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Prophets and Kings
ye everyone of his vine, and everyone of his fig tree, and drink ye
everyone the waters of his own cistern; 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.
“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? Where are the gods of Hamath and
Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered
Samaria out of my hand? Who are they among all the gods of these
lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the Lord
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should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?”
Isaiah 36:13-20
.
To these taunts the children of Judah “answered him not a word.”
The conference was at an end. The Jewish representatives returned
to Hezekiah “with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rab-
shakeh.”
Verses 21, 22
. The king, upon learning of the blasphemous
challenge, “rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and
went into the house of the Lord.”
2 Kings 19:1
.
A messenger was dispatched to Isaiah to inform him of the outcome
of the conference. “This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and
blasphemy,” was the word the king sent. “It may be the Lord thy God
will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his
master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words
which the Lord thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for
the remnant that are left.”
Verses 3, 4
.
“For this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son
of Amoz, prayed and cried to Heaven.”
2 Chronicles 32:20
.
God answered the prayers of His servants. To Isaiah was given
the message for Hezekiah: “Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the
words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of
Assyria have blasphemed Me. Behold, I will send a blast upon him,
and he shall hear a rumor, and shall return to his own land; and I will
cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.”
2 Kings 19:6, 7
.
The Assyrian representatives, after taking leave of the chief men of
Judah, communicated direct with their king, who was with the division
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of his army guarding the approach from Egypt. Upon hearing the
report, Sennacherib wrote “letters to rail on the Lord God of Israel,
and to speak against Him, saying, As the gods of the nations of other
lands have not delivered their people out of mine hand, so shall not the