Isaiah 36:6

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹In the fourteenth year of the reign of Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked and captured all the fortified cities of Judah. ²And the king of Assyria sent the Rab-shakeh, with a great army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And he stopped by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer's Field. ³Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, went out to him. ⁴The Rab-shakeh said to them, "Tell Hezekiah that this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: 'What is the basis of this confidence of yours? ⁵You claim to have a strategy and strength for war, but these are empty words. On whom are you now relying, that you have rebelled against me? ⁶Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.⁷But if you say to me, "We trust in the LORD our God," is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, "You must worship before this altar"? ⁸Now therefore, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses-if you can put riders on them! ⁹For how can you repel a single officer among the weakest of my master's servants when you depend on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? ¹⁰So now, was it apart from the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD Himself said to me, 'Go up against this land and destroy it.'"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Isaiah 20:5, Isaiah 20:6, Isaiah 30:1-7, Isaiah 31:3, 2 Kings 17:4, 2 Kings 18:21, Jeremiah 37:5-8, Ezekiel 29:6, Ezekiel 29:7

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 18:24 - thy trust Psalms 118:9 - than to put Proverbs 25:19 - General Song of Solomon 8:5 - leaning Isaiah 30:2 - walk Isaiah 31:1 - to them Isaiah 36:9 - and put Jeremiah 17:5 - Cursed Ezekiel 17:15 - in Ezekiel 17:17 - shall

Cross-References

Genesis 12:5
And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and people they had acquired in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,

Genesis 13:6
But the land was unable to support both of them while they stayed together, for they had so many possessions that they were unable to coexist.

Genesis 13:11
So Lot chose the whole plain of the Jordan for himself and set out toward the east. And Abram and Lot parted company.

Genesis 17:8
And to you and your descendants I will give the land of your sojourn-all the land of Canaan-as an eternal possession; and I will be their God."

Genesis 25:23
and He declared to her: "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger."

Genesis 28:4
And may He give the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants, so that you may possess the land where you dwell as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham."

Genesis 32:3
Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

Ezekiel 27:13
Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were your merchants. They exchanged slaves and bronze utensils for your merchandise.

Revelation 18:13
of cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; of wine, olive oil, fine flour, and wheat; of cattle, sheep, horses, and chariots; of slaves and souls of men:

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt,.... His ally and auxiliary; and which is rightly called "the staff of a broken reed", if trusted to, and leaned upon, being weak and frail, and an insufficient ground of confidence to depend upon; the allusion seems to be to the cane or reed which grew upon the banks of the river Nile, in Egypt:

whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it; the splinters of the broken reed being leaned on, will enter into a man's hand, and do him harm, instead of being a help to him to walk with:

so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him; pernicious and harmful, instead of being useful and helpful.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Lo, thou trustest - It is possible that Sennacherib might have been apprised of the attempt which had been made by the Jews to secure the cooperation of Egypt (see the notes at Isaiah 30:1-7; Isaiah 31:1 ff), though he might not have been aware that the negotiation was unsuccessful.

In the staff of this broken reed - The same comparison of Egypt with a broken reed, or a reed which broke while they were trusting to it, occurs in Ezekiel 29:6-7. Reeds were doubtless used often for staves, as they are now. They are light and hollow, with long joints. The idea here is, that as a slender reed would break when a man leaned on it, and would pierce his hand, so it would be with Egypt. Their reliance would give way, and their trusting to Egypt would be attended with injury to themselves (compare Isaiah 30:5, Isaiah 30:7; Isaiah 31:3).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 36:6. The staff of this broken reed — A weakened, faithless ally.

On Egypt — The Bodl. MS. adds מלך melech, the king of Egypt; and so perhaps the Chaldee might read.

It will go into his hand, and pierce it — Will take subsidy after subsidy, and do nothing for it.