Trying to Incite Mutiny

Isaiah 36:1-21

“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.  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. 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” (Isaiah 36:1-3)

Under Ahaz, Judah had tried to hire Assyria to protect them from the alliance between Israel and Syria.  Instead the Assyrians raided Judah.   Later they had defeated both Syria and Israel, and relocated the people.  Foruteen years after Hezekiah became king, the Assyrian king decided to conquer Judah as well, and invaded it taking the major cities.  Hezekiah had dug a tunnel to carry water from the river to the upper pool near the city, saving the people a lot of walking to obtain it.  The Assyrian general, Rabshakeh brought a large army from Lachish, standing on the highway near where the tunnel emptied into the pool.   He was met by three of Hezekiah’s officials. 

“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?  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?  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.  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?” (Isaiah 36:3-7)

Rabshakeh advised them to surrender without a fight because their army could not possibly defeat the Assyrian army.  If they called on Egypt for help as Israel had done, they needed to remember that Egypt had not been able to protect Israel, just taking the bribes and leaving without fighting, leaving Israekl worse off.  He predicted the same thing would happen to Judah if they hired Egypt. 

Hezekiah was a king who tried to turn Judah back to serving God.  In the process he had destroyed the altars and groves used for idolatry.  Rabshakeh assumed those altars were all for God and was sure God would be angry they had been destroyed, demanding the Jews worship only in Jerusalem.  He warned them it would be foolish to depend on God in such a case. 

“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.  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?  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.” (Isaiah 36:8-10)

In an effort to intimidate them, if they would put up a deposit, he offered to give them two thousand horses if they could get enough cavalrymen to fide them.  If they couldn’t even come up with that many cavalrymen, how could they expect to defeat even one unit of his army?  Even if they could get chariots and riders from Egypt?   After all, if God was going to protect them, the Assyrians would never even have been able to get that far. 

“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.

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? ” (Isaiah 36:11-12)

Hezekiah representatives asked him to speak privately so the people wouldn’t hear.  Instead Rabshakeh said they were the ones who needed to hear since they were the ones who would suffer if they fought, eventually having to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine to survive. 

“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.  Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you.  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.

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; Until I come and take you away unto a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

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?  Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?  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?” (Isaiah 36:13-20)

Rabshakeh then did his best to dishearten the people and convince them to surrender, warning them that there was nothing Hezekiah could do to save them, and that they could not depend on God for help.    If they would surrender, he promised to let them live in peace until they were relocated to another land that would be like what they had. 

If Hezekiah tried to get them to trust the Lord, they needed to remember that none of the gods of the other nations had been able to stop the Assyrians.  Israel worshiped the same God as Judah did, as well as all the other gods, but all of them together had not been able to keep the Assyrians from taking Samaria.  Why should they think they were any different?

“But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.” (Isaiah 36:21)

Hezekiah had given orders that no one was to respond to Rabshakeh’s demands, but to let him make the decision.  The people obeyed his command, and Rabshakeh was forced to wait for Hezekiah’s decision.