Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
2 Kings 19:2-7
King Hezekiah Sends His Representatives To Isaiah The Prophet And Receives A Comforting Reply (2 Kings 19:2).
In his anguish King Hezekiah sent a message to Isaiah via his representatives, asking what possibility there might be that YHWH would have heard what was said and might react against it. Isaiah's reply was that YHWH had heard the king of Assyria's blasphemy, and was about to react accordingly. Just as the king of Assyria has personally confronted YHWH and had claimed to have Him on his side, so would YHWH respond personally by putting a spirit within him and causing him to hear tidings which would persuade him to return to his own land. It was person to person stuff. The king of Assyria had claimed personal contact with YHWH, so he would be suitably personally affected by it. Isaiah was emphasising that it was not the king of Assyria who controlled YHWH, but YHWH who controlled the movements of the king of Assyria. (To have introduced the avenging angel here would have been to spoil the personal and intimate picture of YHWH's total personal control over the king of Assyria, and indeed it should be noted that Isaiah is never portrayed as knowing what the angel of YHWH would do. All he knew was that somehow YHWH would deliver). Meanwhile the Rabshakeh reported back the failure of his mission to his master the king of Assyria.
Analysis.
a And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz (2 Kings 19:2).
b And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of disgrace, for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth” (2 Kings 19:3).
c “It may be that YHWH your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which YHWH your God has heard. Wherefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left” (2 Kings 19:4).
d So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah (2 Kings 19:5).
c And Isaiah said to them, “Thus shall you say to your master, Thus says YHWH. Do not be afraid of the words that you have heard, by which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me” (2 Kings 19:6).
b “Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he will hear tidings, and will return to his own land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land” (2 Kings 19:7).
a So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish (2 Kings 19:8).
Note that in ‘a' the representatives of Hezekiah go to the prophet of YHWH, and in the parallel the representative of the king of Assyria goes to the king of Assyria. In ‘b' Hezekiah is troubled in spirit, and in the parallel the king of Assyria will be troubled in spirit. In ‘c' Hezekiah hopes that YHWH will have heard the words of the Rabshakeh, and in the parallel Isaiah assures him that He has. Centrally in ‘d' the servants of king Hezekiah come to Isaiah.
‘And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.'
It is a sign of the genuineness of the narrative that Joah the recorder does not go with the others to see Isaiah. He has to faithfully record the exchanges that have taken place. Meanwhile Eliakim and Shebna, Judah's two leading politicians, together with the elders of the priests who were no doubt enlisted to add religious authority to the deputation, covered themselves with sackcloth as the king had done, and went to consult Isaiah, the son of Amoz, the prophet of YHWH.
‘And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of disgrace, for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.” '
Note the dropping of ‘king' again after 2 Kings 19:1. His address to Isaiah is not in ostentation but in humility. The true prophets in Judah were approached differently from those in other nations where they were at the king's command. In Judah they were at YHWH's command, as Hezekiah was recognising. In his message to Isaiah Hezekiah likens the situation of the anguished nation to that of a woman having great difficulties in bringing forth a child that was overdue, something that all would understand. She was continuing to suffer the anguish of her labour, but she was so weak after what she had already suffered that the child just would not be born. Many would see such a situation as an indication that YHWH was rebuking her, and that in some way she was in disgrace. She herself would certainly feel the disgrace of it.
His point was that in the same way Judah was undergoing its own ‘labour pains'. It was in anguish, it was in great trouble, it was aware that it was under the judgment of YHWH, it was aware of its own disgrace. But it was too weak to produce anything. (It is when God's judgments are in the earth that the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness - Isaiah 26:9).
“It may be that YHWH your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which YHWH your God has heard. Wherefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.”
And his plea was that YHWH would look with compassion on their situation, and would hear what the Rabshakeh, the powerful representative of the king of Assyria his master, had said in defiance of the living God. There is an echo here of David's words concerning Goliath. See 1 Samuel 17:26; 1Sa 17:36; 1 Samuel 17:45. But here it was Assyria which was confronting YHWH. Thus he was basically calling for YHWH to hear what had been said, to defend His own honour, and to rebuke the king of Assyria in his turn. And he called on Isaiah to raise up his prayer of behalf of the remnant of the people left in Judah. There is a sad reminder here of the devastation that Judah had already suffered. But if there was anyone whose prayer YHWH would hear, it was Isaiah. Note the emphasis on ‘YOUR God'. They recognised the special relationship that Isaiah had with God. It contrasts with Isaiah's reply to ‘YOUR master'. His own master was YHWH.
‘The remnant that is left.' He knew that Isaiah had named his firstborn Shear Yashub (‘the remnant will return' - Isaiah 7:3). To Hezekiah this probably indicated ‘the remnant will return to YHWH' and his idea was presumably that that was what had now happened, thus indicating that YHWH should now respond. For all had now recognised that their only hope was in YHWH, the Lord of Hosts.
‘So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.'
This simple statement stands at the centre of the chiasmus, and it speaks volumes. The servants were the servants of ‘king' Hezekiah. Here was represented all the might and authority of the kingdom, and its appeal was to Isaiah the prophet of YHWH. The kingdom could now do nothing. It had fought until it was on its knees. He was their last hope. But they did not come in despair. They came because they did believe that Isaiah, as the voice of YHWH, would tell them what to do.
‘And Isaiah said to them, “Thus shall you say to your master, Thus says YHWH. Do not be afraid of the words that you have heard, by which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he will hear tidings, and will return to his own land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.'
Isaiah's reply was straightforward and unequivocal. They were to tell their master that YHWH had spoken, and he then pronounced the reply in prophetic mode. ‘Thus says YHWH.' YHWH has spoken and thus what He has said will be. And what YHWH had said was that they were not to be afraid of the words with which the king of Assyria had blasphemed YHWH, for He was about to respond by His own word and Spirit. And He would do it by exercising His own personal control on the mighty king of Assyria. He would be helpless in the hands of YHWH. For YHWH would put a spirit within him that would cause him to do YHWH's will. Thus he would hear news that would cause him to return to his own land, leaving Jerusalem and YHWH's people unsubdued and unharmed. And finally (at some stage) YHWH would cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. Thus his whole destiny was to be seen as in YHWH's hands.
So this ‘great king' with his gods would be seen to be at the beck and call of YHWH (compare 2 Kings 19:28). Whether he liked it or not he would do all YHWH's will. He had claimed to be under the instruction of YHWH and so it would be. Just as YHWH had brought him in his pride, so would YHWH send him home with his tail between his legs. There was nothing more to fear. Both his departure and his end were inevitable, and both were in the hands of YHWH.
As with most prophecy no time scale was laid down. That was not the point of prophecy. The point was its inevitability. The departure of Sennacherib would certainly happen shortly, as indeed is evidenced by the silences in the Assyrian inscriptions themselves, but his falling by the sword in his own land would happen at YHWH's discretion. The point was that his death, whenever it came, was totally in the hands of YHWH Who had even decided how and where it would take place. It would not necessarily happen immediately, but it would necessarily happen as YHWH had said. And as we know from the inscriptions, when the time came, that was precisely how it happened. Thus YHWH's power over Sennacherib was seen as total.
We do not know what the news was that Sennacherib received which was partly the cause of his departure for Assyria. It may have been news of internal disturbances caused by those who were taking advantage of his long absence and hoped that the Egyptian army would crush him. It may have been news of enemies like Babylon threatening the borders of Assyria. But combined with the plague that would decimate his army after his inconclusive battle with the approaching Egyptian forces, it was enough to make him return home.
Note the contrast between ‘thus says Hezekiah' (2 Kings 19:3) and ‘thus says YHWH'. Hezekiah was almost in despair. He could do nothing. YHWH was about to turn the whole situation about. Whatever He wanted He would do.
‘So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.'
Meanwhile as the representatives of King Hezekiah were approaching Isaiah, the Rabshakeh was making his way to his master to report temporary failure. Jerusalem had refused to surrender. But the king was no longer warring at Lachish. ‘He was departed from Lachish'. Those were ominous words. For it meant that Lachish, the second in importance of all the cities of Judah, had fallen, and the rape of Lachish had taken place. As archaeology would later discover the bodies of many would have been tossed into a huge grave with Assyria's refuse piled on top of them. And many of those who remained alive were to experience the ‘blessings' that the king of Assyria had promised to Jerusalem. They were to be cruelly transported to lands far away. Even more Jews were to go into exile.
And now the focus had turned on Libnah, possibly to the north of Lachish, although its site is uncertain. That was the next city on which they would concentrate. And it was thus there that the Rabshakeh found his master. It would also be near there that the battle with the approaching Egyptian forces would take place at Eltekeh.