? the LORD
said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
We shall here only observe some practical lessons. 1. A people may be in the
way of their duty and yet meet with trouble and distress. Hezekiah was
reforming, and his people were in some measure reformed; and yet their country
is at that time invaded and a great part of it laid waste. Perhaps they began
to grow remiss and cool in the work of reformation, were doing it by halves,
and ready to sit down short of a thorough reformation; and then God visited
them with this judgment, to put life into them and that good cause. We must
not wonder if, when we are doing well, God sends afflictions to quicken us to
do better, to do our best, and to press forward towards perfection. 2. That we
must never be secure of the continuance of our peace in this world, nor think
our mountain stands so strong that it cannot be moved. Hezekiah was not only a
pious king, but prudent, both in his administration at home and in his
treaties abroad. His affairs were in a good posture, and he seemed
particularly to be upon good terms with the king of Assyria, for he had lately
made his peace with him by a rich present (2 Kings xviii. 14), and yet that
perfidious prince pours an army into his country all of a sudden and lays it
waste. It is good for us therefore always to keep up an expectation of
trouble, that, when it comes, it may be no surprise to us, and then it will be
the less a terror. 3. God sometimes permits the enemies of his people, even
those that are most impious and treacherous, to prevail far against them. The
king of Assyria took all, or most, of the defenced cities of Judah, and then
the country would of course be an easy prey to him. Wickedness may prosper
awhile, but cannot prosper always. 4. Proud men love to talk big, to boast of
what they are, and have, and have done, nay and of what they will do, to
insult over others, and set all mankind at defiance, though thereby they
render themselves ridiculous to all wise men and obnoxious to the wrath of
that God who resists the proud. But thus they think to make themselves feared,
though they make themselves hated, and to carry their point by great
swelling words of vanity, Jude 16. 5. The enemies of God's people
endeavour to conquer them by frightening them, especially by frightening them
from their confidence in God. Thus Rabshakeh here, with noise and banter, runs
down Hezekiah as utterly unable to cope with his master, or in the least to
make head against him. It concerns us therefore, that we may keep our ground
against the enemies of our souls, to keep up our spirits by keeping up our
hope in God. 6. It is acknowledged, on all hands, that those who forsake God's
service forfeit his protection. If that had been true which Rabshakeh alleged,
that Hezekiah had thrown down God's altars, he might justly infer that he
could not with any assurance trust in him for succour and relief, v. 7,
We may say thus to presuming sinners, who say that they trust in the Lord and
in his mercy. Is not this he whose commandments they have lived in the
contempt of, whose name they have dishonoured, and whose ordinances they have
slighted? How then can they expect to find favour with him? 7. It is an easy
thing, and very common, for those that persecute the church and people of God
to pretend a commission from him for so doing. Rabshakeh could say, Have I
now come up without the Lord? when really he had come up against
the Lord, ch. xxxvii. 28. Those that kill the servants of the Lord
think they do him service and say, Let the Lord be glorified. But,
sooner or later, they will be made to know their error to their cost, to their
confusion.
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Sennacherib's
Insolent Message.
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B.
C. 710.
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11 Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto
Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for
we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the
ears of the people that are on the wall. 12 But Rabshakeh
said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? hath
he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat
their own dung, and drink their own piss with you? 13 Then
Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said,
Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of
Assyria. 14 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for
he shall not be able to deliver you. 15 Neither let Hezekiah make
you trust in the LORD,
saying, The LORD
will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the
king of Assyria. 16 Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of
Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to
me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink
ye every one the waters of his own cistern; 17 Until I come and
take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of
bread and vineyards. 18 Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you,
saying, The LORD
will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of
the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of
Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they
delivered
Samaria
out of my hand? 20 Who are they
among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my
hand, that the LORD
should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? 21 But they held their
peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying,
Answer him not. 22 Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was
over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the
recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words
of Rabshakeh.
We may hence learn these lessons:-- 1. That, while princes and counsellors
have public matters under debate, it is not fair to appeal to the people. It
was a reasonable motion which Hezekiah's plenipotentiaries made, that this
parley should be held in a language which the people did not understand (v.
11), because reasons of state are secret things and ought to be kept secret,
the vulgar being incompetent judges of them. It is therefore an unfair
practice, and not doing as men would be done by, to incense subjects against
their rulers by base insinuations. 2. Proud and haughty scorners, the fairer
they are spoken to, commonly speak the fouler. Nothing could be said more
mildly and respectfully than that which Hezekiah's agents said to Rabshakeh.
Besides that the thing itself was just which they desired, they called
themselves his servants, they petitioned for it: Speak, we pray
thee; but this made him the more spiteful and imperious. To give rough
answers to those who give us soft answers is one way of rendering evil for
good; and those are wicked indeed, and it is to be feared incurable, with whom
that which usually turns away wrath does but make bad worse. 3. When Satan
would tempt men from trusting in God, and cleaving to him, he does so by
insinuating that in yielding to him they may better their condition; but it is
a false suggestion, and grossly absurd, and therefore to be rejected with the
utmost abhorrence. When the world and the flesh say to us, "Make an
agreement with us and come out to us, submit to our dominion and
come into our interests, and you shall eat every one of his own vine,"
they do but deceive us, promising liberty when they would lead us into the
basest captivity and slavery. One might as well take Rabshakeh's word as
theirs for kind usage and fair quarter; therefore, when they speak fair,
believe them not. Let them say what they will, there is no land like the
land of promise, the holy land. 4. Nothing can be more absurd in itself, nor a
greater affront to the true and living God, than to compare him with the gods
of the heathen; as if he could do no more for the protection of his
worshippers than they can for the protection of theirs, and as if the God of
Israel could as easily be mastered as the gods of Hamath and Arphad, whereas
they are vanity and a lie. They are nothing; he is the great I AM: they
are the creatures of men's fancy and the works of men's hands; he is the
Creator of all things. 5. Presumptuous sinners are ready to think that,
because they have been too hard for their fellow-creatures, they are therefore
a match for their Creator. This and the other nation they have subdued, and
therefore the Lord himself shall not deliver Jerusalem out of their hand. But,
though the potsherds may strive with the potsherds of the earth, let them not
strive with the potter. 6. It is sometimes prudent not to answer a fool
according to his folly. Hezekiah's command was, "Answer him not;
it will but provoke him to rail and blaspheme yet more and more; leave it to
God to stop his mouth, for you cannot." They had reason enough on their
side, but it would be hard to speak it to such an unreasonable adversary
without a mixture of passion; and, if they should fall a railing like him,
Rabshakeh would be much too hard for them at that weapon. 7. It becomes the
people of God to lay to heart the dishonour done to God by the blasphemies of
wicked men, though they do not think it prudent to reply to those blasphemies.
Though they answered him not a word, yet they rent their clothes, in a
holy zeal for the glory of God's name and a holy indignation at the contempt
put upon it. They tore their garments when they heard blasphemy, as taking no
pleasure in their own ornaments when God's honour suffered.
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