Historical Appendix[a]
Chapter 36
Sennacherib’s Challenge.[b] 1 In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked all the fortified towns of Judah and captured them. 2 From Lachish the king of Assyria sent his chief officer to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem with a great army. When the chief officer took up his position near the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field 3 there came out to meet him Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was master of the palace, as well as Shebna the secretary, and the recorder Joah, son of Asaph.
4 The chief officer said to them, “Tell King Hezekiah: This is the message of the great king, the king of Assyria. On what do you base this great confidence of yours? 5 Do you think that mere words can overcome strategy and military strength? On whom are you relying for help that you dare to rebel against me? 6 This Egypt, the staff on whom you rely, is a broken reed that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely upon him. 7 And if you say to me that you are relying on the Lord, your God, is he not the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, commanding Judah and Jerusalem to worship at this altar?
8 “Now I challenge you to make a wager with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses if you can find riders for them. 9 But how could you repulse even a single one of my master’s soldiers, even though you are depending upon Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 10 Moreover, do you believe that I have come to attack this land and destroy it without the consent of the Lord? The Lord himself said to me, ‘Go forth against this land and destroy it.’ ”
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief officer, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic,[c] for we understand it. Do not speak to us in Judean within earshot of the people on the ramparts.” 12 The chief officer replied, “Has my master sent me here to speak these words only to your master and to you, and not also to the people sitting on the wall who along with you will be doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”
13 Then the chief officer stood up and shouted loudly in the Judean language, “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 Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to rely on the Lord by saying, ‘The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not fall into the power of the king of Assyria.’ 16 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, ‘Make peace with me and surrender. Then each of you will be free to eat the fruit of his own vine and drink the water of his own cistern 17 until I come to take you to a land like your own, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Do not let Hezekiah mislead you by saying that the Lord will save you. Have any of the gods of the nations saved their lands from the power of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my clutches?[d] 20 Which of all the gods of these countries has saved his country from my hand? Will the Lord then save Jerusalem from my power?’ ”
21 However, the people remained silent and did not respond with even a single word, for the king had ordered them not to reply to him. 22 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was the master of the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and the recorder Joah son of Asaph, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported the words of the chief officer.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 36:1 Some disciples of Isaiah took and adapted a part of the Second Book of Kings (18:13—20:19), in order to show that in two or three dramatic instances Isaiah had spoken truly. During the same period, there were other less favorable developments: the independence of Judah became increasingly precarious; pagan divinities continued to make their way even into the temple in Jerusalem. But the editors passed over these facts of general history.
- Isaiah 36:1 This event, to which Isaiah often refers, occurred in 701 B.C. Sennacherib spread his armies across Palestine, invaded Judah, and besieged Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 36:11 Aramaic: a Semitic language that spread throughout the entire Near East; after the Exile it became, even in Palestine, the language of the people, replacing Hebrew.
- Isaiah 36:19 People from Arpad and Sepharvaim were introduced into Samaria, which had been occupied by Sargon; the two places were, like Hamath, cities of Syria (see 10:9).