⁹After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants to Jerusalem, (now he was before Lachish, and all his power with him,) unto Hezekiah king of Judah, and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying,
9. his servants] Three of these are specified in 2 Kings by their titles, viz. the Tartan (“Commander-in-chief”), the Rabsaris (perhaps “Chief of the Princes”), and the Rabshakeh (“Chief of the officers or cup-bearers”).
now he was before Lachish] The capture of Lachish by Sennacherib and its spoliation are shown on an Assyrian relief now in the British Museum. The king himself besieged Lachish because it was of more importance for the main object of the campaign than Jerusalem. Sennacherib’s objective was Egypt (Herodotus II. 141), and Lachish (Tell el-Ḥesi, Bädeker, Palestine⁵, p. 118) lay directly in his path (compare Handcock, Latest Light on Bible Lands, p. 151).
¹⁰Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria, Whereon do ye trust, that ye abide the siege[¹] in Jerusalem?
[¹] Or, in the strong hold.
10. in Jerusalem] Isaiah promised deliverance in Jerusalem; e.g. in Isaiah xxix. 8, xxx. 19.
¹¹Doth not Hezekiah persuade you, to give you over to die by famine and by thirst, saying, The Lord our God shall deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
11. persuade] Or “entice”; compare 1 Chronicles xxi. 1 (“provoked” for the same Hebrew word).
¹²Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall worship before one altar, and upon it shall ye burn incense?
12. Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away] Besides this appeal to the religious prejudices of the people, Sennacherib’s servants employed two other arguments, according to 2 Kings—(1) the paucity of Hezekiah’s soldiers (2 Kings xviii. 23) and (2) possible reliance on Egyptian help (2 Kings xviii. 21, 25). These two arguments are passed over by the Chronicler doubtless because they seemed inconsistent both with the power and the character of a king so God-fearing as Hezekiah.