Isa 36:10

Isa 36:10  And am I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.  Isaiah 36 concerns an event that happened in the fourteenth year of the godly King Hezekiah of Judah (v.1). The events of this chapter are also recorded in 2Kings 18:13-27 and 2Chonicles 32:1-19. The Assyrian army had conquered both Syria and northern kingdom of Israel, and had devastated the countryside and fortified cities of Judah. Jerusalem was the capital city of Judah and where the king resided. If the Assyrians conquered her, then Judah went down with her as a nation just as Syria and Israel were. These were the desperate times for King Hezekiah! The proud King of Assyria sent his equally proud envoy, Rabshakeh, to King Hezekiah and spoke against Judah’s trust in an alliance with Egypt (v.4-6). He said Egypt would not be able to protect her. Rabshakeh was right. Strangely, that unbelieving Assyrian could see the truth of Egypt’s weakness better than many of the leaders of Judah could! But Rabshakeh’s purpose was not to tell Judah to trust in the LORD God. He did it to completely demoralize Judah and drive them to despair. He said further: “But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?” (v.7). Rabshakeh mistook Hezekiah’s religious reforms whereby he took away the high places as directed against Jehovah (2Kings 18:4). True, the Jews were worshipping God in some of the high places. Hence, Rabshakeh was implying: “Do you really think your God Jehovah would help you after what your king has done to all His altars in the high places?” He even insinuated to the Jews that because of what Hezekiah had done to “God’s altars”, He had sent him to destroy Jerusalem: “Am I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? The LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it” (v.10). He lied! The people were used to worship at the high places. The high places were places of worship of pagan gods. Hezekiah restored the true way of worship to Jehovah by first removing all the high places. He restored worship to where it should belong – in Jerusalem. He said to the Jews in Jerusalem: “Ye shall worship before this altar” (v.7b). Rabshakeh, being a heathen, did not understand the Jewish religion. He misunderstood Hezekiah’s breaking down the high places as rebellion against God. He should have done his research first before speaking out. It happens every day – someone misunderstood someone else’s action or words. It happens in religion – someone misunderstood God’s punishment of the wicked as being unloving. They ask: “How can a loving God send someone to hell?” They have that problem because they do not know God. But they do not have issues with these: 1. A judge sending a serial murderer to the gallows. 2. A mother punishing her son for telling lies. I have never heard anyone condemning the judge or the mother for doing what they did. If the serial rapists, murderers, paedophiles, and Adolf Hilter, ended up in heaven, then why should we go to church? Why should Christ have to die on the cross? Christ’s death on the cross proves God is love. Don’t let a “Rabshakeh” deceive you; search the Scripture and know your God.