Sennacherib Invades Judah
Isa 36:1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
Isa 36:2 Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field,
Isa 36:3 Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to him.
Isa 36:4 The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: “‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours?
Isa 36:5 You say you have counsel and might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me?
Isa 36:6 Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him.
Isa 36:7 But if you say to me, “We are depending on the LORD our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar”?
Isa 36:8 “‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them!
Isa 36:9 How then can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
Isa 36:10 Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this land without the LORD? The LORD himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.'”
Isa 36:11 Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”
Isa 36:12 But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”
Isa 36:13 Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!
Isa 36:14 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you!
Isa 36:15 Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’
Isa 36:16 “Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern,
Isa 36:17 until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
Isa 36:18 “Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ Have the gods of any nations ever delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria?
Isa 36:19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand?
Isa 36:20 Who of all the gods of these countries have been able to save their lands from me? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”
Isa 36:21 But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”
Isa 36:22 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said.
1 Sennacherib invades Judah. 4 Rabshakeh, sent by Sennacherib, by blasphemous persuasions solicits the people to revolt. 22 His words are told to Hezekiah.
Sennacherib Invades Judah
Isa 36:1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
This chapter marks the beginning of a new section of the book of Isaiah. Chapters 36–39 are principally historical rather than prophetic in nature, dealing with Sennacherib’s invasions, Hezekiah’s illness, and the visit of Merodach Baladan’s envoys. These chapters are parallel to, and in large measure identical with, 2 Kings 18:13–20:19, to which, in general, reference should be made for comment.
The fourteenth year. See on 2 Kings 18:13. Sennacherib became king of Assyria in 705 b.c. and made his first campaign against the cities of Judah in 701. In his own account of this campaign, in which he claims the capture of 46 walled cities of Judah, he lists among his reasons for making the expedition:
(1) the fact that Hezekiah had refused to submit to the Assyrian yoke; (2) that he had called upon Egypt and Ethiopia for help; and (3) that he had assisted the Philistines of Ekron in their uprising against Assyria, and had imprisoned their king Padi, who had been loyal to Assyria.
Isa 36:2 Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field
This was the title of the chief cupbearer of the Assyrian king. He was an important military official, associated with the tartan and the rabsaris, in command of the Assyrian forces sent against Jerusalem.
Isa 36:3 Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to him.
Isa 36:4 The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: “‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours?
Isa 36:5 You say you have counsel and might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me?
Hezekiah had been under tribute to Assyria, like his father Ahaz before him (2 Kings 16:7, 8). It was his refusal to pay tribute that brought the armies of Assyria against him.
Isa 36:6 Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him.
Broken reed. See on 2 Kings 18:21.
Isa 36:7 But if you say to me, “We are depending on the LORD our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar”?
Hath taken away. See on 2 Kings 18:22; cf. 2 Chron. 31:1.
Isa 36:8 “‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them!
Two thousand horses. See on 2 Kings 18:23. It is clear that Judah had no trained cavalry. The Assyrians derided Hezekiah for presuming to resist them when he was so woefully weak in this important area of military equipment.
Isa 36:9 How then can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
Put thy trust on Egypt. See on 2 Kings 18:21, 24. Isaiah had previously upbraided the leaders of Judah for placing their trust in military equipment and in a treaty with Egypt (Isa. 30:1–4; 31:1), and warned them that their reliance on Egypt would be in vain (chs. 30:7; 31:3).
Isa 36:10 Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this land without the LORD? The LORD himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.'”
The Lord said. See on 2 Kings 18:25. In one of his inscriptions Sennacherib claims a divine sanction from his god Ashur to go against his enemies.
Isa 36:11 Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”
Syrian language. Aramaic (see on 2 Kings 18:26). It was the purpose of the Assyrian envoys to turn the inhabitants of Jerusalem against their king and to frighten them into submission.
Isa 36:12 But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”
Sit upon the wall. See on 2 Kings 18:27. Sennacherib’s envoys made it appear that they were more interested in the welfare of the inhabitants of Jerusalem than Hezekiah was. What did it matter to Sennacherib’s that in a prolonged siege the people would eat their own dung and drink their own urine? The only way to avoid such a fate, they said, was for the people to turn against their king.
Isa 36:13 Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!
Isa 36:15 nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ‘
Neither let Hezekiah. See on 2 Kings 18:30. Unless the Assyrians could turn the people away from God, they could not bring them within their power. The issue thus was distinctly drawn—loyalty to God or an alliance with the Assyrian king. Sennacherib’s challenge was in reality a defiance of God Himself.
Isa 36:16 “Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern,
Make an agreement. See on 2 Kings 18:31. The Rabshakeh made grandiose promises as to what the result of disloyalty to Hezekiah and allegiance to Sennacherib would bring.
Isa 36:17 until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
Like your own. See on 2 Kings 18:32.
Had it been in Sennacherib’s mind to give to the people of Judah the rewards he promised, he would have left them in their own land. His threat to take them away to a distant land proved his words a mockery and his promises vain.
Isa 36:18 “Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ Have the gods of any nations ever delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria?
Any of the gods. See on 2 Kings 18:33.
Isa 36:19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand?
Of Hamath. See on 2 Kings 18:34. Samaria had fallen into Assyrian hands only 22 years before Sennacherib’s present attack on Judah. The fact that the capital of the northern kingdom was unable to stand before Assyrian might was regarded as the crowning evidence that Jerusalem must likewise fall.
Isa 36:19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand?
Among all the gods. See on 2 Kings 18:35.
Isa 36:21 But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”
Held their peace. See on 2 Kings 18:36. There was no effective answer that man could give to the arrogant Assyrian envoy. God alone could give the proper answer, and Hezekiah had faith to believe He would. Nothing that the Hebrew envoys might have said would have turned Sennacherib from his purpose, and they were therefore wisely commanded by Hezekiah to hold their peace.
Isa 36:22 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said.
With their clothes rent. See on 2 Kings 18:37.