Hezekiah had tried to negotiate a treaty with the Assyrians,
but they refused to negotiate. Realizing
they intended to attack, he prepared to defend Jerusalem and Judah. At the time, the Assyrian army engaged in a
siege against Lachish, but the Assyrian king sent representatives to Jerusalem
in an effort to destroy Judah’s morale as II kings 18:17-25 describes. “And
the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king
Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to
Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of
the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller's field.
And when they had
called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which
was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the
recorder. And Rabshakeh said unto them,
Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What
confidence is this wherein thou trustest?
Thou sayest, (but they are but vain words), I have counsel and strength
for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me? Now,
behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on
which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh
king of Egypt unto all that trust on him.
But if ye say unto me, We trust in the LORD our God: is not that he,
whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to
Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?
Now therefore, I pray
thee, give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will deliver 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? Am I now come
up without the LORD against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go
up against this land, and destroy it.”
The Assyrian delegation reminded the leader that Judah was
pretty small compare to the Assyrian Empire, which had taken Israel several years
before, as well as Syria. If they were
counting on Egypt to come to their rescue they better think again because the
Egyptians would see it as an opportunity to take Judah for themselves, and if
they thought God would come to their rescue, they needed to realize Hezekiah
had destroyed all the high places and altars.
Like many people today, Rabshakeh had no understanding of the difference
between being religious and obeying God.
They think all the various religions
should get together because after all, they are all trying to accomplish the
same thing. They don’t understand that
many of those religious behaviors are in fact opposed to what God wants.
To further demoralize them, he offered to provide a thousand
war horses if they could find enough qualified riders to use them, pointing out
that if he could spare that many, they had no hope of defeating him. Finally, he claimed that God had sent the
Assyrians to destroy Judah and rezsistance would be going against God.
Rabshakeh had deliberately spoken in Hebrew to demoralize
the people, as is apparent from his response when the jewish leaders asked him
to speak in the Syrian language. He was
hoping to convince the people to turn against Hezekiah, as II Kings 18:26-35
describes. “Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, unto
Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for we
understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews' language in the ears of the
people that are on the wall.
But Rabshakeh said
unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these
words? hath he not sent me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat
their own dung, and drink their own piss with you? Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud
voice in the Jews' language, and spake, saying, Hear the word 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 out of his hand: Neither let Hezekiah
make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and 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 then eat ye every man of his own vine, and
every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern: 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, a land of oil olive and of honey, that ye may
live, and not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you,
saying, The LORD will deliver us. Hath
any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the
king of Assyria? Where are the gods of
Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have
they delivered Samaria out of mine hand? Who are they among all the gods of the
countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the LORD
should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?
II Chronicles 32:11-19 goes into detail about the attacks on
Hezekiah and the mockery of God. “ Doth not Hezekiah persuade you to give
over yourselves to die by famine and by thirst, saying, The LORD our God shall
deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away his high
places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall
worship before one altar, and burn incense upon it? Know ye not what I and my fathers have done
unto all the people of other lands? were the gods of the nations of those lands
any ways able to deliver their lands out of mine hand? Who was there among all the gods of those
nations that my fathers utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of
mine hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of mine hand? Now therefore let not Hezekiah deceive you,
nor persuade you on this manner, neither yet believe him: for no god of any
nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of mine hand, and out of
the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your God deliver you out of mine
hand?
And his servants spake
yet more against the LORD God, and against his servant Hezekiah. He wrote also letters to rail on the LORD God
of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of
other lands have not delivered their people out of mine hand, so shall not the
God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of mine hand. Then they cried with a loud voice in the Jews'
speech unto the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall, to affright them,
and to trouble them; that they might take the city. And they spake against the God of Jerusalem,
as against the gods of the people of the earth, which were the work of the
hands of man.”
Ungodly people do not see any difference betweem God and the
deities of other religions, and as a result they assume all religions are
pretty much the same other than some outward trappings. They think it ridiculous that people would
think what God said really matters, or that he has any power to stop them from
getting their way. They try to
discourage your trusting him, even making fun of your beliefs and insisting you
change.
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