Futility of Boasting Against the LORD

Isaiah 36:1-22 

(2 Kin. 18:13–37; 2 Chr. 32:1–19)

1 Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 2 Then the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And he stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller's Field. 3 And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to him.

4 Then the Rabshakeh said to them, "Say now to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: "What confidence is this in which you trust? 5 I say you speak of having plans and power for war; but they are mere words. Now in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me? 6 Look! You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, 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 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 Jerusalem, 'You shall worship before this altar'?"' 8 Now therefore, I urge you, give a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses—if you are able on your part to put riders on them! 9 How then will you repel one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 10 Have I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, 'Go up against this land, and destroy it.'"

11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people who are on the wall."

12 But the Rabshakeh said, "Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat and drink their own waste with you?"

13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in Hebrew, and said, "Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 Thus says the king: 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you; 15 nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, "The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."' 16 Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: 'Make peace with me by a present and come out to me; and every one of you eat from his own vine and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern; 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. 18 Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, "The LORD will deliver us." Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand? 20 Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?'"

21 But they held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king's commandment was, "Do not answer him." 22 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Sennacherib the king of Assyria boasted against the LORD as if he had all the might to defeat God’s people.  He pushed through Judah and came up against Jerusalem to utter threats and an ultimatum.  The message relayed from the Assyrian king was for Hezekiah to surrender at once and not rely on the power of Egypt to back them up.  He really was questioning their trust in the LORD God and mocked Hezekiah for tearing down the many high places and setting the one temple in Jerusalem as the one place to worship, as if that made God smaller with less influence or presence.  That was man’s reasoning based on size and not on supernatural sovereign power.  He even blasphemed the LORD in his arrogant pride by saying that He had sent the Assyrian army to take the land with Jerusalem to destroy it all!  The messengers spoke not just between the leaders so all who were defending the city could be intimidated.  The deceit was loudly broadcast to not trust in the LORD or His chosen servant leader Hezekiah for deliverance; the command was to submit and trust Assyria over God.  This subtle lie appears in a different angle today to call God’s people to trust in political or military might over the Lord (Psalm 56:11, 146:3), but with the same deception of our enemy to replace trust in God with the feeble and fleeting power of man.  The Assyrian message came with an offer of reward if they surrendered and submitted by abandoning faith in the Lord for deliverance through Hezekiah.  He named false gods defeated by Assyria and dared lump the Holy and Sovereign LORD God among them in his blasphemy, much as people today have relegated God to a lesser being who is the same as any other religion.  Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder all wisely held their tongues as they had been told so as not to stir up a fight.  These told what was said to king Hezekiah with sorrow and distress in their trust.  We also find ourselves wanting to fight back against the enemies of God who are atheists and lovers of their own power and pleasure in their rejection of the gospel, but must trust God as our defender and deliverer from trouble accordingly to His word.  May we stand firm on the wall to defend the faith (2 Samuel 22:3, Jude 1:3, 1 Timothy 6:12, 2 Timothy 4:7) without wavering or shifting our reliance to any power besides our omnipotent Lord Jesus Christ of the Father according to His Spirit working in and through us (Ephesians 3:20).  We have one Savior, and He is no worldly leader or power.  It is futile to boast against the Lord and when we are attacked or faced with an impossible situation, do we go immediately before God with praise and ask for His name to be honored, or do we only seek our own well-being?  The examples in Scripture continually point to God and not to us.  Amen!