2 Kings xix. 1-37
"There brake He the lightnings of the bow, the shield, the sword, and the battle."—Psalm lxxvi. 3.
"ᾠδὴ πρὸς τὸν Ασσύριον."—LXX.
"And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow at the glance of the Lord."
Byron.
"Vuolsi cosi colà dove si puote
Cio che si vuole: e più non dimandare."
Dante.
"Through love, through hope, through faith's transcendent dower,
We feel that we are greater than we know."
Wordsworth.
"God shall help her, and that when the morning dawns."—Psalm xlvi. 5.
In spite of the humble submission of Hezekiah, it is a surprise to learn from Isaiah that Sennacherib—after he had accepted the huge fine and fixed the tribute, and departed to subdue Lachish—broke his covenant.[560] He sent his three chief officers—the Turtan, or commander-in-chief, whose name seems to have been Belemurani;[561] the Rabsaris, or chief eunuch;[562] and the Rabshakeh, or chief captain[563]—from Lachish to Hezekiah, with a command of absolute, unconditional surrender, to be followed by deportation. By this conduct Sennacherib violated his own boast that he was "a keeper of treaties." Yet it is not difficult to conjecture the reason for his change of plan. He had found it no easy matter to subdue even the very minor fortress of Lachish; how unwise, then, would it be for him to leave in his rear an uncaptured city so well fortified as Jerusalem! He was advancing towards Egypt. It was obviously a strategic error to spare on his route a hostile and almost impregnable stronghold as a nucleus for the plans of his enemies. Moreover, he had heard rumours that Tirhakah, the third and last Ethiopian king of Egypt, was advancing against him, and it was most important to prevent any junction between his forces and those of Hezekiah.[564] He could not come in person to Jerusalem, for the siege of Lachish was on his hands; but he detached from his army a large contingent under his Turtan, to win the Jews by seductive promises, or to subdue Jerusalem by force. Once more, therefore, the Holy City saw beneath her often-captured walls the vast beleaguering host, and "governors and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men." Isaiah describes to us how the people crowded to the house-tops, half dead with fear, weeping and despairing, and crying to the hills to cover them, and bereft of their rulers, who had been bound by the archers of the enemy in their attempt to escape. They gazed on the quiver-bearing warriors of Elam in their chariots, and the serried ranks of the shields of Kir, and the cavalry round the gates. And he tells us how, as so often occurs at moments of mad hopelessness, many who ought to have been crying to God in sackcloth and ashes, gave themselves up, on the contrary, to riot and revelry, eating flesh, and drinking wine, and saying: "Let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die."[565] The king alone had shown patience, calmness, and active foresight; and he alone, by his energy and faith, had restored some confidence to the spirits of his fainting people.
Although the city had been refortified by the king, and supplied with water, the hearts of the inhabitants must have sunk within them when they saw the Assyrian army investing the walls, and when the three commissioners—taking their station "by the conduit of the upper pool which is in the highway of the fuller's field"—summoned the king to hear the ultimatum of Sennacherib.
The king did not in person obey the summons; but he, too, sent out his three chief officers. They were Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who, as the chamberlain (al-hab-baîth), was a great prince (nagîd); Shebna, who had been degraded, perhaps at the instance of Isaiah, from the higher post, and was now secretary (sopher); and Joah, son of Asaph, the chronicler (mazkîr), to whom we probably owe the minute report of the memorable scene. No doubt they went forth in the pomp of office—Eliakim with his robe, and girdle, and key.[566] The Rabshakeh proved himself, indeed, "an affluent orator," and evinced such familiarity with the religious politics of Judah and Jerusalem, that this, in conjunction with his perfect mastery of Hebrew, gives colour to the belief that he was an apostate Jew. He began by challenging the idle confidence of Hezekiah, and his vain words[567] that he had counsel and strength for the war. Upon what did he rely? On the broken and dangerous bulrush of Egypt?[568] It would but pierce his hand! On Jehovah? But Hezekiah had forfeited his protection by sweeping away His bamoth and His altars! Why, let Hezekiah make a wager;[569] and if Sennacherib furnished him with two thousand horses, he would be unable to find riders for them! How, then, could he drive back even the lowest of the Assyrian captains? And was not Jehovah on their side? It was He who had bidden them destroy Jerusalem!