Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 36:7

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Isaiah 36:7. But if thou say - "But if ye say"] Two ancient MSS. have תאמרו tomeru in the plural number; so likewise the Septuagint, Chaldee, and the other copy, 2 Kings 18:22.

Ye shall worship before this altar - "To worship only before this altar"] See 2 Chronicles 32:12.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

36:1-39:8 HISTORICAL APPENDIX

The historical record in this appendix is almost identical to that found in 2 Kings 18:13-19. There seem to be two main reasons for this appendix. First, it provides the background to Isaiah’s messages concerning Hezekiah and the Assyrians that have just been considered (Chapters 28-33). Second, it shows how Babylon began to become involved in Judean affairs, and so provides a fitting introduction to the second part of the book.

The Assyrian attack (36:1-22)

Once Hezekiah was satisfied that he had military backing from Egypt, he took the bold step of rebelling against the overlord, Assyria. He declared his independence of Assyria by refusing to pay further tribute (cf. 30:1-2; 2 Kings 18:7b).

After dealing with rebellions elsewhere, the Assyrian army, under the new king Sennacherib, set out to attack Jerusalem. When Hezekiah heard that the enemy had conquered the Judean countryside and was approaching Jerusalem, he quickly prepared the city’s defences and cut off any water supply outside the city that might have been of use to the besieging armies (36:1; 2 Chronicles 32:2-5).

Upon seeing the size of the Assyrian army, Hezekiah was sorry he had rebelled and offered to pay Sennacherib whatever amount he demanded (2 Kings 18:14-16). Sennacherib took a large sum of money, but then treacherously declared that he intended to punish Jerusalem anyway. He sent some of his chief officers to try to persuade Hezekiah to surrender, pointing out the uselessness of reliance on Egypt for help. In this the Assyrian officials agreed with the prophet Isaiah, though for different reasons (2-6).

The Assyrians went on to say that to depend on Yahweh was equally useless, as Yahweh was the one who had sent them to destroy Jerusalem. Their statements showed they had an inaccurate understanding of Judah’s religion, but they felt confident that neither Judah’s God nor Judah’s army could withstand them (7-10).
When they found that Jerusalem’s leaders were not willing to cooperate, the Assyrian officials turned to address the common people (11-12). They tried to win the people’s approval by promising good treatment for them if they deserted Hezekiah and surrendered unconditionally (13-17). They brought about their own undoing, however, by insulting Israel’s God. They claimed that Yahweh was no better than the gods of other nations that Assyria had conquered, and they challenged him to rescue Jerusalem from their crushing siege (18-20). In spite of the Assyrians’ promises and threats, the common people remained loyal to Hezekiah (21-22).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“And Rabshakeh said unto them, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria. What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? I say, thy counsel and strength for the warfare are but vain empty words: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou hast rebelled against me? Behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it; so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust on him. But if thou say unto me, We trust in Jehovah our God: is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said unto Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar? Now therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. How then canst thou turn away one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? And am I now come up without Jehovah against this land to destroy it? Jehovah said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.”

This was indeed a master stroke of diplomatic arrogance and intimidation. It was a combination of falsehood, mingled with a few grains of truth. The arrogant offer to provide two thousand horses for Hezekiah, provided that Hezekiah had anybody who could ride them, was the equivalent of the boast of the schoolyard bully who threatened his opponent, saying, “I can whip you with one hand tied behind my back!”

“Say ye now to Hezekiah” Note that Rabshakeh did not even accord to Hezekiah his rightful title as King, whereas he referred to Sennacherib as “The Great King the King of Assyria,” that being the title by which the Assyrian kings referred to themselves.

Evidently, the Assyrians had a thorough intelligence system; because this mention that Hezekiah had tom down Jehovah’s altars was a mistaken interpretation of Hezekiah’s marvelous reforms. The Law of Moses required that “only at Jerusalem” was God to be worshipped by the Israelites; but, in time, high places and altars had been erected throughout the land. Hezekiah had corrected that apostasy, which is exactly what he should have done; but Rabshakeh supposed that this would have been contrary to God’s will.

None of the pagan nations had a religious system that required “one altar only,” as did the Jews; and therefore Rabshakeh, having learned that Hezekiah had destroyed some altars (the illegal ones) that were indeed dedicated to Jehovah, he supposed that Jehovah would have been angry with Hezekiah. As Jamieson said, “Some of those altars that Hezekiah destroyed may indeed have been dedicated to Jehovah; but they were worshipped with idols in violation of the Second Commandment.”Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown’s Commentary, p. 468. Thus Rahshakeh’s argument was totally contrary to the truth.

One thing Rabshakeh was absolutely correct about was the dependability of Egypt!

Notice the bold lie that “Jehovah” had sent him against Jerusalem. Indeed the Assyrians were God’s instrument in the reduction of the Northern Israel and many of the adjacent cities to Jerusalem, but we may reject as an arrogant falsehood the proposition that God had commanded Sennacherib to take Jerusalem.

We learn from Isaiah 36:10 that the purpose of Sennacherib was the total destruction and devastation of Jerusalem, despite all of the lying promises he had made when he exacted that scandalously large tribute from Hezekiah. The truth comes out right here.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

But if thou say to me - If you shall make this plea, that you believe Yahweh will protect you in your revolt. The word ‘thou’ here refers to Hezekiah, or to the ambassadors speaking in his name. In 2 Kings 18:22, it is, ‘but if ye say unto me;’ that is, you ambassadors. The sense is substantially the same.

Is it not he ... - This is given as a reason why they should not put their confidence in Yahweh. The reason is, that he supposed that Hezekiah had removed all the altars of Yahweh from all parts of the land, and that they could not calculate on the protection of a God whose worship bad been abolished. It is probable that Sennacherib and Rabshakeh had beard of the reformation which had been effected by Hezekiah; of his destroying the groves and altars which had been consecrated in the reign of his father to idolatry, and perhaps of the fact that he had even destroyed the brass serpent which Moses had made, and which had become an object of idolatrous worship 2 Kings 18:4, and he may have supposed that all these altars and groves had been devoted to Yahweh, and were connected with his worship. He did not seem to understand that all that Hezekiah had done was only to establish the worship of Yahweh in the land.

High places - The worship of idols was usually performed in groves on high places; or on the tops of hills and mountains. It seems to have been supposed that worship in such places was more acceptable to the Deity. Perhaps it may have been because they thus seemed nearer the residence of the gods; or, perhaps, because there is sublimity and solemnity in such places - a stillness and elevation above the world which seem favorable to devotion (see 1 Samuel 9:12; 1Ki 3:4; 2 Kings 12:2; 2 Chronicles 33:19). Chapels, temples, and altars, were erected on such places 1Ki 13:22; 2 Kings 17:29, and ministers and priests attended there to officiate (1 Kings 12:32; 2 Kings 17:32). Even the kings of Judah, notwithstanding the express prohibition of Moses Deuteronomy 12:0, were engaged in such acts of worship 2Ki 12:4; 2 Kings 14:4; 2Ki 15:4, 2 Kings 15:35; 2 Chronicles 15:17; 2 Chronicles 20:33; and Solomon himself sacrificed in chapels of this kind 1 Kings 3:2. These places Hezekiah had destroyed; that is, he had cut down the consecrated groves, and had destroyed the chapels and temples which had been erected there. The fact that Ahaz, the father of Hezekiah, had been distinguished for worshipping in such places had probably led the king of Assyria to suppose that this was the proper worship of the God of the Jews; and now that Hezekiah had destroyed them all, he seems to have inferred that he was guilty of gross irreligion, and could no longer depend on the protection of Yahweh.

And said to Judah and Jerusalem - He had commanded them to worship only in Jerusalem, at the temple. This was in strict accordance with the law of Moses; but this seems to have been understood by Sennacherib as in fact almost or quite banishing the worship of Yahweh from the land. Probably this was said to alienate the minds of the people from Hezekiah, by showing them that he had taken away their rights and privileges of worshipping God where they chose.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

7.And if thou shalt say to me. Rabshakeh employs an argument which consists of three parts. Either Hezekiah thinks that he has sufficient strength to resist, or he expects assistance from Egypt, or he trusts in God. If he trusts in himself, he is mistaken; for what is he when compared to my king? As to Egypt, it will render him no assistance, but on the contrary will inflict serious damage. It remains therefore that he expects some assistance from God. But he has thrown down his altars and curtailed his worship; will he not rather be punished on that account? In short, this Rabshakeh takes away from the pious king all assistance, both divine and human.

By this slander Satan attempted not only to wound the heart of the king, that it might sink under the weight, of affliction, but to make an impression on the light and fickle multitude; because hitherto in the hearts of many there remained an attachment to superstition, and there was a strong tendency to fall back into this imposture, because the religion which was ancient, and to which they were long accustomed, had been changed, and, in their opinion, ⁽³¹⁾ Hezekiah was about to be chastised for his own rashness. In like manner, the Papists in the present day, whenever any adverse event befalls us, maintain that we are punished by God, because we have ventured to set aside ancient ceremonies. ⁽³²⁾

(31) “A leur advis.”

(32) “Pource que nous avons ose abolir les traditions et ceremonies qui estoyent en usage de long temps.” “Because we ventured to abolish the traditions and ceremonies which had been long used.”

Smith's Bible Commentary

Shall we turn to Isaiah chapter 36.

Last week as we completed the thirty-fifth chapter of the book of Isaiah, of course, we got into those glorious prophecies of the future Kingdom Age when Jesus Christ will be reigning over the earth, and how God is going to restore the earth to its Edenic glory. Now we always it seems have sort of curious minds and we wander off on just how God proposes to do the things that He said He is going to do. And in reality, the whys aren't really our real concern. However, we so often make them a concern. You know, "Well, if He did this or if He did that." There are many suggestions as to how the earth might be restored to the Edenic glory and beauty. Here in the thirty-fifth chapter there are references to there being streams in the deserts, pools in the dry places, and so forth. And how that the whole earth is going to be more or less restored, as far as the deserts will be gone. They will blossom as a rose and the whole earth will become very fertile and productive.

With the prophecies of Isaiah there are also those prophecies of the earth being moved out of its place, staggering to and fro as a drunken man, and things of this nature, which has caused some people to theorize that it is quite possible that we will have another polar axis shift. And it could very well explain many of the cataclysmic events that are declared to be taking place during the Great Tribulation. As the earth shakes and as the mountains and the islands disappear. And it talks really of a tremendous cataclysmic upheaval of the earth.

At the present time, the earth is tilted at about, as far as the polar axis in its relationship to the sun, it's tilted at about 23 1/3 degrees, which causes our summer and winter seasons because of this tilt on the polar axis. And now being in the northern hemisphere, the sun is, because of our tilt we are now receiving longer days and will do so up until the twenty-second of June when we come into the summer equinox.

There is a suggestion that there will be another polar axis shift at which time it could be that the earth will come into pretty much a straight alignment with the sun and the earth revolving on its axis. Now if this should result, what would happen is, of course, you would have a medium climate all the way around the earth. You wouldn't really have your seasons any longer. But you'd have pretty much a medium climate around the earth. It would heat up the earth sufficient to melt the ice pack at the North and the South Pole, which would raise the water level around the entire earth.

With the greater warmth it would cause more evaporation of the water on into the atmosphere and would create a much larger moisture barrier within the atmosphere itself. Because of the polar ice packs being melted, you would not have your tremendous cold air, arctic air moving, so all of your winds would become much more mild than they presently are, as the air would move much slower than it now does as a result of the polar arctic winds and so forth that bring these. You have your warm air rising and the cold air moving in. But it would sort of minimize the air movement, much milder winds and so forth than what we presently have.

Probably increased rainfall upon the... around the earth, of course, would raise the water level on all of the shorelines and it would give us a little bit more of a water-earth ratio, rather than 2/3:1/3. And would result probably in the disappearance of all of the desert regions and also all of your extremely hot zones and extremely cold zones so that you'd have a pretty much of a temperate climate all around the world.

We do know that at one time at the North Pole there was tropical vegetation. Mammoths that had been found encased in ice in Siberia have had tropical vegetation still in their digestive tracts. The mammoths were fast frozen there by some cataclysmic event of the past, quite possibly the flood of Noah. We do know that at one time at the South Pole there were great forests because they have found tremendous deposits of charcoal 200 feet under the ice pack, indicating that there were once forests down there. And, again, it could be accountable back to the flood, that at that time there was a polar axis shift causing the tremendous movement of the waters, the oceans and so forth and creating whole new type of continents and entirely new kind of a geography around the earth.

So there are hints and indications in the scripture that this indeed might be what will cause these changing effects. However God works it out, as I say, we only guess. We really don't know. But God is going to work it out and the earth is going to be a beautiful place to live. And so it really doesn't matter. You don't have to put a claim on Hawaii. I don't even know if Hawaii will still be here because during the great cataclysmic changes, it talks about the islands disappearing. It would be a shame, I agree, if Hawaii would go, but you know, no matter where you live it will be beautiful and verdant as God restores the earth.

So chapter 35 is prophetic as it looks ahead into that glorious Kingdom Age. Now from thirty-six to thirty-nine, Isaiah just takes out of the historic records and you'll find that this particular area parallels Second Kings beginning with around chapter 17 or 18. And so he evidently took the historic records. In fact, chapter 37 of Isaiah is identical to Second Kings, chapter 19. So he has just more or less copied the historic records of which Second Kings is a part of the history of the nations of Israel and Judah. And he copied out of the historic accounts these chapters in order to give you the historic background for the prophecies that he has just made of the destruction of the Assyrian forces and so forth. Having prophesied these things, he now gives the historic background that you might see that God's Word was accurate and true and what God foretold would come to pass did indeed transpire.

So these next four chapters are just out of the Kings and other historic records that he had available to him that we do not have now. And they just covered this period of history over which he has been prophesying, the period of history when the Assyrians would be bringing their armies in an invasion of Jerusalem but would be turned back by the hand of God. So this is the history of it.

Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib the king of Assyria came up against the defensed cities of Judah, and took them. And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh ( Isaiah 36:1-2 )

Now Rabshakeh is the title. We really don't know what the name of the man was, but that is the title of this particular person.

from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool. Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder. And Rabshakeh said unto them, Go tell Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What is this confidence wherein you trust? I say, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel ( Isaiah 36:2-5 )

He said, "You're saying, actually, that you have counsel,"

and strength for war: now on whom are you trusting, that you would rebel against me? Lo, you are trusting in the staff of the broken reed, of Egypt; whereon if a man would lean, it would go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him. But if you say to me, We trust in Yahweh our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar? ( Isaiah 36:5-7 )

Now Rabshakeh shows his ignorance of the worship of the God of Israel or the God of Judah. For Hezekiah did indeed destroy the altars and the high places and the groves in which the children of Israel were worshipping the gods of the Canaanites. The worship of Molech and Baal and Mammon was done in these groves and in these high places. And so one of the pluses of Hezekiah is that when he came to the throne, he tore down the altars to the false gods that the children of Israel had been worshipping. But as is so often the case, those that are looking from the outside in presume to know a lot of what is being taught or said and really they know nothing of the truth. And in this case, Rabshakeh was totally wrong in that he is accusing Hezekiah of tearing down the altars or tearing down the high places of Jehovah. Jehovah actually commanded them not to build the high places and all. He spoke out against them. And it was established that there was only one place that they should gather to worship Jehovah and to offer sacrifices and that was in Jerusalem at the temple. And so Rabshakeh shows his total ignorance of Jehovah in his remarks.

Now he also is assuming that the children of Judah had gone to Egypt for help. But Hezekiah had been counseled by Isaiah not to go down to Egypt for help but just to trust in the Lord. Now, the natural thing to do in this situation, the wise natural thing would have been to go down to Egypt to seek their help because Egypt was also being threatened by Assyria. And so it would have made good natural sense to go down to get Egypt's help. But what often is to us good natural sense isn't always good spiritual sense. And where naturally it would have been a smart move, from a spiritual standpoint it would have been a bad move and God recommended and counseled them against it. He said, "Trust in Me and not in the arm of Egypt or in the arm of flesh." And so Rabshakeh shows two cases of his ignorance of the situation.

One is ignorance of their worship of Yahweh. Secondly, his ignorance of the counsel that God had given to them not to trust in Egypt. So they were not trusting in Egypt. They were trusting completely in the Lord through the encouragement of Isaiah to just trust in the Lord to deliver the Assyrian host into their hand. Now he is belittling them. He said, "Look, give me some money and I'll give you two thousand horses. And let's see if you can find enough men to sit upon those horses. We'll help you to fight us."

Just give us some pledges, and we'll give you two thousand horses, [if you can put men upon them] if you're able to set riders on them. How then will you turn away the face of just one captain of the least of my master's servants, and you put your trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? And do you think that I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? Yahweh said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it ( Isaiah 36:8-10 ).

So now he is blaspheming God. He is saying, "Hey, God is giving me directions. You think I'd come out up here without God's instructions? For Yahweh said to me, 'Come on up and besiege this place.'"

Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language [or in Aramaic]; for we understand it: don't speak to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are upon the wall ( Isaiah 36:11 ).

Now here are all of the men of Israel sitting there on the wall and so these emissaries have had to kind of figure, "Man, these guys must be demoralizing these people saying, 'If we gave you two thousand horses you couldn't put men on them. And how are you ever going to defy us?' and all." And so they said, "Hey, don't talk to us in Hebrew. Talk to us in the Syrian; we can understand your Syrian tongue. We're Aramaic, we understand that. Speak to us in Aramaic." But this Rabshakeh picked up on what they were noticing and so he said,

[Hey, wait a minute.] Didn't the king send me to talk to you men on the wall? ( Isaiah 36:12 )

I don't care about your king Hezekiah.

And he stood, and he cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. Thus saith the king, Don't let Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you. Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD [or in Yahweh], saying, Yahweh will surely deliver us: for this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Just make an agreement with me by a present [just pay some tribute], and come on out ( Isaiah 36:13-16 ):

And just work in your fields.

eat of your own vines, and of your own fig tree, drink waters out of your own cistern; Until I come and repopulate you in another land that is just as nice and pleasant as this one ( Isaiah 36:16-17 ).

Now Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, had the habit or custom of repopulating the peoples from their lands, because as they would move them out of their land, away from their families and away from their friends, they had to learn a whole new culture and were with different people, and it kept them from banding together in a rebellion. And so he's offering them here. "We'll just take you away and we'll give you another land that's just as pleasant and nice as this. Just pay tribute and just wait for us to come and repopulate you." And then again he said,

Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, Yahweh will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ( Isaiah 36:18 )

So he's now exalting himself against the God of Jacob.

Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? But the men on the wall wisely held their peace, they didn't answer a word: for the king's commandment was, Don't answer him. Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and they told him the words of Rabshakeh ( Isaiah 36:19-22 ).

Now it was a custom that when you were very upset or when you were in real trouble, the thing to do is just tear your clothes. And so these guys have been receiving all of these threats now from this emissary of the king of Assyria and it's been a bad experience, so they tear their clothes and sort of, "Hey, woe is us. We've had it," kind of a thing. And they came in to Hezekiah with their clothes torn.

"

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

An ultimatum 36:1-20

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The Rabshakeh knew about Hezekiah’s religious reforms in which he had removed many of the altars from the land (cf. 2 Kings 18:1-7; 2 Chronicles 29-31). Evidently the commander believed that removing altars would antagonize Yahweh, but Hezekiah was really purifying Yahweh worship. However, many of the Judeans probably believed that the removal of those altars was a bad thing, and it was to those people that the Rabshakeh was evidently appealing.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

But if thou say to me, we trust in the Lord our God,.... In his promises, providence, power, and protection, and not in human counsels and strength; not in allies and auxiliaries, as Pharaoh king of Egypt; should this be replied, Rabshakeh has something to say to that; having shown the vanity of trusting in the above things, he now proceeds to beat them off of all trust in the Lord their God:

is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away; the question might easily be answered in the negative; no, he has not; the high places and altars which Hezekiah took away were the high places and altars of Heathen gods, of false deities, and not of the true God of Israel, and which was to his honour and glory; but Rabshakeh would make a crime of it, and, ignorantly supposing that these were the altars and high places of the God of Israel, would insinuate that the taking of these away must be displeasing to him, and consequently Hezekiah and his people could not hope for any protection from him, whom he had so highly affronted; but all this talk was the fruit of ignorance, as well as of malice:

and said to Judah, and to Jerusalem, ye shall worship before this altar? the altar of the Lord, in the temple at Jerusalem, and before that only, confining their religious worship to one place, and their sacrifices to one altar; which was so far from being displeasing to God, as he would insinuate, that it was entirely agreeable to his will: and therefore there was no weight or strength in this kind of reasoning.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them.   2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field.   3 Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder.   4 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?   5 I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?   6 Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.   7 But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?   8 Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.   9 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?   10 And am I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.

      We shall here only observe some practical lessons. 1. A people may be in the way of their duty and yet meet with trouble and distress. Hezekiah was reforming, and his people were in some measure reformed; and yet their country is at that time invaded and a great part of it laid waste. Perhaps they began to grow remiss and cool in the work of reformation, were doing it by halves, and ready to sit down short of a thorough reformation; and then God visited them with this judgment, to put life into them and that good cause. We must not wonder if, when we are doing well, God sends afflictions to quicken us to do better, to do our best, and to press forward towards perfection. 2. That we must never be secure of the continuance of our peace in this world, nor think our mountain stands so strong that it cannot be moved. Hezekiah was not only a pious king, but prudent, both in his administration at home and in his treaties abroad. His affairs were in a good posture, and he seemed particularly to be upon good terms with the king of Assyria, for he had lately made his peace with him by a rich present (2 Kings 18:14), and yet that perfidious prince pours an army into his country all of a sudden and lays it waste. It is good for us therefore always to keep up an expectation of trouble, that, when it comes, it may be no surprise to us, and then it will be the less a terror. 3. God sometimes permits the enemies of his people, even those that are most impious and treacherous, to prevail far against them. The king of Assyria took all, or most, of the defenced cities of Judah, and then the country would of course be an easy prey to him. Wickedness may prosper awhile, but cannot prosper always. 4. Proud men love to talk big, to boast of what they are, and have, and have done, nay and of what they will do, to insult over others, and set all mankind at defiance, though thereby they render themselves ridiculous to all wise men and obnoxious to the wrath of that God who resists the proud. But thus they think to make themselves feared, though they make themselves hated, and to carry their point by great swelling words of vanity, Jude 1:16. 5. The enemies of God's people endeavour to conquer them by frightening them, especially by frightening them from their confidence in God. Thus Rabshakeh here, with noise and banter, runs down Hezekiah as utterly unable to cope with his master, or in the least to make head against him. It concerns us therefore, that we may keep our ground against the enemies of our souls, to keep up our spirits by keeping up our hope in God. 6. It is acknowledged, on all hands, that those who forsake God's service forfeit his protection. If that had been true which Rabshakeh alleged, that Hezekiah had thrown down God's altars, he might justly infer that he could not with any assurance trust in him for succour and relief, Isaiah 36:7; Isaiah 36:7, We may say thus to presuming sinners, who say that they trust in the Lord and in his mercy. Is not this he whose commandments they have lived in the contempt of, whose name they have dishonoured, and whose ordinances they have slighted? How then can they expect to find favour with him? 7. It is an easy thing, and very common, for those that persecute the church and people of God to pretend a commission from him for so doing. Rabshakeh could say, Have I now come up without the Lord? when really he had come up against the Lord, Isaiah 37:28; Isaiah 37:28. Those that kill the servants of the Lord think they do him service and say, Let the Lord be glorified. But, sooner or later, they will be made to know their error to their cost, to their confusion.