Rabshakeh Mocks Hezekiah's Trust

… “And Rabshakeh said to them: Say to Hezekiah, Thus says the king, the great king of the Assyrians: Is a battle line drawn up by counsel, or by words of the lips? And now, in whom have you put your trust, that you disobey me? Behold, you have put your trust in this staff of reed, this broken staff, in Egypt; whoever leans on it, it will go into his hand. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt, and all who trust in him” (Isaiah 36:4-6).

The gates, clearly, had been shut, and the people, no doubt the most warlike of them, stood on the walls; and to carry out the business of the embassy, the king's chosen men and the foremost among the priests went out to Rabshakeh. But he, a man of Persian savagery, with “a mouth speaking great things,” as it is written (Daniel 7:8), grew insolent against the glory of God. He calls Hezekiah by his bare name, without adding “king” or any other of the titles that best befit men in such high stations. But the king of the Assyrians he does not simply call by that title; he calls him great as well.

And he says: “Is a battle line drawn up by counsel, or by words of the lips?” For the Jews, who had the Law given through Moses, were thought wiser than the other nations; indeed, they used to say, “Blessed are we, Israel, because what is pleasing to the Lord is known to us” (Baruch 4:4). So Rabshakeh brings their boast in this to nothing, saying that when war and battle are upon them, all this will be wholly useless to help them: their knowledge of the laws, their shrewdness in counsels alone, and even their practised skill, as it were, in words.

And since some of those who had reigned over Judea had called on the hand of the Egyptians for help, though in doing so they acted most wrongly, the Assyrian supposed that now too Hezekiah was trusting not in God but in others, or rather in those who held the land of the Egyptians. That is why he calls it a staff of reed. For the hope placed in them, he says, is rotten and always easily broken, and it harms those who rely on it rather than being able to help them, just like a staff of reed: if anyone leans his weight on it, he will surely break it, and it will hurt the man who trusted in it.

“But if you say, We have put our trust in the Lord our God, now engage my lord the king of the Assyrians, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able to provide riders for them. And how can you turn back the face of a single governor?” (Isaiah 36:7-9).

He runs loose at the mouth again, lifts his horn on high, and speaks injustice against God (Psalm 75:5). For if indeed, he says, you have put your trust in Him, engage my lord, that is, arm yourselves and stand ready for battle. And I will add two thousand horses for you, and this will be enough …