Isaiah 36

“What Confidence Is This?”

An Assyrian envoy stands outside Jerusalem’s walls and asks the question the whole book has been asking, whom do you trust?

701 BC, the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah Read with footnotes in Gospel Library

Background

Chapters 36–39 switch from poetry to prose. They tell the story of King Hezekiah during the greatest crisis of his reign, and they are nearly identical to 2 Kgs. 18:13–20:19.

Chapters 36–39 switch from poetry to prose. They tell the story of King Hezekiah during the greatest crisis of his reign, and they are nearly identical to 2 Kgs. 18:13–20:19. They form a hinge in the book of Isaiah. Chapters 36–37 close the Assyrian period with a great deliverance, and chapters 38–39 point ahead to Babylon, preparing for chapter 40.

In 701 BC, Sennacherib of Assyria swept through Judah, capturing its fortified cities. From his headquarters at Lachish, about thirty miles southwest of Jerusalem, he sent a high official, the Rabshakeh, with an army to demand Jerusalem’s surrender.

Notice where the Rabshakeh stands: “by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field” (verse 2). It’s the exact spot where, about thirty years earlier, Isaiah had met Hezekiah’s father Ahaz and urged him to trust the Lord instead of Assyria (Isa. 7:3). Ahaz had refused. Now the Assyria he trusted stands at that same spot, demanding the city.

The thread through the chapter

Isaiah 36 is built around one word: trust. The Hebrew root batach (“trust,” “confidence”) appears again and again in the Rabshakeh’s speech.

Isaiah 36 is built around one word: trust.

The Hebrew root batach (“trust,” “confidence”) appears again and again in the Rabshakeh’s speech. His opening line is the question of the whole chapter: “What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?” (verse 4). Then he methodically attacks every possible object of Judah’s trust:

Military strength? Mere words (verse 5). “I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them” (verse 8).
Egypt? A “broken reed” that pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it (verse 6). Isaiah had said the same thing (Isa. 30:1–7).
The Lord? Here the Rabshakeh gets clever. Didn’t Hezekiah tear down the Lord’s high places and altars? (verse 7). He twists Hezekiah’s religious reform into an insult to God. Then he claims the Lord Himself sent Assyria (verse 10), which is a twisted half-truth, since Isaiah had called Assyria the Lord’s rod (Isa. 10:5).
Hezekiah? “Let not Hezekiah deceive you” (verse 14).
Other gods? None of them saved their cities (verses 18–20).

In place of all these, he offers his own promise: surrender, and each of you will eat from his own vine and fig tree, “until I come and take you away to a land like your own land” (verses 16–17). It is a parody of the Lord’s promises, with deportation disguised as a good deal.

The people’s response is the most powerful moment in the chapter: silence. “They held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not” (verse 21).

Everything Isaiah has taught for thirty-five chapters comes down to this scene. The enemy asks, “What confidence is this?” The answer will come in chapter 37, when Hezekiah takes the enemy’s words into the temple and spreads them before the Lord.

Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.

Verses 1–3

The envoy at the upper pool

In plain words

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. Then he sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. 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 meet him.

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.

History & Setting #

Sennacherib’s invasion

This is the campaign of 701 BC. After years of paying tribute, Hezekiah had joined a coalition that rebelled against Assyria when Sennacherib came to the throne.

This is the campaign of 701 BC. After years of paying tribute, Hezekiah had joined a coalition that rebelled against Assyria when Sennacherib came to the throne. Sennacherib responded by marching west, subduing the coastal cities, defeating an Egyptian relief army, and overrunning Judah.

His own royal inscription (the “Taylor Prism”) records his version: he claims to have captured forty-six of Hezekiah’s walled cities and to have shut Hezekiah up in Jerusalem “like a bird in a cage.” Notably, he never claims to have taken Jerusalem. The biblical account explains why (Isa. 37:36–37). Hezekiah had also sent heavy tribute earlier in the campaign, trying to make peace (2 Kgs. 18:13–16).

Sources: Sennacherib’s Prism (the “Taylor Prism”), British Museum, London, museum no. 91032. “Sennacherib”, Bible Dictionary. “Hezekiah”, Bible Dictionary.

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.

History & Setting #

Lachish and the Rabshakeh

Lachish was Judah’s second most important fortress city. Sennacherib was so proud of capturing it that he decorated a room of his palace at Nineveh with enormous carved stone…

Lachish was Judah’s second most important fortress city. Sennacherib was so proud of capturing it that he decorated a room of his palace at Nineveh with enormous carved stone panels showing the siege: ramps, battering rams, archers, and captives led away. These “Lachish reliefs” are now in the British Museum, and archaeologists have also found the Assyrian siege ramp at the site.

Rabshakeh isn’t a personal name. It is an Assyrian title, probably meaning “chief cupbearer,” a high-ranking official who served as the king’s spokesman. The account in 2 Kings says he came with two other officials, the Tartan and the Rabsaris (2 Kgs. 18:17).

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.

Verses 4–10

“What confidence is this?”

In plain words

The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What are you relying on? You say you have strategy and military strength, but those are empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? Look, you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it. That’s what Pharaoh is to all who depend on him. And 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, telling Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before this altar’? Come now, make a bargain with my master: I’ll give you two thousand horses, if you can put riders on them! How can you repulse even one officer of the least of my master’s officials, when you depend on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? Besides, 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.”

4 And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?

Word & Language #

The question of the chapter

The Hebrew root batach, “to trust” or “to have confidence,” appears repeatedly in the Rabshakeh’s speeches (verses 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 15, and again in Isa. 37:10).

The Hebrew root batach, “to trust” or “to have confidence,” appears repeatedly in the Rabshakeh’s speeches (verses 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 15, and again in Isa. 37:10). He is attacking every possible object of Judah’s trust, one after another.

This is also the question Isaiah has been asking since chapter 7: “If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established” (Isa. 7:9). The difference is that now the question comes from the enemy. Sometimes the adversary’s mockery forces us to answer, clearly and finally, whom we actually trust.

5 I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?

6 Lo, thou trustest 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 thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?

History & Setting #

Twisting a righteous reform

This is clever propaganda. Hezekiah had carried out a major religious reform: he removed the “high places” and local altars where Israelites mixed the worship of the Lord with…

This is clever propaganda. Hezekiah had carried out a major religious reform: he removed the “high places” and local altars where Israelites mixed the worship of the Lord with pagan practices, and centered worship at the temple in Jerusalem (2 Kgs. 18:3–6; 2 Chr. 31:1). The Rabshakeh twists this obedience into an offense, as if Hezekiah had angered the Lord by tearing down His altars.

Some of Jerusalem’s people may have found the argument persuasive, especially those who missed their local shrines. It’s an old tactic: portray faithfulness as the cause of the trouble. The adversary often attacks our obedience by recasting it as a mistake.

8 Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.

9 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

10 And am I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.

Liken It #

A half-truth

This is the most unsettling claim in the speech. Is it true? In a sense, Isaiah had said Assyria was “the rod of mine anger” that the Lord would send (Isa. 10:5–6).

This is the most unsettling claim in the speech. Is it true? In a sense, Isaiah had said Assyria was “the rod of mine anger” that the Lord would send (Isa. 10:5–6). But the Rabshakeh leaves out the rest: Isaiah also said Assyria would overreach, and that when the Lord finished His work, He would punish Assyria’s arrogance (Isa. 10:7–12).

Half-truths are often more dangerous than lies, because they contain enough truth to be believable. Nephi warned that the adversary deceives by mixing truth and error, whispering “there is no hell” to some and “all is well” to others (2 Ne. 28:21–22). The antidote is the full word of the Lord, not a selective quotation of it.

Verses 11–20

Speaking to the people on the wall

In plain words

Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to us in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew where the people on the wall can hear.” But he replied that his message was meant for the men on the wall too, since they would share in the horrors of the siege. Then he stood up and shouted in Hebrew: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you; he can’t save you. Don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord by saying, ‘The Lord will surely deliver us.’ Don’t listen to Hezekiah. Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat from your own vine and fig tree and drink from your own cistern, until I come and take you to a land like your own, a land of grain and new wine, of bread and vineyards. Has the god of any nation ever saved his land from 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? Which of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem?”

11 Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews’ language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.

History & Setting #

Aramaic and Hebrew

“The Syrian language” is Aramaic, the international language of diplomacy in the Assyrian empire.

“The Syrian language” is Aramaic, the international language of diplomacy in the Assyrian empire. Judah’s officials understood it, but ordinary people didn’t. “The Jews’ language” is Hebrew, the language of the soldiers on the wall.

The officials asked the Rabshakeh to negotiate in Aramaic so the people wouldn’t panic. He deliberately refused. His real audience was the defenders on the wall, and he wanted to demoralize them directly. His reply, recorded in the King James text of verse 12, is a crude and vulgar threat about the conditions of a siege, meant to frighten the ordinary soldiers into surrender.

Centuries later, Aramaic had become the everyday language of Judea, and it was the language Jesus usually spoke.

12 But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?

13 Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.

14 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you.

15 Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

16 Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern;

Imagery & Symbol #

A counterfeit promise

This offer sounds wonderful: each person eating from his own vine and fig tree and drinking from his own cistern.

This offer sounds wonderful: each person eating from his own vine and fig tree and drinking from his own cistern. That is the very picture the prophets used for peace in the Lord’s kingdom: “they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid” (Micah 4:4; see 1 Kgs. 4:25).

But read verse 17: “Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land.” The promise is deportation, dressed up as a bargain. The adversary often offers a counterfeit of God’s blessings, the same good things, but on terms that lead to captivity. Compare what Lehi taught about how Satan “seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself” (2 Ne. 2:18; 2 Ne. 2:27).

17 Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

18 Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

Witness of Christ #

Putting the Lord among the idols

The Rabshakeh’s final argument is his biggest mistake. He lists the cities Assyria conquered, Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, and Samaria, and points out that their gods couldn’t save them.

The Rabshakeh’s final argument is his biggest mistake. He lists the cities Assyria conquered, Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, and Samaria, and points out that their gods couldn’t save them. Why would the Lord of Jerusalem be any different?

His error is to treat the living God as one more idol. Hezekiah will make exactly this point in his prayer: those gods “were no gods, but the work of men’s hands” (Isa. 37:19). The Lord Himself answers the insult: “Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed?… even against the Holy One of Israel” (Isa. 37:23). Isaiah will spend chapters 40–48 showing how absurd it is to compare the Lord with idols (Isa. 40:18–26; Isa. 46:5–9).

19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

20 Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?

Verses 21–22

Silence

In plain words

But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.” Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him what the field commander had said.

21 But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not.

Liken It #

Answer him not

This may be the most instructive verse in the chapter. The people on the wall said nothing, because Hezekiah had commanded, “Answer him not.”

This may be the most instructive verse in the chapter. The people on the wall said nothing, because Hezekiah had commanded, “Answer him not.” They didn’t argue, bargain, or trade insults. They didn’t try to win the debate with the enemy. They took the matter to the king, and the king took it to the Lord (see Isa. 37:1; Isa. 37:14).

Jesus showed the same power of silence before His accusers: “he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly” (Matt. 27:14). Isaiah foresaw it: “as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (Isa. 53:7). Not every accusation needs a reply. Some need to be carried straight to the Lord.

22 Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

Seeing Christ in Isaiah 36

Isaiah 36 asks the question that only Jesus Christ can finally answer: “What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?” The enemy is right that Egypt is a broken reed and that human strength is empty. He is wrong only about the Lord, and that is the one thing that matters.

The people’s silence before the Rabshakeh anticipates the Savior’s silence before His accusers (Matt. 27:12–14; Isa. 53:7). And the counterfeit promise of verses 16–17, blessings that lead to captivity, stands in contrast to Christ’s true promise: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

Liken it to yourself

If someone asked me, “What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?”, what would my honest answer be?
Where does the adversary twist my obedience into something that looks foolish or harmful (verse 7)? How can I recognize that tactic?
Is there a “counterfeit vine and fig tree” being offered to me, a good-looking bargain that would lead to captivity?
When I’m mocked or attacked for my faith, do I need to answer, or should I “answer him not” and take it to the Lord?

Worth exploring next

Two kings at the same spot. Read Isa. 7:1–12 and Isaiah 36:1–3 together. What did Ahaz choose, and what will Hezekiah choose?
The parallel account. Compare Isaiah 36 with 2 Kgs. 18:13–37 and 2 Chr. 32:1–19. What does each add? Notice especially Hezekiah’s words to his people in 2 Chr. 32:7–8.
Half-truths. Read 2 Ne. 28:20–22 and Matt. 4:1–11. How does the adversary use partial truths?

This chapter elsewhere in scripture

2 Kgs. 18:13–37 — The same account, nearly word for word.
2 Chr. 32:1–19 — The Chronicler’s account, including Hezekiah’s preparations and speech.

Sources & further reading

“Hezekiah”, Bible Dictionary.
“Sennacherib”, Bible Dictionary.
Sennacherib’s Prism (the “Taylor Prism”), British Museum, London, museum no. 91032.
Chapter 16: The God of Israel and the Nations (Isaiah 36–47), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).
Donald W. Parry, Jay A. Parry, and Tina M. Peterson, Understanding Isaiah, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1998.

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