Worthy.Bible » STRONG » Isaiah » Chapter 36 » Verse 2-22

Isaiah 36:2-22 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

2 And the king H4428 of Assyria H804 sent H7971 Rabshakeh H7262 from Lachish H3923 to Jerusalem H3389 unto king H4428 Hezekiah H2396 with a great H3515 army. H2426 And he stood H5975 by the conduit H8585 of the upper H5945 pool H1295 in the highway H4546 of the fuller's H3526 field. H7704

3 Then came forth H3318 unto him Eliakim, H471 Hilkiah's H2518 son, H1121 which was over the house, H1004 and Shebna H7644 the scribe, H5608 and Joah, H3098 Asaph's H623 son, H1121 the recorder. H2142

4 And Rabshakeh H7262 said H559 unto them, Say H559 ye now to Hezekiah, H2396 Thus saith H559 the great H1419 king, H4428 the king H4428 of Assyria, H804 What confidence H986 is this wherein thou trustest? H982

5 I say, H559 sayest thou, (but they are but vain H8193 words) H1697 I have counsel H6098 and strength H1369 for war: H4421 now on whom dost thou trust, H982 that thou rebellest H4775 against me?

6 Lo, thou trustest H982 in the staff H4938 of this broken H7533 reed, H7070 on Egypt; H4714 whereon if a man H376 lean, H5564 it will go H935 into his hand, H3709 and pierce H5344 it: so is Pharaoh H6547 king H4428 of Egypt H4714 to all that trust H982 in him.

7 But if thou say H559 to me, We trust H982 in the LORD H3068 our God: H430 is it not he, whose high places H1116 and whose altars H4196 Hezekiah H2396 hath taken away, H5493 and said H559 to Judah H3063 and to Jerusalem, H3389 Ye shall worship H7812 before H6440 this altar? H4196

8 Now therefore give pledges, H6148 I pray thee, to my master H113 the king H4428 of Assyria, H804 and I will give H5414 thee two thousand H505 horses, H5483 if thou be able H3201 on thy part to set H5414 riders H7392 upon them.

9 How then wilt thou turn away H7725 the face H6440 of one H259 captain H6346 of the least H6996 of my master's H113 servants, H5650 and put thy trust H982 on Egypt H4714 for chariots H7393 and for horsemen? H6571

10 And am I now come up H5927 without H1107 the LORD H3068 against this land H776 to destroy H7843 it? the LORD H3068 said H559 unto me, Go up H5927 against this land, H776 and destroy H7843 it.

11 Then said H559 Eliakim H471 and Shebna H7644 and Joah H3098 unto Rabshakeh, H7262 Speak, H1696 I pray thee, unto thy servants H5650 in the Syrian language; H762 for we understand H8085 it: and speak H1696 not to us in the Jews' language, H3066 in the ears H241 of the people H5971 that are on the wall. H2346

12 But Rabshakeh H7262 said, H559 Hath my master H113 sent H7971 me to thy master H113 and to thee to speak H1696 these words? H1697 hath he not sent me to the men H582 that sit H3427 upon the wall, H2346 that they may eat H398 their own dung, H2716 H6675 and drink H8354 their own piss H4325 H7272 H7890 with you?

13 Then Rabshakeh H7262 stood, H5975 and cried H7121 with a loud H1419 voice H6963 in the Jews' language, H3066 and said, H559 Hear H8085 ye the words H1697 of the great H1419 king, H4428 the king H4428 of Assyria. H804

14 Thus saith H559 the king, H4428 Let not Hezekiah H2396 deceive H5377 you: for he shall not be able H3201 to deliver H5337 you.

15 Neither let Hezekiah H2396 make you trust H982 in the LORD, H3068 saying, H559 The LORD H3068 will surely H5337 deliver H5337 us: this city H5892 shall not be delivered H5414 into the hand H3027 of the king H4428 of Assyria. H804

16 Hearken H8085 not to Hezekiah: H2396 for thus saith H559 the king H4428 of Assyria, H804 Make H6213 an agreement with me by a present, H1293 and come out H3318 to me: and eat H398 ye every one H376 of his vine, H1612 and every one H376 of his fig tree, H8384 and drink H8354 ye every one H376 the waters H4325 of his own cistern; H953

17 Until I come H935 and take you away H3947 to a land H776 like your own land, H776 a land H776 of corn H1715 and wine, H8492 a land H776 of bread H3899 and vineyards. H3754

18 Beware lest Hezekiah H2396 persuade H5496 you, saying, H559 The LORD H3068 will deliver H5337 us. Hath any H376 of the gods H430 of the nations H1471 delivered H5337 his land H776 out of the hand H3027 of the king H4428 of Assyria? H804

19 Where are the gods H430 of Hamath H2574 and Arphad? H774 where are the gods H430 of Sepharvaim? H5617 and have they delivered H5337 Samaria H8111 out of my hand? H3027

20 Who are they among all the gods H430 of these lands, H776 that have delivered H5337 their land H776 out of my hand, H3027 that the LORD H3068 should deliver H5337 Jerusalem H3389 out of my hand? H3027

21 But they held their peace, H2790 and answered H6030 him not a word: H1697 for the king's H4428 commandment H4687 was, saying, H559 Answer H6030 him not.

22 Then came H935 Eliakim, H471 the son H1121 of Hilkiah, H2518 that was over the household, H1004 and Shebna H7644 the scribe, H5608 and Joah, H3098 the son H1121 of Asaph, H623 the recorder, H2142 to Hezekiah H2396 with their clothes H899 rent, H7167 and told H5046 him the words H1697 of Rabshakeh. H7262

Commentary on Isaiah 36 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible


CHAPTER 36

Isa 36:1-22. Sennacherib's Invasion; Blasphemous Solicitations; Hezekiah Is Told of Them.

This and the thirty-seventh through thirty-ninth chapters form the historical appendix closing the first division of Isaiah's prophecies, and were added to make the parts of these referring to Assyria more intelligible. So Jer 52:1-34; compare 2Ki 25:1-30. The section occurs almost word for word (2Ki 18:13, 17-20; 19:1-37); 2Ki 18:14-16, however, is additional matter. Hezekiah's "writing" also is in Isaiah, not in Kings (Isa 38:9-20). We know from 2Ch 32:32 that Isaiah wrote the acts of Hezekiah. It is, therefore, probable, that his record here (Isa 36:1-39:8) was incorporated into the Book of Kings by its compiler. Sennacherib lived, according to Assyrian inscriptions, more than twenty years after his invasion; but as Isaiah survived Hezekiah (2Ch 32:32), who lived upwards of fifteen years after the invasion (Isa 38:5), the record of Sennacherib's death (Isa 37:38) is no objection to this section having come from Isaiah; 2Ch 32:1-33 is probably an abstract drawn from Isaiah's account, as the chronicler himself implies (2Ch 32:32). Pul was probably the last of the old dynasty, and Sargon, a powerful satrap, who contrived to possess himself of supreme power and found a new dynasty (see on Isa 20:1). No attempt was made by Judah to throw off the Assyrian yoke during his vigorous reign. The accession of his son Sennacherib was thought by Hezekiah the opportune time to refuse the long-paid tribute; Egypt and Ethiopia, to secure an ally against Assyria on their Asiatic frontier, promised help; Isaiah, while opposed to submission to Assyria, advised reliance on Jehovah, and not on Egypt, but his advice was disregarded, and so Sennacherib invaded Judea, 712 B.C. He was the builder of the largest of the excavated palaces, that of Koyunjik. Hincks has deciphered his name in the inscriptions. In the third year of his reign, these state that he overran Syria, took Sidon and other Phœnician cities, and then passed to southwest Palestine, where he defeated the Egyptians and Ethiopians (compare 2Ki 18:21; 19:9). His subsequent retreat, after his host was destroyed by God, is of course suppressed in the inscriptions. But other particulars inscribed agree strikingly with the Bible; the capture of the "defensed cities of Judah," the devastation of the country and deportation of its inhabitants; the increased tribute imposed on Hezekiah—thirty talents of gold—this exact number being given in both; the silver is set down in the inscriptions at eight hundred talents, in the Bible three hundred; the latter may have been the actual amount carried off, the larger sum may include the silver from the temple doors, pillars, &c. (2Ki 18:16).

1. fourteenth—the third of Sennacherib's reign. His ultimate object was Egypt, Hezekiah's ally. Hence he, with the great body of his army (2Ch 32:9), advanced towards the Egyptian frontier, in southwest Palestine, and did not approach Jerusalem.

2. Rab-shakeh—In 2Ki 18:17, Tartan and Rab-saris are joined with him. Rab-shakeh was probably the chief leader; Rab is a title of authority, "chief-cup-bearer."

Lachish—a frontier town southwest of Jerusalem, in Judah; represented as a great fortified city in a hilly and fruitful country in the Koyunjik bas-reliefs, now in the British Museum; also, its name is found on a slab over a figure of Sennacherib on his throne.

upper pool—the side on which the Assyrians would approach Jerusalem coming from the southwest (see on Isa 7:3).

3. Eliakim—successor to Shebna, who had been "over the household," that is, chief minister of the king; in Isa 22:15-20, this was foretold.

scribe—secretary, recorder—literally, "one who reminds"; a remembrancer to keep the king informed on important facts, and to act as historiographer. In 2Ki 18:18, the additional fact is given that the Assyrian envoys "called to the king," in consequence of which Eliakim, &c., "came out to them."

4. great king—the usual title of the Persian and Assyrian kings, as they had many subordinate princes or kings under them over provinces (Isa 10:8).

5. counsel—Egypt was famed for its wisdom.

6. It was a similar alliance with So (that is, Sabacho, or else Sevechus), the Ethiopian king of Egypt, which provoked the Assyrian to invade and destroy Israel, the northern kingdom, under Hoshea.

7. The Assyrian mistakes Hezekiah's religious reforms whereby he took away the high places (2Ki 18:4) as directed against Jehovah. Some of the high places may have been dedicated to Jehovah, but worshipped under the form of an image in violation of the second commandment: the "brazen serpent," also (broken in pieces by Hezekiah, and called Nehushtan, "a piece of brass," because it was worshipped by Israel) was originally set up by God's command. Hence the Assyrian's allegation has a specious color: you cannot look for help from Jehovah, for your king has "taken away His altars."

to Jerusalem—(De 12:5, 11; Joh 4:20).

8. give pledges—a taunting challenge. Only give the guarantee that you can supply as many as two thousand riders, and I will give thee two thousand horses. But seeing that you have not even this small number (see on Isa 2:7), how can you stand against the hosts of Assyrian cavalry? The Jews tried to supply their weakness in this "arm" from Egypt (Isa 31:1).

9. captain—a governor under a satrap; even he commands more horsemen than this.

10. A boastful inference from the past successes of Assyria, designed to influence the Jews to surrender; their own principles bound them to yield to Jehovah's will. He may have heard from partisans in Judah what Isaiah had foretold (Isa 10:5, 6).

11. Syrian—rather, "Aramean": the language spoken north and east of Palestine, and understood by the Assyrians as belonging to the same family of languages as their own: nearly akin to Hebrew also, though not intelligible to the multitude (compare 2Ki 5:5-7). "Aram" means a "high land," and includes parts of Assyria as well as Syria.

Jews' language—The men of Judah since the disruption of Israel, claimed the Hebrew as their own peculiarly, as if they were now the only true representatives of the whole Hebrew twelve tribes.

ears of … people on … wall—The interview is within hearing distance of the city. The people crowd on the wall, curious to hear the Assyrian message. The Jewish rulers fear that it will terrify the people and therefore beg Rab-shakeh to speak Aramean.

12. Is it to thy master and thee that I am sent? Nay, it is to the men on the wall, to let them know (so far am I from wishing them not to hear, as you would wish), that unless they surrender, they shall be reduced to the direst extremities of famine in the siege (2Ch 32:11, explains the word here), namely, to eat their own excrements: or, connecting, "that they may eat," &c., with "sit upon the wall"; who, as they hold the wall, are knowingly exposing themselves to the direst extremities [Maurer]. Isaiah, as a faithful historian, records the filthy and blasphemous language of the Assyrians to mark aright the true character of the attack on Jerusalem.

13. Rab-shakeh speaks louder and plainer than ever to the men on the wall.

15. The foes of God's people cannot succeed against them, unless they can shake their trust in Him (compare Isa 36:10).

16. agreement … by … present—rather, "make peace with me"; literally, "blessing" so called from the mutual congratulations attending the ratification of peace. So Chaldee. Or else, "Do homage to me" [Horsley].

come out—surrender to me; then you may remain in quiet possession of your lands till my return from Egypt, when I will lead you away to a land fruitful as your own. Rab-shakeh tries to soften, in the eyes of the Jews, the well-known Assyrian policy of weakening the vanquished by deporting them to other lands (Ge 47:21; 2Ki 17:6).

19. Hamath … Arphad—(See on Isa 10:9).

Sepharvaim—literally, "the two scribes"; now Sipphara, on the east of Euphrates, above Babylon. It was a just retribution (Pr 1:31; Jer 2:19). Israel worshipped the gods of Sepharvaim, and so colonists of Sepharvaim were planted in the land of Israel (thenceforth called Samaria) by the Assyrian conqueror (2Ki 17:24; compare 2Ki 18:34).

Samaria—Shalmaneser began the siege against Hoshea, because of his conspiring with So of Egypt (2Ki 17:4). Sargon finished it; and, in his palace at Khorsabad, he has mentioned the number of Israelites carried captive—27,280 [G. V. Smith].

20. (Compare Isa 10:11; 2Ch 32:19). Here he contradicts his own assertion (Isa 36:10), that he had "come up against the land with the Lord." Liars need good memories. He classes Jehovah with the idols of the other lands; nay, thinks Him inferior in proportion as Judah, under His tutelage, was less than the lands under the tutelage of the idols.

21. not a word—so as not to enter into a war of words with the blasphemer (Ex 14:14; Jude 9).

22. clothes rent—in grief and horror at the blasphemy (Mt 26:65).