And Eliakim the son of Hilkijah, and Shebnah and Joah said to Rab-shakeh, Speak, we pray thee, to thy servants in Syriac, for we understand it, and talk not with us in the Jewish [language] in the ears of the people that are on the wall.
Three of Hezekiah's officials break in on the Assyrian spokesman. Switch languages, they ask, so the crowd on the city wall cannot follow. The small move shows what they feared, how the enemy read them, and who else was listening.
The request turns on a real difference between two languages. The officials knew Aramaic. Most of the people on the wall did not.
In 2 Kings 18:26, Ezra 4:7 and Isaiah 36:11 the word appears as "the Syrian language" or "tongue"… Aramaic is the language of Aram. It covers the language of Chaldea and that of Syria. Mesopotamia, Babylonia and Syria were its proper home… In 2 Kings 18:26 and Isaiah 36:11 the heads of the people asked Rabshakeh to speak to them in Aramaic. That way the uneducated would not understand what was said.
The ESV calls it "the language of Judah"; other translations say "the Jews' language". Neither is the name we use today.
The term Hebrew language does not, however, occur in the Old Testament. There it is called the language of the Jews, as in 2 Kings 18:26, or the lip of Canaan, as in Isaiah 19:18.
The three men are not acting in faith. They are managing a crisis, and they start by asking a favour of the enemy.
It is true the servants of Hezekiah were rather feeble. Pleading with the enemies of the Lord wins nothing. It is always well to remember that they are enemies. Ask no favours of them, and expect none. But these three men were alarmed. They were afraid of the effect on the Jewish people, so they begged him not to talk in the Jews' language where the people could hear… It gave him a new weapon, a new argument, a new way of appealing to the people. He might not have thought of it if the fears of Hezekiah's servants had not put it into his head. The very thing they feared, and asked him not to do, gave him the idea of doing it.
The man they are pleading with is a professional. "Rabshakeh" is his office, not his personal name, and he hears in their request exactly what they did not mean to tell him.
Rabshakeh (a title, not a name), Sennacherib's commander-in-chief, was the speaker. He was a skilled diplomat, and delivered his crafty speech in "the Jews' language."… They little knew the cunning Rabshakeh. He gained an advantage from their fear… He does his best to frighten the ordinary people. He hoped to stir up rebellion in the city, and so take it without a siege.
By limiting the audience they showed him where the weak point lay. He shifted his attack from the officials to the crowd behind them.
The three servants of Hezekiah asked Rabshakeh to speak in the Aramean language. They did not want the common people to hear his words in Hebrew (v. 26). They should have realised their request would be useless. In fact it only encouraged Rabshakeh to speak louder to all the people on the wall… If he could not persuade the leaders of the people, he would do his utmost to weaken the people themselves.
The danger they feared was real. Faith meets that same danger another way.
Rabshakeh speaks in Hebrew to the people on the wall. Hezekiah's servants beg him to speak in the Syrian language. He refuses with words of defiance and contempt. The danger of seeing the people become discouraged may have filled Hezekiah with anguish. But the same danger leaves the believer's soul calm and at peace. He has only to keep silence. His trust in God answers everything.
The officials worried about who on the wall could hear. One listener never entered their calculations.
Eliakim and the others begged him to speak Aramean instead of the Jewish tongue. Their pleas only drew out more daring insolence… The blasphemer taunted them, asking whether the Lord would deliver Jerusalem. He never thought who was listening. Not only Eliakim, Shebna and Joah, not only the men on the wall, but the Lord Himself heard him. It was now His affair. Then at last the faith of Hezekiah begins to shine again, for it was his command not to answer him.
- Languages. Aramaic belonged to Syria and Babylonia, and only the educated knew it. The "Jews' language" is what we call Hebrew, the speech of everyone on the wall.
- Fear speaks first. The three officials feared what the speech would do to the people, so they asked a favour of an enemy. Ask no favours of enemies, and expect none.
- Fear arms the enemy. Their fear handed a trained negotiator a new weapon. He shouted louder instead, shifting his attack from the leaders to the ordinary people.
- Faith keeps silence. The same danger that brings anguish leaves a trusting soul calm. Hezekiah's answer was to say nothing and leave it with God.
- Someone else was listening. Changing the language could not change the real audience. The Lord Himself heard the taunt, and from then on it was His affair.
And Rab-shakeh said to them, Is it to thy master and to thee that my master sent me to speak these words? Is it not to the men that sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?
Two Assyrian officers and a king's spokesman stand outside Jerusalem's wall. Hezekiah's ministers ask them to switch to a language the crowd cannot follow, and the refusal that comes back shows who the spokesman is really aiming at.
"Rabshakeh" is not a personal name. Writers note it is an office, and that his fluency in Hebrew is itself a puzzle worth asking about.
This is a title. It means 'chief cup-bearer.' Sennacherib sent the officer who held it to Jerusalem, along with the Tartan (general) and a Rab-saris. He was the chief spokesman. Because he could speak the Jews' language, people think he was either a convert to the Jewish faith or a Jew who had abandoned it.
The language in question was everyday Hebrew, and he chose it on purpose.
The Hebrew language, common to the Jews. Rab-shakeh was asked to speak in the Syrian language (Aramaic). But he wanted the people of Jerusalem to understand him, so he spoke in Hebrew.
The three officials were afraid, and their fear showed the enemy where to press.
There was nothing to be gained by pleading with the enemies of the Lord. It is always good to remember that they are enemies. Ask no favours of them, and expect none. But these three men were alarmed. They were afraid of the effect on the Jewish people, so they begged him not to talk in the Jews' language where the people could hear. And what could that do but draw out from Rab-shakeh a stronger appeal and more boasting than ever… It suggested an idea. It gave him a new weapon, a new argument, a new way of appealing to the people. He might not have thought of it if the fears of Hezekiah's servants had not put it into his head. The very thing they feared and asked him not to do gave him the idea of doing it.
His answer names a different audience. He is not bargaining with ministers. He is working on the crowd.
They should have realised their request would be pointless. In fact it only encouraged the Rabshakeh to speak louder to all the people on the wall. He urged them to hear the words of the great king of Assyria. If he could not persuade the leaders of the people, he would do his utmost to weaken the people themselves.
The goal behind the tactic was to take the city without the cost of a siege.
He does his best to frighten the ordinary people, "shut up like a bird in a cage," as Sennacherib's own inscription states. He hoped to stir up rebellion in the city, in order to take it without laying siege to it. But he laboured in vain; "the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not."
The crude detail in the verse is part of the attack, not an accident.
Rabshakeh became very abusive and shouted a vulgar appeal to the people. It needs no further comment.
He named his hearers — and left out the most important one.
Rab-shakeh stood and shouted in their own language to the people on the walls. The blasphemer had no idea who was listening to his mocking demand, whether Jehovah would deliver Jerusalem. Eliakim, Shebna and Joah heard him. So did the men on the wall. But so did Jehovah Himself. It was now His affair.
Faith's answer to the taunt is no answer at all.
Hezekiah's servants beg the Rab-shakeh to speak in the Syrian language. He refuses in words of defiance and scorn. The danger of seeing the people discouraged may have filled Hezekiah with anguish. But that same danger leaves the believer's soul calm and at peace. He has only to keep silent. His trust in God answers everything.
- Title, not name. "Rabshakeh" is an office, not a name: chief cup-bearer. His fluent Hebrew hints that he once had ties to Israel's faith.
- The plea. Asking the enemy for a favour showed fear, and fear showed him where to strike.
- The weapon. He turned that request into a new argument, shouting past the ministers to the people on the wall.
- The aim. Frighten the people, stir up rebellion, take the city without a siege — and he failed.
- The listener. Above the officials and the men on the wall, the Lord heard every word. It was now His affair, and the people's part was silence.