Isa 36.1-22 begins the account of the Assyrian assault on Judah and King Hezekiah, led by King Sennacherib (Sanheriv in Hebrew). This chapter is given to confirm earlier prophecies in Kings and Chronicles. This chapter is also a study in spiritual warfare, especially psychological warfare, which is basically defined as “The essence of psychological warfare is to confuse the meaning of words and infiltrate the mind with conflicting concepts.” This attack is also prophetic of the invasion of Israel by Gog and Magog in Ezek 38 and 39. Eschatologically Assyria is seen as Russia. Ezek 38.17 says the attack by Gog and Magog has been prophesied for years, but there are no prophecies about Gog and Magog. However, if Assyria is a type of Gog and Magog, there are whole chapters about it. So, we are going to approach this chapter with that in mind. Assyria is Gog and Magog, and Gog and Magog is Russia in prophecy.
v 1…Now it came about in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah (“Yehovah is my strength”), Sennacherib (Sanheriv meaning “Sin sends many brothers.” Sin was an Assyrian god) king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah (those with walls and towers) and seized them (the main enemy was Phoenicia, Philistia, Edom and Moab. But Judah rebelled against Assyria also. Hezekiah had taken Ekron and a vassal king Poti, so Assyria was forced to come).
v 2…And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh (a title, in addition to Tartan and Rab Saris in 2 Kings 18.17) from Lachish (in the Shephelah Valley, the headquarters of the Assyrians now) to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the fuller’s field (this is the same place his father Ahaz stood in Isa 7.3. The message is: you are standing on the opportunity to receive redemption. The pool is the Pool of Shiloach or Siloam, meaning “sent.” His father rejected it, but Hezekiah will not. His clothes “made white” is alluded to here with the fuller’s field, meaning righteousness-Isa 1.18; Mal 3.2; Mark 9.3. Eschatologically, this alludes to Yom Kippur at the end of the third year going into the fourth year of the birth-pains when Gog and Magog will be defeated and the nation of Israel accepts Yeshua as the Messiah).
v 3…Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah who was over the household and Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder came out to him (Shebna has probably been deposed. He was over the household in Isa 22.19-25, but now Eliakim is as prophesied there. Hezekiah is not present because he was sick unto death-Isa 38.1).
v 4…Then Rabshakeh said to them (to discourage them), “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king of Assyria, “What is this confidence you have?
v 5…I say, your counsel and strength for war are only empty words.’ Now on whom you rely, that you have rebelled against me?
v 6…Behold,, you rely on the staff of this crushed reed (Pharaoh), on Egypt, on which if a man leans it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him (this means he will be a weak ally. Eschatologically, Egypt is Europe and Pharaoh is a picture of the False Messiah. Israel will be invaded by Russia, and Israel thinks they have help from Europe because of the military treaty they signed in Dan 9.27. The Jews were warned not to flee to Egypt, or Europe, in Isa 30 and 31. The message is, don’t rely on the False Messiah and Europe during the birth-pains-2 Kings 18.21; Dan 9.27; Isa 42.1-4; Isa 22.25; Ezek 29.1-7, 32.1-8).
v 7…But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord (Yehovah) our God (Eloheycha), is it not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away (that were in the Temple; the Jews were mixing paganism with the true worship of God and Hezekiah tried to stop it. The Assyrians saw this as stopping their worship in Yehovah-2 Kings 17.33; Deut 12.30; Job 14.4; Matt 15.9; 1 Kings 18.19; Hos 3.4; 2 Chr 23.7; Mic 1.13; Zeph 1.12; 1 Kings 12.28; Jer 41.5. Hezekiah had to destroy the bronze serpent of Num 21.6-8 and 2 Kings 18.4. This bronze serpent is called Nechushtan and is a picture of the crucifixion of Yeshua in John 3.14. In other words, they turned a symbol of the crucifixion into an idol. This is exactly what Christianity has done with a crucifix, which we believe is the Abomination of Desolation. Keep that in mind as we move forward because Isaiah will be describing the Abomination of Desolation in Isa 40 through 46, which we believe is a crucifix).
v 8…Now, therefore, come make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them (this shows their arrogance, mocking Judah and their power to defend themselves).
v 9…How then can you repulse one official of the least of my master’s servants (resist me), and rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen (mocking Hezekiah’s notion that Egypt will help him)?
v 10…And have I now come up without the Lord’s (Yehovah’s) approval against his land to destroy it (this was to break down the morale of Judah, saying “God sent us” so don’t think he is going to help you). The Lord said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it (we are acting in the name of Yehovah).”
v 11…Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we hear and do not speak with us in Judean (Yehudit) in the hearing of the people who are on the wall (this showed a weakness, they did not want the people to fear their fate if they continued the fight).
v 12…But Rabshakeh said (sensing their fear), “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words not to the men who sit on the wall, to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you (he purposely spoke Hebrew before the defenders, but said he was only sent to speak to Hezekiah. He insinuated that the city was out of water, but they weren’t. Hezekiah had built a water tunnel, but they did not tell Rabshakeh that. They were not to talk to the enemy).
v 13…Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in Judean (Hebrew) and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.
v 14…Thus says the king (as his agent), “Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you;
v 15…nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord (Yehovah), saying, “The Lord (Yehovah) will surely deliver us, this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”
v 16…Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, ‘Make peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern (this is an idiom for peace-Mic 4.4; John 1.48; 1 Kings 4.25; Zech 3.10),
v 17…until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards,
v 18…beware lest Hezekiah misleads you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
v 19…Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And when have they delivered Samaria from my hand?
v 20…Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their land from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand (this was Assyria’s big mistake. They went to far here. As we have said, this is a good chapter on psychological warfare, so let’s review what is happening in the first twenty verses. Rabshakeh’s speaking in Hebrew is meant to discourage the people in verses 4-5, 18. Then he lifts up problems that he thinks the Jews have in verse 12 and in 2 Chr 32.1-19. He speaks to those who do not know what to do in verse 12. He plays mind games in verse10, and he promises false things, but the end is slavery in verse 8, 16-17).
v 21…But they were silent and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, ‘Do not answer him (good advice, to not speak to the enemy).
v 22…Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh (Hezekiah was probably the most godly king since David, and yet look at the problems he had. He was sick unto death at this time as seen in Isa 38.1, and he was turning Israel back to the Torah, so now the people were a threat to ha Satan, and now Judah has been invaded and virtually wiped out except for Jerusalem. Why? Because his fathers led the people into idolatry and now the trouble is being visited on their children because they followed them and were guilty of it too. The message is, don’t play with paganism-Lam 5.7; Jer 44.17-18)
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