“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?” (Isaiah 36:4).
Hezekiah had a visitor one day from Sennacherib, the king of Assyria. Rabshakeh, one of Sennacherib’s chief officers, came to Jerusalem to intimidate the king before going to battle with the army. His taunt was: “What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?” (v.4).
The invading king’s lieutenant questioned how the Jews thought they were prepared for the battle saying, “I have counsel and strength for war” (v.5). If the Jews were trusting in Egypt to help them, they might as well forget it, for as soon as Sennacherib heard that the Egyptian army was coming to the aid of the Jewish rebellious coalition, he engaged the Egyptians themselves in battle.
On the other hand, if the Jews were saying, “We trust in the LORD our God” (v.7), then that was a contradiction, for the Jews had just spent much time taking down their idols and altars under Hezekiah’s reign. How could any “god” of theirs help them? What Rabshakeh didn’t know was that the Jews knew that Hezekiah was removing the idols and substitutes for true worship in an attempt to restore proper worship to God.
Rabshakeh’s threats were in vain, for Hezekiah commanded, “Answer him not” (v.21). Hezekiah took his plight to God in prayer, and God answered by destroying the Assyrian army and sending them away.
What about us today? Do we have faith to believe that God, who answered Hezekiah’s prayer, can answer ours? Time has passed, but God’s sovereignty is unchanged. What onslaught is there that God is unable to deal with? “Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD, even thou only” (Isaiah 37:20). KBC
