Isaiah 36:13-20

2. PROPOSITION

TEXT: Isaiah 36:13-20

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 will not be able to deliver you:

15

neither let Hezekiah make you trust in Jehovah, saying, Jehovah will surely deliver us; this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.

16

Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make your peace with me, 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 grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

18

Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, Jehovah 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 Arpad? 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 countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?

QUERIES

a.

Was Hezekiah trying to deceive the people?

b.

Why would the Assyrian king take them from their land?

c.

Why refer to the gods of other nations?

PARAPHRASE

Then the Assyrian commander-in-chief stepped forth and shouted loudly in the Hebrew language toward the people gathered on the city walls, Listen to the words of the greatest of all kings, the king of Assyria: Do not let Hezekiah's promises deceive younothing he can do will save you. Do not let Hezekiah deceive you by telling you to trust in your Jehovahthat He will save youthat He will not let this city be taken over by the king of Assyria. I repeat, do not listen to Hezekiah! You had better listen to this proposition from the king of Assyria: He says, Surrender on my terms, open the gates of the city and come out in peace and I will let each of you go ahead living on your own land, conducting your own business, prospering, until I have time to come and take you away to a land very similar to this one where you will find as much prosperity as you do here. My taking your city is inevitable. You will be much better off to surrender. Beware that you do not be fooled by Hezekiah's promise that your Jehovah will save you from me. The gods of no other nation have been able to deliver from the king of Assyria. Remember Hamath and Arpad? Their gods did not deliver them. Neither did Sepharvaim's gods and Samaria's gods. Of all the gods of these nations, which one has ever delivered them from my power? Not a one! And do you think this god of yours can deliver Jerusalem from me? Do not be foolish!

COMMENTS

Isaiah 36:13-15 TAUNT: The Assyrians were noted for their arrogant disregard of the most basic diplomatic etiquette. Their reputation was that of baseness, cruelty and insolence. Rabshakeh, asked to address his words in Aramaic to the representatives of King Hezekiah, insolently rises from his eat, steps forward (probably past the three Hebrew officials) and yells his taunt in the Hebrew language at the people gathered along the walls of the city of Jerusalem. His taunt is that Hezekiah does not know what he is talking aboutthat Hezekiah is leading the people down the path of deception. It is really an accusation that the people are being exploited by Hezekiah. It is interesting to note the emphatic repetition (4 times) of the Rabshakeh that the people not let Hezekiah deceive them. Evidently Hezekiah had impressed the people that Jehovah would deliver the city from the Assyrians. When Sennacherib first marched into Judah, Hezekiah sent a letter of apology for rebelling against him (see comments Isaiah 36:1-12). Hezekiah even sent tribute to Lachish to Sennacherib. Isaiah must have convinced Hezekiah in the interval between Sennacherib's initial invasion and Rabshakeh's journey to Jerusalem that the Lord would indeed deliver Jerusalem. Hezekiah made an impassioned plea to the people (2 Chronicles 32:6-8), after redirecting the city's water supply and building new walls, that there is one greater with us than with him. It appears the Assyrians had heard of this new courage of Hezekiah and his persuasion of the people. Rabshakeh's words must have indicated to the people that the Assyrians knew even about the passionate pleas Hezekiah made within the confines of their city walls! It would be disconcerting and frightening.

Isaiah 36:16-17 TEMPTATION: The Rabshakeh applies the pressure of fleshly concern for physical well-being, innocent enough in itself but idolatrous when it supersedes godliness as a first concern. He urges the people to think first of their stomachs. He promises that all will be well with them if they will surrender to the terms of the king of Assyria. The only sacrifice they will have to make, according to the Rabshakeh, is to be taken from their homeland. Even then, he promises, they will be taken to a land as fertile, productive and prosperous as their own. Rabshakeh does not specifically promise them they will participate as citizens or land-owners in the new land. The fertility of Mesopotamia was, in some ways, greater than that of Palestine. And that was the catch! The appeal was fleshly. The temptation was casting physical survival against a spiritual birthright. It was the age-old temptation begun with Jacob and Esau and epitomized at Christ's temptation in the wilderness to turn stones into bread. The land of Palestine was more than mere physical sustenance to the Hebrews. It was the covenant land of their fathers. They were given this land by the mighty hand of Jehovah for a spiritual purpose. It was the land where the only altar to the One True God could be erected. If they, of their own deliberate choice, should surrender to be taken from the land, it would demonstrate their total disregard of their spiritual birthright. Later, when God removed them from their land, it was a graphic object lesson to the Jews that they had forfeited their spiritual legacy by sin and idolatry and no longer deserved to occupy the covenant land. The temptation was to weigh the invisible, ideal matters of faith against the visible, practical matters of the flesh. They were being tempted to think they were, after all, clinging to a religious illusion while they might deprive themselves of a present happiness.

The Hebrew people should have known the practice of pagan empires in transplanting people away from their homelands was not for the pleasure of the conquered people but for the security of the empire. It was a well known practice (cf. 2 Kings 18:11, etc.) and functioned well in keeping subjugated people from rebelling. Such a practice not only humiliated people and dispersed them widely but it also de-culturized them. They tended to lose their national identity and thus any strong motivation for rebellion.

Isaiah 36:18-20 TABULATION: Now Rabshakeh appeals to seeming facts of history. He tabulates all the victories the king of Assyria has had over the gods of the nations he has conquered. He begins by warning the Hebrew people not to let Hezekiah sweet talk them into depending upon their God. The Hebrew word translated persuade is yasiyth (from suth) meaning to soothe. It is almost as if Rabshakeh warns the people that Hezekiah may be trying to soothingly seduce them by saying, Jehovah will deliver us. The gods of the nations appear to have been powerless against the great king of Assyria. When the power showdown came, none of the gods of the nations could deliver from the Assyrians. The gods of the nations now sat as trophies in the Assyrian pantheon of gods. In ancient thought, religion and political power were closely connected. If a city or a nation survived and maintained its sovereignty, it was because of the power of its national god; a nation's wanderings were accompanied by the wanderings of its gods, its victories accomplished by its gods, its defeats signs of the inferiority of its gods. If all the powerful gods of the many nations conquered by Assyria were proven powerless, what hope could the Hebrews hold that their God was any more powerful. This appeal to the power of paganism over Jehovah may seem strange to us but to the mind of the heathen, and from the heathen view of politics, religion and history, it was not strange. In fact, in some godless lands today, the same reasoning prevails. See Map #1 for the location of Hamath, Arpad and Sepharvaim.

QUIZ

1.

How did Rabshakeh react to the request of the Hebrew officials to refrain from speaking so the people on the wall could hear?

2.

What does the repeated warning of Rabshakeh that Hezekiah should not deceive the people about deliverance infer about Hezekiah's appeals to them?

3.

Where is the record of Hezekiah's appeal to the people to trust God?

4.

What basic temptation did Rabshakeh hold out to the people to get them to surrender to Assyria's terms?

5.

Why did ancient empires transplant conquered peoples away from their homelands?

6.

What significance did Palestine have for the Jew besides a land to live on?

7.

Why did Rabshakeh refer to the pagan gods defeated by Assyria?