Isaiah 36:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He poses a challenging question: if your God is indeed great and mighty, as you claim, and provides protection for the land, how could we have invaded it? If we have vanquished the force of the One who aids you, then surely He is not powerful; rather, He is insignificant and ineffective. Yet if He is indeed great and formidable, and has permitted our ambition to ravage Judaea, then we do not undertake this invasion apart from the Lord's will.

He questioned their confidence in the king of Egypt, illustrating that it was like depending on a brittle reed that would pierce anyone who leaned on it; such was Pharaoh, for those who trust in him would be similarly wounded. If their response was that their trust was in the Lord, he reminded them that this was the same God whose high places and altars Hezekiah had destroyed, commanding Judah and Jerusalem to worship only at one altar. He then insisted that the king surrender to the Assyrian authority, claiming he could offer them thousands of horses, yet suggesting they would find it impossible to find riders for them. Rabsak mocked their strength by asserting that if they could not stand against the least of his master’s men, how could they withstand the full might of the Assyrian king? He went on to declare that he was sent by the Lord to conquer the land, assuring them of the divine backing for his mission.

In the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign, Salmanassar, king of Assyria, had captured Samaria and taken the ten tribes, settling them in Assyria near the rivers Gozan and in the cities of the Medes. Seven years later, Sennacherib besieged the fortified cities of Judah. As he laid siege to Lachish, King Hezekiah sent messengers to him, pleading for a return to peace, stating that if a charge was made against him, he would accept it. He paid a tribute of three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold and even dismantled the doors of the temple to give the Assyrians gold. Following this, Tartan and Rabsak were sent to Jerusalem with a massive army, who arrived at the conduit of the upper pond and called for King Hezekiah.

Eliakim, Sobnah, and Joach came forth to meet them. Rabsak repeated his message of intimidation, echoing styles of prophetic authority by claiming, "Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria," mimicking the language of the prophets who often began their messages with divine authority. Eliakim, who had previously been recognized in prophetic visions, was viewed as a figure of leadership. Tradition holds that he capitulated in fear to Rabsak’s threats, reducing Jerusalem’s defenses except for the fortress of Zion and the temple itself.

The character of Sobnah, who came out with Eliakim and Joach, is often confused with another Sobnah mentioned earlier, but here he is depicted as a scribe. Rabsak, who conversed in Hebrew, is believed by some to be the son of the prophet Isaiah, accused of treachery. Others consider him a Samaritan who knew Hebrew and dared to profane the Lord.

When Rabsak claimed that Hezekiah relied on Egypt, this assertion was false, as historical records do not support that Hezekiah sought aid from Pharaoh. Although Rabsak acknowledged that Hezekiah's actions took down altars, it was not anti-God but rather a restoration of true worship by eliminating idolatry. Rabsak downplayed the capacity of Jerusalem's defenders, indicating that the promise of horses was meaningless if they had no riders, which was not a lack of skill but adherence to God’s commandments that instructed the king not to amass horses.

Hezekiah’s response would show his reliance on the Lord, asserting that his presence in the land of Judah was divinely ordained, and the fall of cities under Sennacherib's siege was evidence of this divine will. Some interpretations mistakenly affirm that Sennacherib took Samaria, while sacred history identifies several Assyrian kings who desolated the ten tribes over different periods, leading to the eventual siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib after his conquests in the region.