Rab-Shakeh
RAB-SHAKEH
Chief butler or cup-bearer, an officer sent from Lachish by Sennacherib king of Assyria, to summon Hezekiah to surrender; which message he delivered in a most audacious and insolent manner. The history is told in 2Ki 19:17 2Ch 32:9 Isa 36:22 . See NINEVEH and SENNACHERIB.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Rab-shakeh
(Heb. Rabshakeh’, ; Sept. v. r. ), an Aramaic name, signifying chief cup-bearer, but applied to an Assyrian general (2Ki 18:17; 2Ki 18:19; 2Ki 18:26; 2Ki 18:28; 2Ki 18:37; 2Ki 19:4; 2Ki 19:8; Isa 36:2; Isa 36:4; Isa 36:12-13; Isa 36:22; Isa 37:4; Isa 37:8). B.C. 713. Notwithstanding its seemingly official significance, it appears to have been used as a proper name, as Butler with us; for the person who bore it was a military chief in high command under Sennacherib, king of Assyria. Yet it is not impossible, according to Oriental usages, that a royal cup-bearer should hold a military command; and the office itself was one of high distinction, in the same way as Rab-saris denotes the chief eunuch, and Rab-mag, possibly, the chief priest. See Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies, 2, 440. Luther, in his version, is not quite consistent, sometimes (2Ki 18:17; Isa 36:2) giving Rab- shakeh as a proper name, but ordinarily translating it as a title of office arch-cupbearer (der Erzschenke). The word Rab may be found translated in many places of the English version; for instance, 2Ki 25:8; 2Ki 25:20; Jer 39:11; Dan 2:14 (), Rab-tabbachin, captain of the guard in the margin, chief marshal, chief of the executioners; Dan 1:3, Rab-sarisin, master of the eunuchs; 2:48 (), Rab-signin, chief of the governors; 4:9; 5:11 (), Rab-chartummin, master of the magicians;’ Jon 1:6 ( ), Rab-hachobel, ship-master. It enters into the titles Rabbi, Rabboni, and the name Rabbah. SEE RABBI.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Rab-shakeh (2)
is the last named of three Assyrian generals sent against Jerusalem in the reign of Hezekiah. Sennacherib, having taken other cities of Judah, was now besieging Lachish; and Hezekiah, terrified at his progress, and losing, for a time, his firm faith in God, sends to Lachish with an offer of submission and tribute. This he strains himself to the utmost to pay, giving for the purpose not only all the treasures of the Temple and palace, but stripping off the gold plates with which he himself, in the beginning of his reign, had overlaid the doors and pillars of the house of the Lord (2Ki 18:16; 2Ch 29:3; see Rawlinson, Bampton Lectures, 4:141; Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 145). But Sennacherib, not content with this his cupidity being excited rather than appeased sends a great host against Jerusalem under Tartan, Rab-saris, and Rab- shakeh; not so much, apparently, with the object of at present engaging in the siege of the city as with the idea that, in its present disheartened state, the sight of an army, combined with the threats and specious promises of Rab-shakeh, might induce a surrender at once. In Isaiah 36, 37 Rabshakeh alone is mentioned, the reason of which would seem to be that he acted as ambassador and spokesman, and came so much more prominently before the people than the others. Keil thinks that Tartan had the supreme command, inasmuch as in 2 Kings he is mentioned first, and, according to Isa 20:1, conducted the siege of Ashdod. In 2 Chronicles 32 where, with the addition of some not unimportant circumstances, there is given an abstract of these events. it is simply said that (2Ch 32:9) Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem. Rab-shakeh seems to have discharged his mission with much zeal, addressing himself, not only to the officers of Hezekiah, but to the people on the wall of the city, setting forth the hopelessness of trusting to any power, human or divine, to deliver them out of the hand of the great king, the king of Assyria, and dwelling on the many advantages to be gained by submission. Many have imagined, from the familiarity of Rab-shakeh with Hebrew, that he either was a Jewish deserter or an apostate captive of Israel. Whether this be so or not, it is not impossible that the assertion which he makes on the part of his master, that Sennacherib had even the sanction and command of the Lord Jehovah for his expedition against Jerusalem (Am I now come up without the Lord to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land to destroy it), may have reference to the prophecies of Isaiah (8:7, 8; 10:5, 6) concerning the desolation of Judah and Israel by the Assyrians, of which, in some form, more or less correct, he had received information. Being unable to obtain any promise of submission from Hezekiah, who, in the extremity of his peril returning to trust in the help of the Lord, is encouraged by the words and predictions of Isaiah, Rabshakeh goes back to the king of Assyria, who had now departed from Lachish. SEE HEZEKIAH.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Rab-Shakeh
RAB-SHAKEH.The title of an Assyr. [Note: Assyrian.] officer, who with the Tartan and the Rab-saris was sent by Sennacherib to Hezekiah to demand the surrender of Jerusalem (2Ki 18:1-37 f., Isa 36:1-22 f.). The word is the Heb. transcription of the Assyr. [Note: Assyrian.] rab-shaqa title borne by a military officer of high rank, subordinate to the Tartan.
L. W. King.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Rab-shakeh
Rab-shakeh (chief-cup-bearer). Notwithstanding its seemingly official significance, it appears to have been used as a proper name, as Butler with us; for the person who bore it was a military chief in high command, under Sennacherib king of Assyria. Yet it is not impossible, according to Oriental usages, that a royal cup-bearer should hold a military command; and the office itself was one of high distinction. He is the last named of three Assyrian generals who appeared before Jerusalem; and was the utterer of the insulting speeches addressed to the besieged. 2Ki 18:17; 2Ki 18:19; 2Ki 18:26; 2Ki 18:28; 2Ki 18:37; 2Ki 19:4; 2Ki 19:8; Isa 36:2; Isa 36:4; Isa 36:12-13; Isa 36:22; Isa 37:4; Isa 37:8.
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Rab-Shakeh
H7262
An Assyrian officer. Sent by Sennacherib against Jerusalem; undertakes by a speech in the Jews’ language to cause disloyalty to Hezekiah and a surrender of the city.
2Ki 18:17-36; 2Ki 19:4; 2Ki 19:8; Isa 36; Isa 37:4; Isa 37:8