In our study of Isaiah chapter thirty six, we look at the choice that we all face which is to listen to the lies from the messengers of Satan or to listen to the words of God.
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It was in the fourteenth year of King Hizkiyahu that Sancheriv king of Ashur advanced against all the fortified cities of Y'hudah and captured them.
Isaiah begins by giving us an exact time for the events that follow and the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's reign would have been the year 701 BC. In that time, we see that the southern kingdom of Judah was under attack from the Assyrians and, in fact, the Assyrians had captured all of the fortified cities except for Jerusalem.
From Lakhish the king of Ashur sent Rav-Shakeh to Hizkiyahu in Yerushalayim with a large army. He positioned himself by the aqueduct from the Upper Pool, which is by the road to the Launderers' Field. Elyakim the son of Hilkiyahu, who was in charge of the household, Shevnah the general secretary and Yo'ach the son of Asaf the foreign minister went out to meet him.
We see that the king of Assyria sent a messenger with a large army to Jerusalem where they were met by three men who were either in charge of Hezekiah's household or the temple. We see that there was a priest (Elyakim) as well as a scribe or Torah expert (Shevnah) and a financial secretary (Yo'ach).
Rav-Shakeh addressed them: "Tell Hizkiyahu: 'Here is what the great king, the king of Ashur, says: "What makes you so confident? I say: do mere words constitute strategy and strength for battle? In whom, then, are you trusting when you rebel against me like this? Look! Relying on Egypt is like using a broken stick as a staff - when you lean on it, it punctures your hand. That's what Pharaoh king of Egypt is like for anyone who puts his trust in him.
In this passage, we see that the king of Assyria assumed that the reason that Jerusalem did not surrender to him was that they had made an alliance and were trusting in Egypt to rescue them. The messenger goes on to say that, like a broken reed, Egypt cannot help anyone and those who trust in Egypt will be broken as well.
But if you tell me, 'We trust in ADONAI our God,' then isn't he the one whose high places and altars Hizkiyahu has removed, telling Y'hudah and Yerushalayim, 'You must worship before this altar'?
The messenger refers to the fact that Hezekiah had torn down all of the altars and high places that had been used for idolatry and had told the people that they were to worship only at the temple in Jerusalem. At this time, Jerusalem was under siege and with that comes suffering and the messenger was implying that Judah was in no better shape now than when the altars and high places were being used. In effect, the king of Assyria is trying to get the people of Jerusalem to rebel against Hezekiah and submit to him.
All right, then, make a wager with my lord the king of Ashur: I will give you two thousand horses if you can find enough riders for them. How then can you repulse even one of my master's lowest-ranked army officers? Yet you are relying on Egypt for chariots and riders!
Now, the messenger is mocking them as he says that, if Jerusalem would surrender, then, the king of Assyria would give them two thousand horses to strengthen their army but they did not have enough soldiers to put on them. Once again, he is assuming that Hezekiah was trusting in Egypt to give him chariots and riders for them.
Do you think I have come up to this land to destroy it without ADONAI's approval? ADONAI said to me, 'Go up against this land and destroy it!'"'" Elyakim, Shevnah and Yo'ach said to Rav-Shakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it; don't speak to us in Hebrew while the people on the wall are listening." But Rav-Shakeh answered, "Did my master send me to deliver my message just to your master and yourselves? Didn't he send me to address the men sitting on the wall, who, like you, are going to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?"
The messenger was speaking to them in Hebrew and saying that God had sent the Assyrians but the three leaders asked him to speak in Aramaic so that the people of Jerusalem would not understand what was being said. The messenger answered that he was sent to speak to the common people as well as the leaders of Jerusalem.
Then Rav-Shakeh stood up and, speaking loudly in Hebrew, said: "Hear what the great king, the king of Ashur, says! This is what the king says: 'Don't let Hizkiyahu deceive you, because he won't be able to save you. And don't let Hizkiyahu make you trust in ADONAI by saying, "ADONAI will surely save us; this city will not be given over to the king of Ashur."
The messenger ignored the request and appealed directly to the people of Jerusalem that were watching and listening from the top of the wall. He pleads with the people to not listen to Hezekiah when he says that the Lord will rescue Jerusalem and we must remember that the king of Assyria was evil as he was opposed to the will of God. He accuses Hezekiah of deceiving the people while, in fact, it is the king of Assyria that is trying to deceive them.
Don't listen to Hizkiyahu.' For this is what the king says: 'Make peace with me, surrender to me. Then every one of you can eat from his vine and fig tree and drink the water in his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land with grain and wine, a land with bread and vineyards.
The messenger tries to make the people of Jerusalem believe that they would be better off by turning their backs on the Lord and submitting to the king of Assyria. This is one of the same methods that Satan uses to deceive people even to this day.
Beware of Hizkiyahu; he is only deluding you when he says, "ADONAI will save us." Has any god of any nation ever saved his land from the power of the king of Ashur? Where are the gods of Hamat and Arpad? Where are the gods of S'farvayim? Did they save Shomron from my power? Where is the god of any of these countries that has saved its country from my power, so that ADONAI might be able to save Yerushalayim from my power?'"
The messenger reminds the people that none of the gods of the northern kingdom of Israel or any others had been able to stand against the king of Assyria.
But they kept still and didn't answer him so much as a word, for the king's order was, "Don't answer him." Then Elyakim the son of Hilkiyahu, who was in charge of the household, Shevnah the general secretary and Yo'ach the son of Asaf the foreign minister went to Hizkiyahu with their clothes torn and reported to him what Rav-Shakeh had said.
The three leaders of Jerusalem did not respond to the messenger as Hezekiah had ordered them not to. Instead, they tore their garments and reported to king Hezekiah all that the messenger had said. At this point, Hezekiah has a choice to make and that is to stand in faith or to yield to the lies of Satan. As Christians, we are often faced with the same choice and it all comes down to who you are going to listen to. Will you listen to the messengers of Satan or will you stand on the message that God has given us through his word?
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