Isaiah 36 THE CHALLENGE Chapters thirty-six through thirty-nine are a historical account of the Assyrian invasion of Judah and the threat against the city of Jerusalem. Isaiah had prophesied of this and it came to pass as he had said. Forty-six cities of Judah had fallen to the Assyrians and then they came to within a day’s journey of Jerusalem. A delegation of Assyrians under the leadership of a “Rabshakeh” (similar to a general of an army) met with a delegation of Jews from Jerusalem who were the representatives of king Hezekiah, to discuss terms and how to deal with the threat.
Isaiah had written of the necessity of trust in God even when danger comes and there seems to be no way of escape. He had stated that Jerusalem would not fall to the Assyrians but would be delivered by the hand of the Lord alone. Often when we read the scriptures, we get used to not taking them seriously when it comes to warnings against sin, the necessity of faith instead of human ideas when we are faced with difficulties, and disasters too big for our minds to grasp. Doctors and health-care people can help to a certain degree when it comes to sickness, but life and death are in the hand of our Lord. Our appeal must be to Him who has the last word. The same is true in economic trials, in family matters, when confronted with unfair laws of man and when dealing with unscriptural practices in church life. Our hope and trust are in the Lord who controls the outcome of every matter we will ever have to deal with.
The insolent and bold Assyrian commander laid down the challenge and the terms. He came to the very place where Hezekiah’s father, Ahaz, had met with Isaiah and rejected God’s offer. At that time, Isaiah gave him the sign of the virgin birth of Christ that would happen in the future. The Assyrian wanted the surrender of the city without any opposition. He mocked the alliance Judah had made with the Egyptians earlier as of no value. Promises are only as good as the person (in this case, the nation) who makes them. Pharaoh’s word or God’s word was the choice Hezekiah had to make. Unfortunately. he had made the wrong choice. Human advice is valueless if it in any way contradicts the word of God. God’s promises are “Yea and Amen.” They are eternal and can be counted on without question.
The Lord had warned the Jewish leadership of the same thing only His warning was from the perspective of one who knows the end from the beginning. The pagan Assyrian didn’t understand how destroying idol worship in Judah was the intention behind his successes. The Lord was using the Assyrians for His purposes of dealing with idolatry and sin in His people. They had turned away from Him for many years and then when Hezekiah became king, he took away the high places and altars to false gods. The Assyrian leader thought God was against Judah because they had destroyed the altars to idols under the edict of Hezekiah. To the mind of a ruthless leader of a world power, the refusal of a feeble remnant of Jews to submit to him was absolute foolishness.
There are many accounts in scripture of how people who put their faith and full trust in the Lord, were vindicated by the power of God accomplishing for them what could not be done by human effort. God demonstrates His power and sovereign authority in ways that leave no question that divine intervention had taken place on behalf of His people. Deceit, arrogance, innuendo and scorn are often directed toward those who put their faith in God. Human inadequacy and inability open the way for divine power to be demonstrated over the plans, schemes and power of men and nations.
The Assyrians offered economic security if the king of Judah would surrender and submit to the will of the invaders. Things are offered to believers today if they are willing to cooperate with those who want to please people and accept the social changes that invade even religious groups. The idols of the Assyrians in which they trusted were different than the idols we have here, but the outcome is the same. To surrender truth and holiness to social acceptance and tolerance of sin is as great a defeat as a nation that is taken into slavery.
Crafty Rabshakeh right out in the open where everyone could hear, appealed to those in Judah he knew were idolatrous by saying Hezekiah had insulted God by tearing down idols and saying there was only one place to bring their offerings, and only one way to worship the Lord God. This attitude is still prevalent among those in Christendom who say there are many ways of looking at the same thing. To those people it doesn’t matter what God plainly says. They believe you have the right to worship and serve God in a way that suits you rather than what He says in the Bible. That is really insulting to the Sovereign God of the universe who has made us to suit Him like a potter makes a vessel. It is not our right to add or take away from the word of God.
Like the Assyrian leader, such people want to make a bargain with those who live to serve the Lord by implying, “Look how small and inadequate you are compared to us who have large followings and a lot of money coming in to the church coffers. Think of how much we can do and how appealing we are. Join us. Don’t separate and be so smug as to think you who only follow the Bible are the ones who please God.” If we allow compromising suggestions to make us stop doing what we know is scriptural, we are in a dangerous place where sin waits to claim us. Some things people say are true. Those who follow the Lord are small in number compared to the many who follow the ways of the world. “Few there be that find it” is a fact. Our weakness is real, but the same Lord who told Paul, “My strength is made perfect in weakness,” will do the same for us.
It was true the Lord was using the Assyrians to bring chastening and just judgment on His own people who had turned away from Him to idols and open wickedness. Enemies still try to undermine the Lord’s people today with partial truths in order to justify their own sinful ways and to seek to demoralize believers who want to follow the Lord. Isaiah had already prophesied Assyria would come against Judah but would not take Jerusalem. Even so, in a loud voice the Assyrian commander called out to those who could hear him and told them Hezekiah was deceiving them. The world promises much, but there are always strings attached that are not evident when the compromise is presented. All the food that was offered to the hungry people, and the attractive offers of a place for their own with economic security, would have appealed to those who were unbelievers.
The arrogant commander told of the places they already conquered, and gave another warning that the city would fall. Wisely Hezekiah had commanded the people who listened to not reply. The Assyrian leader had openly challenged God by saying the defeat of Israel was the defeat of the God of Israel, and it would be the same in Judah. Hezekiah’s advisors and Hezekiah himself took the bold insolence of Rabshakeh to heart and torn their clothes as a sign of fear. Hezekiah understood the gravity of the situation. There will be times in our lives when we have to confess our weakness and frailty. Our inability to change the situation makes us face ourselves. “Where could I go but to the Lord.”