Interpreting the Bible Isaiah 36 1-9 Lesson 1. 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. The 14th year of Hezekiah, 701 BC. “Defenced” is not normally considered a word, “defended,” would be used, and this is what the NIV replaces it with. Sennecharib did invade Judah, and did capture many cities in Judea, Now we are at that point in time, where his army is almost at the gates of Jerusalem, ready to attack, so his main man, Rabshakah enters Jerusalem to demand that they surrender, but at this time, Hezekiah has been following the way of God, and he refuses, leaving the defense of the city to God, something that Zedekiah at the time of the Babylonian invasion was not smart enough to do. 2. 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. Lachish was a town halfway between Mount Hebron and the Mediterranean coast and the indication is that they had just defeated Lachish and were ready to move into position to take Jerusalem. 3. 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. This is exactly the same thing that is recorded in 2 Kings 18:18, word for word. 4. And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say this now to Hezekiah, This says the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein you trust? Rabshakeh, Sennacherib’s ambassador, wants to know who this God is Hezekiah is trusting in to save them from the huge army that is surrounding Jerusalem. He is attempting to shame them into surrendering. God has a surprise for Rabshakeh. 5. I say, say you, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom do you trust, that you rebel against me? 6. Lo, you trust 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. 7. But if you say to me, We trust in the Lord our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar? Hezekiah did this, he removed all the altars on the high places, so that the people would come to the temple in Jerusalem to make their sacrifices. 8. Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you be able on your part to set riders upon them. Sennecharib’s army numbers in the hundreds of thousands, and he is taunting the Jeues as being unable to put forth a force of 2,000. 9. How then will you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? Hezekiah is not trusting in Egypt. The word here used, could be translated as Egypt, but the words stands for the miracles That God has performed for them in the past, when God protected them as they were coming into the land. Gary Sechler With knowledge on loan from God
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 14:50:42 +0000
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