Chapter 36

     Chapters 36-39 seem to be a rather boring insert of history
excerpted from 2 Kings.  As such, it is frequently dismissed as
filler material slapped in by a final redactor in between first and
second Isaiah out of respect to first Isaiah.  I disagree.  I think
it is safe to say the Isaiah account preceded the 2 Kings account,
and evidence for this is presented below.

     Chapter 36 closely follows the pattern of chapter 7 in
setting, characters and content.  Thus, it forms something of a
complementary parallel to chapter 7.  It also presents a second
type of king, in contrast to Ahaz, and sets the stage for the ideal
messianic king.  And finally, chapters 36-39 set the theme of Lord
as Deliverer versus the dead idols for chapters 40-47.

     First, lets look at the three kings Isaiah presents for us to
review.  We have Ahaz from chapter 7 who is a gross idolater who
snubs Isaiah and the Lord in favor of arm of the flesh techniques. 
Then we have Hezekiah who at first relies on political alliances
with Egypt against Assyria rather than following Isaiah's council. 
But, after seeing the futility of those measures, he repents and
sends for Isaiah and goes down to plead with the Lord himself on
behalf of his people.  The final king we have is the anointed king
who is a physical deliverer and spiritual guide fashioned after the
rule of David which united all of Israel under one head.  Thus, we
see that Isaiah is presenting three types of rulers among Judah.

     Now, lets compare some of the similarities between this
chapter and chapter 7:

 Chapter 7                     Chapter 36
 ---------                     ----------

 v1 Samaria and Damascus come  v1 Assyria comes up to Jerusalem
 up to Jerusalem to make war.  to make war.

 v3 Isaiah sent to confront    v2 The Rabshakeh is sent to 
 Ahaz at the aqueduct of the   confront Hezekiah's servants at
 upper pool.                   the aqueduct of the upper pool.

 v4-9 Isaiah delivers message  v4-6 The Rabshakeh delivers 
 that the alliance will fail.  message that the alliance will
                              fail.

 v10-12 A sign is offered and  v7-10 A sign is given and the 
 piety is feigned by the king. piety of the king is questioned.

 v13-25 Isaiah rails on the    v12-20 The Rabshakeh rails on the
 house of David and curses     house of David and the Lord and 
 the land of Judah with a      attempts to bribe the people of
 prophecy from the Lord that   the land of Judah with favor from
 threatens the king of         the king of Assyria.
 Assyria upon them.

We have some interesting parallels between the two chapters that
tend to make one think that maybe this isn't just some slapdash
insertion by a later editor.  Ultimately, this kind of structure
and repetition in theme serves to contrast Ahaz and Hezekiah.  And
of course, whenever we have historical characters in a prophetic
book we cast recognize them as types.  And in this case Isaiah
holds up Hezekiah as a type of the repentant king of Judah who
ultimately does the Lord's will even though he had something of a
rough start.

     For the historical background to this chapter, Heschel's _The
Prophets_, p. 75-77 does an excellent job at fleshing it out.

Anyway, on to the text.

v1  This verse serves to establish the setting we have come to as
there is a big shift from the previous chapter to this one.  It
also makes one consider the prophecy of 7:17 where Judah is
threatened with the king of Assyria as a result of their rebellion
from the Lord.  So, it serves to draw our attention to the
rebellious condition of Judah at that time of alliances with Egypt,
as well as the Lord being perfectly willing to keep His word and
afflict His people to get them to repent.

v2  Here we are informed that a high ranking military official is
sent from the king of Assyria to threaten the water supply in an
effort to intimidate the people at Jerusalem.

v3  Hezekiah snubs the Rabshakeh by sending out his servants rather
than going out himself.  Also note that here Shebna has been
demoted to secretary where in 22:15 he is the palace overseer.

v4-6  The Rabshakeh mocks Hezekiah for attempting to ally with
Egypt for defense against Assyria.  He uses the symbol of the Nile
reed to say that the Egyptian's support is about as good as trying
to use a reed as a staff to lean on: it will only splinter and
injure you by leaning on it.

v7  Here the Rabshakeh appears to be questioning Hezekiah's zeal
for the Lord as Hezekiah has destroyed a number of outlying
shrines.  He may also be implying self-aggrandizement on Hezekiah's
part as he faults him for making all of the people come up and
worship at the king's city, thus possibly implying some kind of
megalomania (which would be pretty ironic given Isaiah's
condemnations of the king of Babylon/Assyria in ch. 14).

     Taunts such as these make you wonder where the Rabshakeh is
getting his information from.  Are there Judeans about who are
turned traitor and allying with Assyria, giving them information in
an effort to subvert Hezekiah and improve their own position in the
event of Assyrian conquest?

v8-9  The Rabshakeh continues to taunt Hezekiah by saying that not
only does he not have chariots and horses, but even if they were
given to him he wouldn't have anyone trained to use them.  Thus,
what is the point of resisting?

v10  Again the Rabshakeh questions Hezekiah's piety by stating that
not only is the Lord not in favor him, He is actually in favor of
the Assyrians coming and wiping Jerusalem out.  As the Assyrians
are obviously no devotees of the Lord, this is probably a reference
to the prophecies of chapter 7.  But as was the case with v. 7,
where is the Rabshakeh getting this information from in not from
conspiring traitors?  But, note that in v. 16-17 they aren't
particularly interested in fulfilling the prophecy if they can
encourage general insurrection among the people and avoid besieging
the city.  Regardless of where the Rabshakeh is getting his
information from, it shows that he his understanding of the
religion and prophecies of Judah is quite poor.

v11  Hezekiah's representatives request that the Rabshakeh speak in
another language so the onlookers (and there were sure to be many
given the besieged condition of the country) could not understand
it.  His refusal to do so shows that he is perfectly willing to
instigate internal rebellion against Hezekiah in order to capture
the city.

v12  The Rabshakeh suggests to the people listening that they will
be forced to suffer dire straits in a prolonged siege if they
continue to hold out against Assyria.

v13-17  The Rabshakeh the directly addresses the people listening
in by telling them Hezekiah has deceived them in relying on the
Lord.  He then offers them bountiful harvest and wine and
comfortable living at home and back in beautiful Assyria as a bribe
for deserting Hezekiah.  It would be interesting to know how many
people fell for it.  Obviously there was no mass desertion as the
city did not fall subsequent to this offer.  But, it still seems
like there must have been at least some internal group large enough
for him to even appeal to.

     This bribe offered ny the Rabshakeh is also reminiscent of the
covenant blessings offered in Lev. 26 and Deut. 28.  Thus, we see
something of the king of Assyria's attempts to replace the Lord
with himself as the benefactor of Israel.

v18-20 continues on with the king of Assyria's theme of self-
exaltation that is derivative of ch. 14.  He announces that he is
greater than all of these nations gods and they cannot stand before
him so how is the Lord any different.  For the various cities
mentioned cp. 10:9.  On the v. 19 reference to Samaria, the capitol
city of the Northern 10 Tribes, note that this is in fulfillment of
the 7:9 prophecy.

v21  The representatives of Hezekiah do not answer the Rabshakeh
one way or the other regarding his demand that they surrender.

v22  At the end of the exchange the representatives return to
Hezekiah with their clothes torn in token of their great distress
(and possibly to show their offense at the blasphemy against the
Lord by the Rabshakeh) over the situation.  They then inform the
king what was said, and his response is the next chapter.

     It is pretty interesting that Isaiah himself stays out of the
exchanges in this chapter entirely given his direct involvement in
chapter 7.  But, perhaps that is precisely the reason why he is not
involved.  In that chapter Isaiah made his position perfectly
clear, and pronounced a doom oracle concerning the king of Assyria
if they continued to rebel.  As they continued on rebelling, then
what has Isaiah got to add?