Context & Key Themes
2 Kings 18 is the breath of fresh air the book has been building toward. After the collapse of the north and the long darkness of Ahaz, Hezekiah becomes king of Judah and he is unlike any king who came before or after him. He removes the high places, breaks the pillars, cuts down the Asherah poles, and smashes the bronze serpent Moses made because the people had been burning incense to it. He trusts in the Lord. He holds fast to the Lord. He does not depart from following him. And then Sennacherib king of Assyria comes against Judah with the army that just destroyed Samaria, and the Rabshakeh delivers one of the most psychologically sophisticated propaganda speeches in the ancient world: your God cannot save you any more than the gods of Samaria could save them.
Key Verse
“He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him.”
— 2 Kings 18:5
Summary
Hezekiah son of Ahaz becomes king at twenty-five and reigns twenty-nine years. He does right in the sight of the Lord as David his father had done. He removes the high places, breaks the pillars, cuts down the Asherah, and breaks in pieces the bronze serpent Moses had made because the people of Israel had been burning incense to it. He trusted in the Lord, held fast to him, did not depart. He keeps the commandments. The Lord is with him and he prospers wherever he goes. He rebels against the king of Assyria and does not serve him. He strikes the Philistines as far as Gaza.
In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria comes up against all the fortified cities of Judah and takes them. Hezekiah pays tribute to stop him, stripping silver from the temple and gold from the temple doors. Sennacherib sends his commander with a large army to Jerusalem. He stands at the conduit of the upper pool and calls for the king. Three officials come out. The Rabshakeh calls out in Hebrew for all the people on the walls to hear: do not let Hezekiah deceive you. Do not let him make you trust in the Lord. Has any god of any nation ever delivered his land from the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim? Where are the gods of Samaria? Has the Lord delivered Samaria from my hand? The officials tell him to speak in Aramaic, not Hebrew. The Rabshakeh says: has my master sent me to speak to your master? He has sent me to speak to the men sitting on the wall. He tells the people: Hezekiah is misleading you. Make your peace with me and come out. The people are silent, for the king commanded: do not answer him. The officials return to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and report the words of the Rabshakeh.
Reflection
The Rabshakeh’s speech is worth taking seriously as a piece of rhetoric, because it is extremely good. He attacks the pillar of Hezekiah’s trust on multiple fronts: Hezekiah removed the high places you used to worship at — so even your own people might resent him. Egypt is a broken reed. Assyria is too strong for you. No god has ever stopped us. And here is the killing point: the Lord himself told me to come against this land. He uses the name of the very God he is mocking to make the threat more plausible.
The people’s silence is the right response and Hezekiah commanded it. There is no argument to make to a propaganda machine. There is only the decision not to engage on its terms. Hezekiah does not attempt to refute the Rabshakeh. He goes to the temple. The chapter ends before the answer comes — that arrives in chapter 19 — but the posture Hezekiah takes is already visible: he will take this to the Lord and let the Lord answer it. That is the same theology that sent David running toward Goliath. The battle is the Lord’s, and the Lord has not yet spoken.