Isaiah 36, The Arrival of Sennacherib

Isaiah has been chastising the leaders of Judah for attempts to arrange a treaty with Egypt, in order to hold off Assyria. Now Isaiah's short term prophesies come to pass. The next four chapters repeat history that parallels that of 2 Kings 18-20 and 2 Chronicles 29-32.

Isaiah 36:1-3, Sennacherib arrives outside Jerusalem

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 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, Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to him.

Sennacherib invades Judah, conquering many fortified cities, especially Lachish, to the southwest of Jerusalem. (It is not clear why Assyria, east of Judah, comes at Jerusalem from the west.) 2 Kings 18:13-16 has Hezekiah paying tribute to Sennacherib at that point, but that does not stop Sennacherib's army. 

2 Kings 18:17-18 reports that Sennacherib sent three people to Jerusalem. Here they are met with three Judean leaders. The songs of Asaph are explicitly connected with Hezekiah reign (2 Chronicles 29:30) and so presumably Joah is a descendent of Asaph.

The Hebrew word Rabshaqeh, here translated "his field commander" may be a personal name or a title.

The aqueduct mentioned in verse 2 is probably the famous Siloam irrigation tunnel built by Hezekiah to withstand a siege.

Isaiah 36:4-7, Sennacherib's challenge

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? 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? 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. 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”?

 

Sennacherib is aware of Hezekiah's attempts to set up an alliance with Egypt. So the general challenges the Judean leaders as to their hopes. He intends to bully them into surrendering; his words are arrogant and abusive. Are the Judeans relying on Egypt? Egypt is a mere "splintered reed", says the general. (And also an alliance that Isaiah has repeatedly warned against.) Or are they relying on their local god, apparently called YHWH? The general is aware that Hezekiah has been pulling down the high places and altars, trying to renew true worship in Jerusalem. The general may see that action as an insult to the local god -- believing that Hezekiah has removed altars to that god. With this misunderstanding of Hezekiah's actions, the field commander tells the people that they cannot rely on a god they have already insulted.

Isaiah 36:8-10, Make a bargain

“‘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! 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 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.’”

Sennacherib claims that YHWH told him to attack Jerusalem. According to Isaiah's prophecies, Sennacherib is partially correct. The general, speaking for Sennacherib, taunts Jerusalem, claiming that he has enough extra men that he could loan Jerusalem 2000 horses and men to ride them!

Isaiah 36:11-12, Aramaic, please

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.”

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?”

Hezekiah's commanders do not want these words to be easily heard by the common folk listening at the walls. They ask that he speak in the Assyrian Aramaic, not the language of the common people. But the general, whose goal is to bully Jerusalem into surrendering without a fight, is certainly trying to destroy the morale of the people listening. The general loudly responds, promising that all who can hear him will soon be so desperate that they will eat their own excrement and drink their urine! It is likely that Jerusalem is now filled with refugees from the nearby lands and the general's loud boast should cause panic.

Isaiah 36:13-17, Taunt and promise

Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, 

“Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you! 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.’

“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, 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.

 

Hezekiah's commanders do not want the words to be easily heard by the common folk. But the commander shouts in Hebrew, offering rewards for a surrender and devastation if they put up a fight. Along the way he makes fun of what he perceives to be the local god.

The Assyrian army has probably devastated the nearby area; here the general promises to give a good life to those who surrender, a good life in a different land. (Assyria deported many of the people of Israel when it conquered the northern kingdom twenty years before and probably plans to do the same with the people of Judah.)

Isaiah 36:18-20, Have any gods delivered their people?

“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? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? 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?”

To make his point clear, the general points out other nations whose gods were too weak to defeat Sennacherib. This local god, this YHWH, is the same, he shouts. Among the previously conquered nations is Samaria, that is, the northern kingdom of Israel. That kingdom also claimed to worship a god called YHWH....

Isaiah 36:21-22, Clothes torn

But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

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.

The proud boasts and taunts of this enemy general are effective. Distraught, the Jewish leaders return to Jerusalem and meet with Hezekiah.