Chapters 36-39 replicate, to a considerable extent, 2 Kings 18:17-20:21.
The background is that the Assyrian army, the leading power of the day, had overrun Judah and had arrived at the gates of Jerusalem. Hezekiah had been tempted to trust in Egypt’s help. But that, according to Isaiah (Isa 30:7; 31:1) would be futile. Trust in the Lord, and in him alone.
As Chester (Isaiah For You) writes, these chapters serve as a case study of the kind of faith to which Isaiah has been calling his readers.
Sennacherib Invades Judah, 1-21
36:1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 36:2 The king of Assyria sent his chief adviser from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, along with a large army. The chief adviser stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth. 36:3 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to meet him.
Hezekiah had been agitating against Assyria, and King Sennacherib was determined to make him pay.
According to 2 Kings 18:13-16, Hezekiah had tried to buy off Sennacherib by presenting him with a tribute, mainly drawn from the Jerusalem temple. But, instead of having the desired effect, that had made the Assyrian king yet more eager to conquer Judah.
Lachish, thirty miles south-west of Jerusalem, was the last line of defence before the invaders reached Jerusalem. Motyer says that a pit has been unearthed, containing the remains of 1,500 casualties of Sennacherib’s attach.
Hezekiah was the ‘last man standing’.
The conduit of the upper pool – The same place that Isaiah had met with King Ahaz, Isa 7:3. Then, Ahaz had chosen to put his trust in Assyria’s help rather than in the Lord. Now Assyria is the threat.
36:4 The chief adviser said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: “What is your source of confidence? 36:5 Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk. In whom are you trusting, that you would dare to rebel against me? 36:6 Look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If someone leans on it for support, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him! 36:7 Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in the LORD our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar.’ 36:8 Now make a deal with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, provided you can find enough riders for them. 36:9 Certainly you will not refuse one of my master’s minor officials and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen. 36:10 Furthermore it was by the command of the LORD that I marched up against this land to destroy it. The LORD told me, ‘March up against this land and destroy it!’ ” ’ ”
Webb describes chapters 36-39 as the ‘pivot’ of the whole book, and a bridge between the two halves.
“What is your source of confidence?” – ‘In whom are you trusting?’ Interestingly, the key question is raised by the invading enemy.
Egypt, that splintered reed staff – Imagine that you have grabbed what you think is a sturdy cudgel with which to defend yourself. But it turns out to be a flimsy stick, which does nothing except leave splinters in your own hand.
Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in the LORD our God’ – The envoy was correct in saying that Hezekiah could not rely on Egypt – this is what Isaiah had already said. But he was deceptively wrong in claiming that because Hezekiah had removed the idolatrous ‘high places’ (cf. 2 Kings 18:4) he could not trust in the Lord.
“Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars” – As Chester (Isaiah For You) remarks, the envoy’s knowledge of current affairs was spot-on, but his understanding of theology was completely awry! –
‘Far from offending the Lord, the removal of the high places had delighted him (Isa 18:5-6). But you can imagine how this claim might have sown doubt in the minds of many in Jerusalem, especially those wary of Hezekiah’s religious reforms.’
‘Make a deal with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, provided you can find enough riders for them’ – The envoy mockingly offers to give Hezekiah a head start, knowing that Judah would be unable to find the riders for these horses. (Chester)
So the envoy from Sennacherib tries to persuade Hezekiah’s men that it is in their own interests to surrender:
- Egypt is powerless to help, v6
- It is no use relying on the Lord, because Sennacherib has destroyed most of the places where he was worshipped, v7.
- Even if the Assyrians were to give them two thousand horses, it would be to no avail, v8f.
- Indeed, it was the Lord himself who sent the Assyrians to punish Judah, so what would be the point in resisting v10? (‘We have God on our side’).
‘This speech is a classic study in the Satanic art of sowing doubt and unbelief through subtly twisting the truth.’ (Webb)
Kidner (NBC) notes the various techniques of subversion used in the speeches:
‘We see the tempter’s skilful use of truth, barbing his shafts with a few unanswerable facts (e.g. the perfidy of Egypt [6] and the failure of the gods [19]), his use of ridicule (8), threats (12b) and cajolery (16–17), and his perversion of theology—mis-representing Hezekiah’s reforms (7), selecting from Isaiah’s preaching (10; cf. 10:6, 12) and drawing damaging conclusions from false religions (18–20).’
Webb separates the deceptive half-truths from the underlying logic:
‘Judah was indeed desperately short of fighting men, and (the most powerful argument of all) Assyria was in fact the rod of the LORD’s anger (Isa 10:5). The speech is so persuasive precisely because it contains so much that it is true. But its basic premise is false: namely, that the LORD has forsaken Judah, and therefore that trust in him is futile. It is always Satan’s way to make us think that God has abandoned us, and to use logic woven from half-truths to convince us of it. This speech is so subtly devilish in character that it might have been written by Satan himself. The truth is that the LORD had brought Judah to the end of her own resources so that she might learn again what it meant to trust him utterly. But he had not abandoned and would not abandon her.’
As Chester (Isaiah For You) notes: ‘despite all the talk of peace, this is a call for complete submission.’
No wonder the instruction from Hezekiah was, ‘Don’t respond to him’, v21.
36:11 Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 36:12 But the chief adviser said, “My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you!”
“Speak to your servants in Aramaic” – This was the language of international diplomacy: the request was therefore not unreasonable.
It is clear, from his use of Hebrew rather than Aramaic, that the envoy had always intended the bystanders to hear what he was saying.
“They will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you!” – The envoy threatens utter misery if they do not, and absolute bliss if they do, submit to Assyria. Whom do such threats and promises remind you of?
36:13 The chief adviser then stood there and called out loudly in the Judahite dialect, “Listen to the message of the great king, the king of Assyria. 36:14 This is what the king says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you! 36:15 Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the LORD by saying, “The LORD will certainly rescue us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” 36:16 Don’t listen to Hezekiah!’ For this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern, 36:17 until I come and take you to a land just like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
The chief adviser now speaks directly to the bystanders. They should renounce their allegiance to Hezekiah, and entrust themselves to the King of Assyria instead.
“Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern” – Such had been their experience in the halcyon days under Solomon (1 Kings 4:25).
36:18 Hezekiah is misleading you when he says, “The LORD will rescue us.” Has any of the gods of the nations rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria? 36:19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria from my power? 36:20 Who among all the gods of these lands have rescued their lands from my power? So how can the LORD rescue Jerusalem from my power?’ ” 36:21 They were silent and did not respond, for the king had ordered, “Don’t respond to him.”
“Has any of the gods of the nations rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria?” – This is a powerful argument. None of the other nations’ gods had protected them; why should you think that yours will?
As Chester points out, no mention is made of the Assyrian gods. Sennacherib’s trust is in himself and his army. He is more powerful, and more trustworthy, than Judah’s Lord.
They were silent – Either because they were non-plussed or because they remained firm in their resolve.