Isaiah-36

We now come to the actual historical event in which the Assyrian army suffered a miraculous defeat and retreated due to Divine Intervention.
This event occupied Isaiah’s consciousness and he used it as a model for his predictions about what would happen in the Last Days.

[Isaiah 36:1] NOW IT CAME TO PASS IN THE FOURTEENTH YEAR OF KING HEZEKIAH, THAT SENNACHERIB KING OF ASSYRIA CAME UP AGAINST ALL THE DEFENCED CITIES OF JUDAH, AND TOOK THEM.
Sennacherib claimed to have captured all the unfenced cities of Judah and to have exiled more than 200,000 people. A Midrash says that the exiled included most of the Tribe of Simeon. Simeon geographically was placed to the south of Judah but in Biblical terms is frequently associated with the Northern breakaway kingdom. Archaeological evidence affirms a cultural dependence of Simeon on the northern kingdom of Israel.
These exiles from Simeon and the unfenced cities of Judah joined the Lost Ten Tribes in their places of Exile and shared their fate. Even though numerically a good portion of Judah was involved in Biblical terms “Judah” nearly always refers to those of Judah who remained. Similarly many Jews changed their relgion over the years by force or persuasion. Many of these are destined to return together with the Ten Tribes.  Nevertheless “JUDAH” in Scripture is the term applied to those Jews who remained identifiable. The others are subsumed under “Israel” or “Ephraim” or something similar.

 [Isaiah 36:2] AND THE KING OF ASSYRIA SENT RABSHAKEH FROM LACHISH TO JERUSALEM UNTO KING HEZEKIAH WITH A GREAT ARMY. AND HE STOOD BY THE CONDUIT OF THE UPPER POOL IN THE HIGHWAY OF  THE FULLER'S FIELD.
Previously the Assyrians had taken hostages from Judah. This was normal practice in Ancient times. The hostages would often be treated well almost as honored guests and become close friends to members of the ruling family.  “Rabshakeh” is actually a royal title meaning “chief of the drink servers” or “Steward” or “Stuart”. The “Stuart” or “Stewarts” were a ruling family of England. Some of our subscribers descend from them.  “Rabshakeh”  was the son of King Hezekiah of Judah. He had apparently been taken hostage by the Assyrians. The Assyrians treated him well and entrusted  him with great responsibilities. He would have been overawed with the sheer immensity of Assyrian military might and organizational resources.  He went over to the Assyrian side. IN Ancient times such changings of allegiance were a common phenomenon amongst hostages.
In a sense we are all hostages.
No-one wants conflict. At least most people do not.  We would all much prefer to justify and identify with the powers that be rather than have to take the side of the underdog who is often ungrateful, undeserving, and going to lose anyway.
Rabshakeh was wrong.
He was mistaken.
Rabshakeh was with the Assyrian forces in the time of Hezekiah and Isaiah.
If Rabshakeh had have been in the time of the Babylonians under Nebucahdnessar and King Zidkiyahu and Jeremiah he may have been right. At that time surrendering was the best policy. At this time it was not.
Rabshakeh was not to know this.  Or perhaps he was? Perhaps if he have been a better person in other ways he would not have been misled. Heaven would have protected him from error.
 
From “Lost Israelite Identity” chapter two:
ISRAELITE EXILES IN THE ASSYRIAN ARMY.   
    The exiles were put to use  to settle border areas and thus serve as buffer elements against the enemies of Assyria. The intention was to place these people in areas where they would be dependent on maintaining a niche in Assyria's defence for their own protection3. They were supposed to man colonial outposts on a semi-military feudal type arrangement.
    The Assyrians were constantly in search of fresh manpower. The Assyrian population seems to have been dwindling due to emigration, revolts, depletion by warfare and internecine struggle, and by immorality4.
    The Assyrians would systematically replenish their forces by absorbing cavalry and chariot units, archers, and specialised and general auxiliary manpower from amongst Israelite, Syrian, and other exile populations5. Armored horsemen were first depicted by the Assyrians in the reign of Tiglathpileser-iii and they were shown as “Aramaeans” (i.e. Syrians or Israelites) using Assyrian equipment.
    Correspondence between Tiglathpileser and one of his officials near Tyre shows that the exiles were expected  to  serve in the Assyrian armies6.     
    Sargon besieged and took Samaria in Israel. In an inscription  Sargon says, that he took 50 chariots and 27,000 plus people for his own (military) use and the rest he settled in Assyria. Later, a general in Sargon's forces was named "Hilkiyahu" which is a Hebrew name7. In Nineveh (one of the Assyrian capitals) have been discovered lists of cavalry units from Israelite Samaria and other records of charioteers bearing Israelite names8. Archaeological evidence demonstrates that, "Sargon also employed large numbers of men from central Syria and Palestine"9: "Central Syria and Palestine" in effect, meant the former Israelite area. Important groups of auxiliary soldiers identified as Aramaeans from west of the Euphrates may also have included soldiers of Israelite descent: Israelite Tribes had once controlled all of the area west of the Euphrates. In regions adjacent to the west bank of the Euphrates Ptolemy recorded Israelite Tribal and Clan names*10, and evidence exists suggesting that Israelites in these areas spoke Aramaic. Non-Assyrian soldiers in various stages of assimilation to Assyrian norms formed the bulk of the Assyrian army and amongst these non-Assyrians Israelite exiles were prominent..
    A list has been found containing "the names of many, perhaps most, of the top officials and the equestrian officers in Sargon's army"11. The list is divided into two sections, " one consisting of units from cities of Assyria proper "12, and a second section considered to be that of the "royal army"13 and presumed to have been more important. This second more-important section is a listing of officers and it is divided into seven units. One of these seven units consists of Chaldeans, a second unit is that of 13 equestrian officers from Israelite Samaria. The nationality of the remaining five units is not given and amongst these may also have been Israelites. The commander of the known Israelite Samarian unit has the same rank as King Sargon's twin brother and was considered about the seventh most important man in the kingdom14. A horsetrainer (or horsebreeder) who was also a military commander from former Israelite Samaria named Sama seems to have become a friend and advisor of the Assyrian king, Sargon. Later Sama was  made the equestrian instructor of one of the sons of Sennacherib, the successor of Sargon15. The equestrian forces consisted of chariotry and cavalry. It is assumed that the Israelites concentrated on chariotry which at first had been considered more important. Improvements in horse equipment, however, increased cavalry efficiency. These improvements first become evident just after most of the Israelites had been exiled. It is uncertain whether the Hebrews were responsible for the new equestrian developments which are considered to be characteristic of the Cimmerians who also appeared around this same time (or shortly afterwards) and whom other factors link with Israel. The best horses, researchers say, for chariotry were obtained from Nubia (Sudan) whereas the best cavalry horses came from Mannae and were obtained and trained by Urartian intermediaries. Mannae was a centre of Israelite re-settlement.
Rabshakeh.
    Sennacherib attacked Judah and subdued most of it. According to the research of David James Skelly,
~Sennacherib later sent Rabshakeh with a great army to Jerusalem to obtain the surrender of the city [which he however never obtained]... Rabshakeh is not a personal name it is a title... Rabshakeh is the title of the Assyrian field commander. Unless one of the king's sons has been designated as the crown prince the Rabshakeh is the 3rd most powerful person in the Assyrian army after the king and the Tartan~23.

     Rabshakeh spoke "The Jews' Language" ("Yehudith") which was probably a form of mainstream Hebrew (2-Kings 18;26):
. "Then said Eliakim and Shebneh and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak I pray you unto your servants in the Syrian language [`Aramit']; for we understand it and speak not unto us in the Jews' language [`Yehudit'], in the ears of people that are on the wall.." Rabshakeh refused the request but rather "stood and cried out in the Jews' language.." (Isaiah 36;13-17). Whoever Rabshakeh was he was very important and he did know the Judaean dialect of Hebrew. Rabshakeh according to Talmudic tradition was a renegade Israelite or rather an apostate Jew24. The Talmud and the Aramaic Translation to the Bible says that Rabshakeh was the brother of Menasheh the future king of Judah and therefore he must have been a renegade son of Hezekiah himself25! As noted above Rabshakeh would not have been the only high-ranking Israelite in Assyrian service. Sennacherib would later boast of having taken from King Hezekiah (as tribute) his best fighters and charioteers.  
    Sennacherib recorded having exiled more than 200,000 people from Judah. The Bible mentions him having captured all of the unfenced cities in Judah and Midrashim also speak of Sennacherib deporting vast numbers from Judah and Simeon. These exiles joined the deported Tribes of northern Israel and shared their destiny. One of the cities of Judah captured by Sennacherib was Lachish on the border between Judah and Phillistia. Assyrian bas-relief illustrations show the siege of Lachish and its people being taken into exile. They also illustrate the peculiar uniforms of the Judaean soldiers defending Lachish. Former Judaean soldiers from Lachish, "were enlisted into the bodyguard of Sennacherib, where they were allowed to wear their own uniform", i.e. they wore the same (or almost the same) uniform as when they fought for Judah and are therefore still recognisable. They comprised "presumably the earliest example in history of a Jewish regiment"26. After Sennacherib's death a revolt took place and the palace was burnt. The depicted face of king Sennacherib in the relief was virtually destroyed. Since the face of Sennacherib alone was mutilated in this way, the researcher R.D. Barnett suggests that the mutineers were Judaeans, one-time Jewish soldiers from Lachish and afterwards probably members of the former king's bodyguard..
    The destiny and fate of the soldiers from Lachish is symptomatic on a small scale of what was to happen to the northern Israelites on a larger one: Just as Judaeans from Lachish in their place of exile were made the bodyguard of the monarch and later revolted and burnt the palace, so too the northern Israelites were to occupy an important position in the Assyrian forces which must have facilitated the eventual takeover (by Israelite Scythians) of the whole Assyrian Empire.  

    After Sennacherib (705-681 b.c.e.) came Essarhaddon (681-669) and after him Assurbanipal (669- 663).      
    Amongst those forming the bodyguard of Assurbanipal, is depicted a spearman uniformed like an Israelite or Syrian. During the reign of Assurbanipal the Israelite Scythians were destined to eventually take control of the Assyrian Empire. An Israelite presence in the Assyrian armed forces most likely would have been connected to this event and also the assumption of virtual independence by the exiled Israelites that led up to it.

22. Dalley 37
23."The Assyrian Empire" (1996) p.5 by David James Skelly of Sydney, Australia.
24. Talmud Babli, Sanhedrin 60;a.
25. Aramaic Translation to Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) ch.18 see Yehudah Kiel on 2-Kings 18;17 in "Sefer Melachim" (Mosad HaRav Kook) Jerusalem 1989.
26. R.D.Barnett "The Siege of Lachish",  Israel Exploration Journal [IEJ], vol.8 Jerusalem, Israel, 1958). This fact was first noticed by Colonel Rawlinson who examined reliefs (now in the British Museum) from the palace of Sennacherib.



 [Isaiah 36:3] THEN CAME FORTH UNTO HIM ELIAKIM, HILKIAH'S SON, WHICH WAS OVER THE HOUSE, AND SHEBNA THE SCRIBE, AND JOAH, ASAPH'S SON, THE RECORDER.

 [Isaiah 36:4] AND RABSHAKEH SAID UNTO THEM, SAY YE NOW TO HEZEKIAH, THUS SAITH THE GREAT KING, THE KING OF ASSYRIA, WHAT CONFIDENCE IS THIS WHEREIN THOU TRUSTEST?

 [Isaiah 36:5] I SAY, SAYEST THOU, (BUT THEY ARE BUT VAIN WORDS) I HAVE COUNSEL AND STRENGTH FOR WAR: NOW ON WHOM DOST THOU TRUST, THAT THOU REBELLEST AGAINST ME?

 [Isaiah 36:6] LO, THOU TRUSTEST IN THE STAFF OF THIS BROKEN REED, ON EGYPT; WHEREON IF A MAN LEAN, IT WILL GO INTO HIS HAND, AND PIERCE IT: SO IS PHARAOH KING OF EGYPT TO ALL THAT TRUST IN HIM.

 [Isaiah 36:7] BUT IF THOU SAY TO ME, WE TRUST IN THE LORD OUR GOD: IS IT NOT HE, WHOSE HIGH PLACES AND WHOSE ALTARS HEZEKIAH HATH TAKEN AWAY, AND SAID TO JUDAH AND TO JERUSALEM, YE SHALL WORSHIP BEFORE THIS ALTAR?

 [Isaiah 36:8] NOW THEREFORE GIVE PLEDGES, I PRAY THEE, TO MY MASTER THE KING OF ASSYRIA, AND I WILL   GIVE THEE TWO THOUSAND HORSES, IF THOU BE ABLE ON THY PART TO SET RIDERS UPON THEM.

 [Isaiah 36:9] HOW THEN WILT THOU TURN AWAY THE FACE OF ONE CAPTAIN OF THE LEAST OF MY MASTER’S SERVANTS, AND PUT THY TRUST ON EGYPT FOR CHARIOTS AND FOR HORSEMEN?

 [Isaiah 36:10] AND AM I NOW COME UP WITHOUT THE LORD AGAINST THIS LAND TO DESTROY IT? THE LORD SAID UNTO ME, GO UP AGAINST THIS LAND, AND DESTROY IT.

 [Isaiah 36:11] THEN SAID ELIAKIM AND SHEBNA AND JOAH UNTO RABSHAKEH, SPEAK, I PRAY THEE, UNTO THY SERVANTS IN THE SYRIAN LANGUAGE; FOR WE UNDERSTAND IT: AND SPEAK NOT TO US IN THE JEWS' LANGUAGE, IN THE EARS OF THE PEOPLE THAT ARE ON THE WALL.
“IN THE SYRIAN LANGUAGE” i.e. Aramaic. Aramiac or a mixed Aramaic-Hebrew dialect was also spoken by at least part of the Israelitew  Tribes who dwelt east of the Jordan River., see “Ephraim” for an example.

 [Isaiah 36:12] BUT RABSHAKEH SAID, HATH MY MASTER SENT ME TO THY MASTER AND TO THEE TO SPEAK THESE WORDS? HATH HE NOT SENT ME TO THE MEN THAT SIT UPON THE WALL, THAT THEY MAY EAT THEIR OWN DUNG, AND DRINK THEIR OWN PISS WITH YOU?

 [Isaiah 36:13] THEN RABSHAKEH STOOD, AND CRIED WITH A LOUD VOICE IN THE JEWS' LANGUAGE, AND SAID, HEAR YE THE WORDS OF THE GREAT KING, THE KING OF ASSYRIA.

 [Isaiah 36:14] THUS SAITH THE KING, LET NOT HEZEKIAH DECEIVE YOU: FOR HE SHALL NOT BE ABLE TO DELIVER YOU.

 [Isaiah 36:15] NEITHER LET HEZEKIAH MAKE YOU TRUST IN THE LORD, SAYING, THE LORD WILL SURELY DELIVER US: THIS CITY SHALL NOT BE DELIVERED INTO THE HAND OF THE KING OF ASSYRIA.

 [Isaiah 36:16] HEARKEN NOT TO HEZEKIAH: FOR THUS SAITH THE KING OF ASSYRIA, MAKE AN AGREEMENT WITH ME BY A PRESENT, AND COME OUT TO ME: AND EAT YE EVERY ONE OF HIS VINE, AND EVERY ONE OF HIS FIG TREE, AND DRINK YE EVERY ONE THE WATERS OF HIS OWN CISTERN;

 [Isaiah 36:17] UNTIL I COME AND TAKE YOU AWAY TO A LAND LIKE YOUR OWN LAND, A LAND OF CORN AND WINE, A LAND OF BREAD AND VINEYARDS.

From “Lost Israelite Identity” chapter two:
    Assyrian wall carvings depict captured peoples being systematically tortured, maimed, mass-raped, and exterminated. Assyrian descriptions of their own actions seem to reveal a sadistic pride in their own cruelty. At the same time, Assyrian monarchs also glorified themselves by the success of their re-settlement policies and by the material benefits these brought to all inhabitants of the vast Assyrian Empire. Sennacherib (704-681) reigned some time after the first Hebrews had been transported. He considered the proposition of deportation to a suitable area a reasonable offer when demanding the capitulation of Jerusalem:   
    "Make an agreement with me and come out to me..until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards" (Isaiah 36;16 17).

    The besieged inhabitants of Jerusalem did not accept Sennacherib's offer  but it was made and may have relied on knowledge of historical precedent concerning the northern Israelites. The sources are therefore ambiguous and the best way to reconcile them is to assume that the quicker a conquered people assimilated itself to Assyrian concepts and needs the better off it would be.


 [Isaiah 36:18] BEWARE LEST HEZEKIAH PERSUADE YOU, SAYING, THE LORD WILL DELIVER US. HATH ANY OF  THE GODS OF THE NATIONS DELIVERED HIS LAND OUT OF THE HAND OF THE KING OF ASSYRIA?       

 [Isaiah 36:19] WHERE ARE THE GODS OF HAMATH AND ARPHAD? WHERE ARE THE GODS OF SEPHARVAIM? AND HAVE THEY DELIVERED SAMARIA OUT OF MY HAND?
Samaria had already been taken into Exile. Samaria was the last rem,nant of the northern kingdom from whom the Lost Ten Tribes descend. Their gods had not saved them.

 [Isaiah 36:20] WHO ARE THEY AMONG ALL THE GODS OF THESE LANDS THAT HAVE DELIVERED THEIR LAND OUT OF MY HAND, THAT THE LORD SHOULD DELIVER JERUSALEM OUT OF MY HAND?

 [Isaiah 36:21] BUT THEY HELD THEIR PEACE, AND ANSWERED HIM NOT A WORD: FOR THE KING’S COMMANDMENT WAS, SAYING, ANSWER HIM NOT.
“ANSWERED HIM NOT A WORD” This can be the best policy.  Sometimes Brit-Am gets criticised, misrepresented, or unjustly attacked.  Sometimes we reply. At other times silence is best.

 [Isaiah 36:22] THEN CAME ELIAKIM, THE SON OF HILKIAH, THAT WAS OVER THE HOUSEHOLD, AND SHEBNA THE SCRIBE, AND JOAH, THE SON OF ASAPH, THE RECORDER, TO HEZEKIAH WITH THEIR CLOTHES RENT, AND TOLD HIM THE WORDS OF RABSHAKEH.

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Chapter Thirty-seven
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