Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 18:27
But Rab-shakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? [hath he] not [sent me] to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?
That they may eat … – My master hath sent me, the Rab-shakeh seems to say, to these men, whom I see stationed on the wall to defend the place and bear the last extremities of a prolonged siege – these men on whom its worst evils will fall, and who have therefore the greatest interest in avoiding it by a timely surrender. He expresses the evils by a strong coarse phrase, suited to the rude soldiery, and well calculated to rouse their feelings. The author of Chronicles has softened down the words 2Ch 32:11.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 27. That they may eat their own dung] That they may be duly apprised, if they hold on Hezekiah’s side, Jerusalem shall be most straitly besieged, and they be reduced to such a state of famine as to be obliged to eat their own excrements.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
To tell them to what extremities and miseries he will force them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
27. that they may eat, &c.Thiswas designed to show the dreadful extremities to which, in thethreatened siege, the people of Jerusalem would be reduced.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
[See comments on 2Ki 18:17]
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(27) Hath my master . . .Rather, Is it to thy lord and to thee that my lord hath sent me to speak these words?
The men which sit on the walli.e., the soldiers on guard.
That they may eat . . .These coarse words are meant to express the consequence of their resistance: it will bring them to such dire straits that they will be fain to appease the cravings of hunger and thirst with the vilest garbage. (Comp. 2Ki. 6:25 seq.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
27. That they may eat their own dung “He says in substance: Ye are abusing your common people. In exposing them to a wasting siege ye are bringing them, with yourselves, into the direct extremity, so that they will at last be compelled to consume their own excrement.” Bahr.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 18:27 But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? [hath he] not [sent me] to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?
Ver. 27. Hath he not sent me to the men that sit on the wall? ] The soldiers and common sort, of whom your master and you take little care what extremities they undergo, as they are shortly sure to do by a long siege.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
eat: 2Ki 6:25, Deu 28:53-57, Psa 73:8, Lam 4:5, Eze 4:13, Eze 4:15
their own piss: Heb. the water of their feet
Reciprocal: 2Ch 32:11 – to give over Isa 36:11 – in the Syrian Isa 36:12 – that they may Hos 8:1 – the house Nah 2:13 – the voice
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ki 18:27-29. Hath he not sent me to the men, &c. To tell them to what extremity and misery he will force them. Then Rab-shakeh cried with a loud voice in the Jews language That he might affright the people into a compliance with his proposal, which he perceived that Eliakim and his brethren endeavoured to prevent. Thus saith the king, &c. Here he proclaims again, with the greatest assurance, the power of his king, and the weakness of Hezekiah; representing from thence, how they were deluded with empty promises if he persuaded them he should be able to defend them.