Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 18:19
And Rab-shakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence [is] this wherein thou trustest?
19. Speak ye now to Hezekiah ] Their message was first addressed to the king, but afterwards they turn (verse 29) to the people who had gathered to hear the parley. The briefer record of the Chronicler combines both parts of the conference and says the messengers were sent ‘unto Hezekiah and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem’.
the great king ] Hezekiah would know that his own father Ahaz had been one of Assyria’s tributaries, and that many other petty kings around were in the same condition. Hence the term is calculated to warn him against resistance.
What confidence is this wherein thou trustest ] The question in Chronicles, being represented as at once addressed both to king and people, is put in the plural number ‘Whereon do ye trust’?
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The Rab-shakeh, the third in rank of the three Assyrian ambassadors, probably took the prominent part in the conference because he could speak Hebrew 2Ki 18:26, whereas the Tartan and the Rabsaris could not do so.
The great king – This title of the monarchs of Assyria is found in use as early as 1120 B.C. Like the title, king of kings, the distinctive epithet great served to mark emphatically the vast difference between the numerous vassal monarchs and the suzerain of whom they held their crowns.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 19. What confidence is this] ma habbittachon hazzeh. The words are excessively insulting: What little, foolish, or unavailing cause of confidence is it, to which thou trustest? I translate thus, because I consider the word bittachon as a diminutive, intended to express the utmost contempt for Hezekiah’s God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
19. Rab-shakeh saidTheinsolent tone he assumed appears surprising. But this boasting [2Ki18:19-25], both as to matter and manner, his highly coloredpicture of his master’s powers and resources, and the impossibilityof Hezekiah making any effective resistance, heightened by all thearguments and figures which an Oriental imagination could suggest,has been paralleled in all, except the blasphemy, by other messagesof defiance sent on similar occasions in the history of the East.
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
(19) And Rab-shakeh said.Tiglath Pileser records that he sent a rab-sak as his envoy to Tyre. Thenius supposes the present rab-sak may have been a better master of Hebrew than his companions. Schrader says it would have been beneath the tartans dignity to speak, and that such vigorous language as follows would have had a very strange effect in the mouth of a eunuch (the rabsaris).
The great king, the king of Assyria.Comp. the usual grandiloquent style of the Assyrian sovereigns: I, Esarhaddon, the great king, the mighty king, the king of multitudes, the king of the country of Asshur; and the title, king of princes, which Hosea applies to the king of Assyria (Hos. 8:10).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. Rab-shakeh said He seems to have been the chief speaker the herald and principal ambassador of the king, while Tartan had higher authority and command in the matter of the movements of the army.
The great king Thus the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian kings delighted to be called and to call themselves, for their “princes were altogether kings.” Isa 10:8; compare Ezr 7:12; Eze 26:7; Dan 2:37. Hence the frequent occurrence on the monuments of such titles as “great king,” “mighty king,” “king of hosts,” “king of kings,” “the glorious king,” “the mighty ruler.”
What confidence is this Better, what is this trust which thou trustest? What does it amount to? He refers to Hezekiah’s supposed trust in the king of Egypt. Compare 2Ki 18:21.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 18:19 And Rabshakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence [is] this wherein thou trustest?
Ver. 19. Thus saith the great king. ] An expression that savoureth of intolerable pride, and, as some think, uttered in way of deriding the prophets of Israel, who usually prefaced, Thus saith the Lord God. Hezekiah might well have replied, as afterward Agesilaus, king of Sparta, did upon a like occasion, Nemo me maior nisi qui iustior: or, as Seneca, Anime magno nihil magnum. But empty spirits affect swelling titles: the Grand Signor, for instance, and great John O’Neal.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Rab-shakeh said. See the references to this in Hezekiah’s “Songs of the degrees”. Psa 120:2, Psa 120:3; Psa 128:3, Psa 128:4, and compare Isa 37:4. See App-67.
What confidence . . . ? Note the Figure of speech Erotesis (App-6), which the Rab-shakeh constantly uses. See verses: 2Ki 18:18; 2Ki 18:20; 2Ki 20:22, 2Ki 20:24, 2Ki 20:25, 2Ki 20:27, 2Ki 20:33, 2Ki 20:34, 2Ki 20:35. Figure used for emphasis.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Rabshakeh: He was the chief speaker, being a very eloquent man, and, according to the Hebrews, whom Procopius follows, an apostate Jew; which is not improbable, as he spoke Hebrew so fluently; and when he blasphemed the Divine Majesty, the king and nobles rent their clothes, which was usual unless the blasphemer were an Israelite.
Thus saith: 2Ch 32:10, Isa 10:8-14, Isa 36:4, Isa 37:13, Dan 4:30
What confidence: 2Ki 18:22, 2Ki 18:29, 2Ki 18:30, 2Ki 19:10, 2Ch 32:7, 2Ch 32:8, 2Ch 32:10, 2Ch 32:11, 2Ch 32:14-16, Psa 4:2, Isa 36:4, Isa 36:7, Isa 37:10
Reciprocal: 2Ki 18:28 – the king of Assyria Nah 2:13 – the voice
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ki 18:19-20. Thus saith the great king, What confidence is this, &c. What is it thou canst trust in to defend thee from my great power? Thou sayest Either to thy people, to encourage them, or rather, within thy own heart. But, (or, surely,) they are vain words Unprofitable, idle talk, without any effect: or they come not from thy heart; thou speakest this against thy knowledge. I have counsel and strength for the war Counsel to contrive, strength, or courage, to execute; which two things are of greatest necessity and use in war. But the original words may be rendered, Thou speakest surely words of the lips; that is, thou encouragest thyself and thy people with words, but counsel and strength are for war Are necessary for thy defence; neither of which thou hast within thyself, but must seek them from others, and where wilt thou find them? On whom, as it follows, dost thou trust?