Invasion of Judah
13 Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. 14 Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong. [d]Withdraw from me; whatever you [e]impose on me I will bear.” So the king of Assyria [f]required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 Hezekiah gave him all the silver which was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king’s house. 16 At that time Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the doorposts which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
17 Then the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rab-saris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a large army to Jerusalem. So they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they went up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the [g]fuller’s field. 18 When they called to the king, Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came out to them.
19 Then Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “What is this confidence that you [h]have? 20 You say (but they are [i]only empty words), ‘I have counsel and strength for the war.’ Now on whom do you rely, that you have rebelled against me? 21 Now behold, you [j]rely on the staff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt; on which if a man leans, it will go into his [k]hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. 22 But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’? 23 Now therefore, [l]come, make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 24 How then can you [m]repulse one [n]official of the least of my master’s servants, and [o]rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 25 Have I now come up [p]without the Lord’s approval against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”’”
Rabshakeh was a sneaky man, and tries to undermine Hezekiah. For what could a king do without the support of his people? He tells the people that Hezekiah has defied God, and counsels the people to bargain with Assyria. He even claims that God told him to come up against Judah and destroy it.
We’ve already seen that Hezekiah trusted in God, so what could come of his threats? If you trust in God, be sure that people will twist the truth to get you to forsake or doubt God. They are only interested in themselves, and if you listen closely, their lies will betray them. As with Rabshakeh, who was woefully ignorant of the nature of God, and certainly knew none of His laws, those who do not know God cannot claim to represent God reliably.
What is our defense though, how do we tell the lie from the truth? And therein is the defense–we must know the truth, through prayer and study of God’s own word. When we learn God’s truth, we can spot a lie afar off. But if we neglect God’s truth in our spiritual journey, we will be ill-equipped to discern right from wrong. As Paul told Timothy, “Be diligent to present yourself as a worker who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”