Isaiah 36:1-10 – Threats From The Wicked
This is a pivotal time in Judah’s history. We read about this as well in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. King Sennacherib of Assyria finally bursts into Judah like an overwhelming flood. He has a great, fearsome, and seemingly invincible host with him. The word translated Rabshakeh is a military official, he’s similar to a military chief of staff. He said, ‘nobody can stop us’. And he had been correct so far. Neither men, nor idols, had been able to stop Assyria’s onslaught. A few years ago, he had gobbled up the northern kingdom. And when he burst into Judah, he overwhelmed nearly everything.
Sennacherib is trying to take Jerusalem the easy way. So his emissaries try persuasion and threats. The Rabshakeh basically says, ‘What in the world do you think you’re doing? You think Egypt’s going to come to help you? Egypt is like a cane that a man tries to lean on to support himself, but it has this jagged edge and it goes right up through his hand.’ And you know what? The Assyrians were right. Egypt couldn’t help.
Rabshakeh says, ‘You know, Hezekiah is going to say to you, trust in Jehovah. Don’t trust in Jehovah. For, isn’t He the One Whose altars Hezekiah has destroyed in the high place and said, you must come here to Jerusalem. Jehovah is angry at you.’ Well, this was at least partly true. After all, haven’t we been seeing, God speaking of His disgust with the sins of Judah and Jerusalem? Surely the emissaries of King Hezekiah were getting nervous hearing this, and the people, perhaps, started to wonder and waver a wee bit, because the godly already knew this was at least partly true. Now, obviously, the king of Assyria and his military chief didn’t understand why it was that Hezekiah had gotten rid of the high places and the altars. It was because God himself had said so. Hezekiah was being faithful here. So that part was false, but the rest had a worrisome ring of truth about it.
Rabshakeh points out that they surely couldn’t take on the Assyrians themselves militarily. They were just too weak. In fact, in contempt, he says, ‘I’ve been authorized to make at this time a special offer. I’ll spot you 2,000 horses, if you can come up with enough men to ride them. You can’t even do that. If I supply you with the horses, you can’t even use them. You can’t deliver yourselves.’ And guess what? This was true.
Questions
- How is Egypt described?
- What is the Rabshakeh trying to accomplish?
Prayer Points
- Give thanks that God is sovereign over the threats of the wicked.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.