Isaiah 36:8

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

pledges: or, hostages, 2 Kings 14:14

and I: Isaiah 10:13, Isaiah 10:14, 1 Samuel 17:40-43, 1 Kings 20:10, 1 Kings 20:18, 2 Kings 18:23, Nehemiah 4:2-5, Psalms 20:7, Psalms 20:8, Psalms 123:3, Psalms 123:4

Reciprocal: Genesis 49:18 - General Deuteronomy 17:16 - multiply horses Judges 9:29 - Increase thine army 1 Samuel 17:36 - seeing 2 Kings 13:7 - fifty horsemen Psalms 80:6 - our enemies Isaiah 10:8 - General Jeremiah 9:23 - neither Hosea 14:3 - we will not

Cross-References

Genesis 14:6
and the Horites in the hill country of Seir, as far as El-paran, which is near the desert.

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

Genesis 36:1
This is the account of Esau (that is, Edom).

Genesis 36:2
Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite,

Genesis 36:7
For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together; the land where they stayed could not support them because of their livestock.

Genesis 36:19
All these are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and they were their chiefs.

Genesis 36:20
These are the sons of Seir the Horite, who were living in the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,

Deuteronomy 2:5
Do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a footprint, because I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his possession.

Joshua 24:4
and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I apportioned to Esau the hill country of Seir, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.

1 Chronicles 4:42
And five hundred of these Simeonites led by Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi, went to the hill country of Seir

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Now therefore give pledges to my master the king of Assyria,.... Or; "hostages" h; that thou wilt not rebel against him, but be faithful to him, and he will withdraw his army; or give security for the horses after promised: "or mingle thyself with him"; agree the matter with him, give pledges for future fidelity; or join in battle with him, come out and fight him, if able:

and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders on them; thus scoffing at him, as if he had not so many soldiers to bring out against him; or so many men in his kingdom as had skill enough to ride a horse; in his bravado he signifies, that if he would come out and fight him, he would lend him so many horses, if he could put men upon them, to assist him; this he said as boasting of his master's strength and power, and in scorn and derision at Hezekiah's weakness.

h התערב "da obsides", Vatablus; "paciscere cum domino meo, Gataker; "misceto, quaeso, [bellum] cum domino meo", Junius & Tremellius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Now, therefore, give pledges - Margin, ‘Hostages.’ The Hebrew verb (ערב ‛ârab) means properly to mix or mingle; then, to exchange commodities by barter or traffic; then, to become surety for anyone, to exchange with him, to stand in his place; then, to pledge, to pledge one’s life, or to give security of any kind. Here it is used in a spirit of taunting or derision, and is equivalent to what would be said among us, ‘I will bet you, or I will lay a wager, that if we should give you only two thousand horses, you could not find men enough to ride them, or men that had knowledge of horsemanship enough to guide them.’ There was much severity in this taunt. The Jews hoped to defend themselves. Yet here was an immense army coming up to lay siege against them. What hope had they of defense? So weak and feeble were they, that Rabshakeh said they could not furnish even two thousand horsemen to resist all the host of the Assyrians. There was also, doubtless, much truth in this taunt. It was not permitted by the law of Moses for the Jews to keep cavalry, nor for their kings to multiply horses. The reason of this may be seen in the notes at Isaiah 2:7. Though some of the kings, and especially Solomon, had disregarded this law of Moses, yet Hezekiah had endeavored to restore the observance of the law, and it is probable that he find no cavalry, and that the art of horsemanship was little known in Jerusalem. As the Assyrians prided themselves on their cavalry, they consequently looked with contempt on a people who were destitute of this means of defense.