Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary

on the Whole Bible

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Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (1712)

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I S A I A H.

CHAP. XXXVI.

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The prophet Isaiah is, in this and the three following chapters, an

historian; for the scripture history, as well as the scripture

prophecy, is given by inspiration of God, and was dictated to holy men.

Many of the prophecies of the foregoing chapters had their

accomplishment in Sennacherib’s invading Judah and besieging Jerusalem,

and the miraculous defeat he met with there; and therefore the story of

this is here inserted, both for the explication and for the

confirmation of the prophecy. The key of prophecy is to be found in

history; and here, that we might have the readier entrance, it is, as

it were, hung at the door. The exact fulfilling of this prophecy might

serve to confirm the faith of God’s people in the other prophecies, the

accomplishment of which was at a greater distance. Whether this story

was taken from the book of the Kings and added here, or whether it was

first written by Isaiah here and hence taken into the book of Kings, is

not material. But the story is the same almost verbatim; and it was so

memorable an event that it was well worthy to be twice recorded,

2 Kings xviii. and xix.,

and here, and an abridgment of it likewise,

2 Chron. xxxii.

We shall be but short in our observations upon this story here, having

largely explained it there. In this chapter we have,

I. The descent which the king of Assyria made upon Judah, and his

success against all the defenced cities,

ver. 1.

II. The conference he desired to have with Hezekiah, and the managers

on both sides,

ver. 2, 3.

III. Rabshakeh’s railing blasphemous speech, with which he designed to

frighten Hezekiah into a submission, and persuade him to surrender at

discretion,

ver. 4-10.

IV. His appeal to the people, and his attempt to persuade them to

desert Hezekiah, and so force him to surrender,

ver. 11-20.

V. The report of this made to Hezekiah by his agents,

ver. 21, 22.

Sennacherib’s Insolent Message.	B. C. 710.

     

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.

  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.

  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.

  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?

  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?

  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.

     

We shall here only observe some practical lessons.

1. A people may be in the way of their duty and yet meet with trouble

and distress. Hezekiah was reforming, and his people were in some

measure reformed; and yet their country is at that time invaded and a

great part of it laid waste. Perhaps they began to grow remiss and cool

in the work of reformation, were doing it by halves, and ready to sit

down short of a thorough reformation; and then God visited them with

this judgment, to put life into them and that good cause. We must not

wonder if, when we are doing well, God sends afflictions to quicken us

to do better, to do our best, and to press forward towards perfection.

2. That we must never be secure of the continuance of our peace in this

world, nor think our mountain stands so strong that it cannot be moved.

Hezekiah was not only a pious king, but prudent, both in his

administration at home and in his treaties abroad. His affairs were in

a good posture, and he seemed particularly to be upon good terms with

the king of Assyria, for he had lately made his peace with him by a

rich present

(2 Kings xviii. 14),

and yet that perfidious prince pours an army into his country all of a

sudden and lays it waste. It is good for us therefore always to keep up

an expectation of trouble, that, when it comes, it may be no surprise

to us, and then it will be the less a terror.

3. God sometimes permits the enemies of his people, even those that are

most impious and treacherous, to prevail far against them. The king of

Assyria took all, or most, of the defenced cities of Judah, and then

the country would of course be an easy prey to him. Wickedness may

prosper awhile, but cannot prosper always.

4. Proud men love to talk big, to boast of what they are, and have, and

have done, nay and of what they will do, to insult over others, and set

all mankind at defiance, though thereby they render themselves

ridiculous to all wise men and obnoxious to the wrath of that God who

resists the proud. But thus they think to make themselves feared,

though they make themselves hated, and to carry their point by great

swelling words of vanity,

Jude 16.

5. The enemies of God’s people endeavour to conquer them by frightening

them, especially by frightening them from their confidence in God. Thus

Rabshakeh here, with noise and banter, runs down Hezekiah as utterly

unable to cope with his master, or in the least to make head against

him. It concerns us therefore, that we may keep our ground against the

enemies of our souls, to keep up our spirits by keeping up our hope in

God.

6. It is acknowledged, on all hands, that those who forsake God’s

service forfeit his protection. If that had been true which Rabshakeh

alleged, that Hezekiah had thrown down God’s altars, he might justly

infer that he could not with any assurance trust in him for succour and

relief,

v. 7,

We may say thus to presuming sinners, who say that they trust in the

Lord and in his mercy. Is not this he whose commandments they have

lived in the contempt of, whose name they have dishonoured, and whose

ordinances they have slighted? How then can they expect to find favour

with him?

7. It is an easy thing, and very common, for those that persecute the

church and people of God to pretend a commission from him for so doing.

Rabshakeh could say, Have I now come up without the Lord? when

really he had come up against the Lord,

ch. xxxvii. 28.

Those that kill the servants of the Lord think they do him service and

say, Let the Lord be glorified. But, sooner or later, they will

be made to know their error to their cost, to their confusion.

Sennacherib’s Insolent Message.	B. C. 710.

     

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.

  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;

  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?

  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?

  21 But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for

the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not.

  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.

     

We may hence learn these lessons:–

1. That, while princes and counsellors have public matters under

debate, it is not fair to appeal to the people. It was a reasonable

motion which Hezekiah’s plenipotentiaries made, that this parley should

be held in a language which the people did not understand

(v. 11),

because reasons of state are secret things and ought to be kept secret,

the vulgar being incompetent judges of them. It is therefore an unfair

practice, and not doing as men would be done by, to incense subjects

against their rulers by base insinuations.

2. Proud and haughty scorners, the fairer they are spoken to, commonly

speak the fouler. Nothing could be said more mildly and respectfully

than that which Hezekiah’s agents said to Rabshakeh. Besides that the

thing itself was just which they desired, they called themselves his

servants, they petitioned for it: Speak, we pray thee;

but this made him the more spiteful and imperious. To give rough

answers to those who give us soft answers is one way of rendering evil

for good; and those are wicked indeed, and it is to be feared

incurable, with whom that which usually turns away wrath does but make

bad worse.

3. When Satan would tempt men from trusting in God, and cleaving to

him, he does so by insinuating that in yielding to him they may better

their condition; but it is a false suggestion, and grossly absurd, and

therefore to be rejected with the utmost abhorrence. When the world and

the flesh say to us, “Make an agreement with us and come out

to us, submit to our dominion and come into our interests, and

you shall eat every one of his own vine,” they do but deceive

us, promising liberty when they would lead us into the basest captivity

and slavery. One might as well take Rabshakeh’s word as theirs for

kind usage and fair quarter; therefore, when they speak fair,

believe them not. Let them say what they will, there is no land

like the land of promise, the holy land.

4. Nothing can be more absurd in itself, nor a greater affront to the

true and living God, than to compare him with the gods of the heathen;

as if he could do no more for the protection of his worshippers than

they can for the protection of theirs, and as if the God of Israel

could as easily be mastered as the gods of Hamath and Arphad, whereas

they are vanity and a lie. They are nothing; he is the great I

AM: they are the creatures of men’s fancy and the works of men’s

hands; he is the Creator of all things.

5. Presumptuous sinners are ready to think that, because they have

been too hard for their fellow-creatures, they are therefore a match

for their Creator. This and the other nation they have subdued, and

therefore the Lord himself shall not deliver Jerusalem out of their

hand. But, though the potsherds may strive with the potsherds of the

earth, let them not strive with the potter.

6. It is sometimes prudent not to answer a fool according to his

folly. Hezekiah’s command was, “Answer him not; it will but

provoke him to rail and blaspheme yet more and more; leave it to God to

stop his mouth, for you cannot.” They had reason enough on their side,

but it would be hard to speak it to such an unreasonable adversary

without a mixture of passion; and, if they should fall a railing like

him, Rabshakeh would be much too hard for them at that weapon.

7. It becomes the people of God to lay to heart the dishonour done to

God by the blasphemies of wicked men, though they do not think it

prudent to reply to those blasphemies. Though they answered him not

a word, yet they rent their clothes, in a holy zeal for the glory

of God’s name and a holy indignation at the contempt put upon it. They

tore their garments when they heard blasphemy, as taking no pleasure in

their own ornaments when God’s honour suffered.

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Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (1712)

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