A Letter from the Devil [Spirituality & Religion]

Isa.36
[1] Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them.
[2] And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field.
[3] Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder.
[4] And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?
[5] I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?
[6] Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.
[7] 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?
[8] Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.
[9] How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
[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.
[11] Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.
[12] But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?
[13] Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.
[14] Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you.
[15] Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
[16] Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern;
[17] Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
[18] Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
[19] Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
[20] Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
[21] But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.
[22] Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

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Agent · 61-69, M

Commencing in 728 the king of Assyria also officially held the title of king of Babylonia. During that time Merodach-Baladan, a member of the Yakin tribe, was a district ruler in Chaldea. During the unrest surrounding the accession of Sargon II of Assyria in 722, Merodach-Baladan entered Babylon and claimed the Babylonian throne, which had belonged to his forebear Eriba-Marduk. An attack by the Elamites two years later so weakened the Assyrians—though both sides claimed victory—that, as king of Babylonia, Merodach-Baladan remained unmolested by Assyria for the next 10 years.
Sennacherib was the son and successor of Sargon II, from whom he inherited an empire that extended from Babylonia to southern Palestine and into Asia Minor. Before his accession he served, with ability demonstrated by his extant reports, as a senior administrator and diplomat in the north and northwest of the empire. The main problem of his reign was in Babylonia, where the growth of the power of the Chaldean and Aramaean tribes seriously disturbed the old urban centres, whose interests in commerce and need for safe trade routes made them usually pro-Assyrian. Political instability was worsened by the interference of Elam (southwestern Iran), so that between 703 and 689 Sennacherib had to undertake six campaigns in that area; his attitude toward the capital city, Babylon, changed from acceptance of native rule to hostility.

The peace was broken in 703 by a tribal insurrection under the Chaldean Merodach-Baladan (Marduk-apal-iddina), with Elamite military assistance. By skillful generalship Sennacherib recovered northern Babylonia and appointed a native Babylonian, Bel-ibni, as subking. His army devastated the tribal areas in southern Babylonia, though he spared major Babylonian cities, except for a few that had gone over to the tribesmen. Elamite interference in Babylonia probably dictated a campaign in 702 against the petty kingdoms of the Zagros Mountains, vassals of Elam, to forestall a possible Elamite thrust by that route toward eastern Assyria.

In 701 a rebellion, backed by Egypt, though probably instigated by Merodach-Baladan (2 Kings 20:12–18; Isaiah 39:1–7), broke out in Palestine. Sennacherib reacted firmly, supporting loyal vassals and taking the rebel cities, except for Jerusalem, which, though besieged, was spared on payment of a heavy indemnity (2 Kings 18:13–19:36; Isa. 36:1–37:37). The biblical narrative has been interpreted as implying two campaigns against Jerusalem, but this receives no support from Assyrian sources.

Adstar · 56-60, M

@Agent Read all your posts... There probably was 2 campaigns against Jerusalem but the Assyrian like most other great nations are not as thorough in recording their military failures as they are in recording their victories..

Agent · 61-69, M

@Adstar They exaggerated their entries in the king's annals, so they are not totally correct. Egyptian scribes did not mention the Exodus plagues, but Ramesses I only reigned two years. We know that it was because he died in the Red Sea, but it was never recorded on Egyptian monuments.

Agent · 61-69, M

Sennacherib, the new king of Assyria, was preoccupied with some time with the major Babylonian rebellion, and other nations that had been threatened by the Assyrians became restless as well. Despite the objections of Isaiah, Kings tells us that Hezekiah “rebelled against the king of Assyria” (2 Kings 18:7). When Sennacherib was finished with the Babylonian revolt, he turned to the smaller powers that had rebelled against him, and he marched into Judah, besieging all the fortified cities. Hezekiah paid him tribute by cutting gold off of the temple doors to pay him off. Sennacherib took the tribute, but then sent a large army to Jerusalem anyway. Jerusalem was besieged by a huge Assyrian army. This was the biggest crisis of Isaiah’s lifetime, and this event is at the very center of the prophecy of Isaiah. Israel was already destroyed, and it would never recover. The northern kingdom never had a return from exile like the Southern kingdom would have. No dynasty of the Northern kingdom was restored. It’s speculation, but if Assyria were to take the southern kingdom, it might well mean the death of the Southern kingdom. Isaiah assured Hezekiah that Yahweh could be trusted, and He proved that He could be trusted. At night, Yahweh sent His angel to the Assyrian camp, and killed 185,000 Assyrian warriors. Sennacherib retreated back to Nineveh, where he was later killed by his sons while worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god.

Agent · 61-69, M

Hezekiah ascended the throne in 715 B.C. Just six years earlier, King Sargon II of Assyria conquered the northern nation of Israel. At that time, Assyria did not continue south to Judah because it was considered a loyal subject of the Assyrian king (a vassal state). The political turmoil caused by Sargon’s death (705 B.C.) led Hezekiah, and many other vassals, to make an attempt at independence. Sargon’s son, Sennacherib, ascended the Assyrian throne and had to immediately deal with internal instability and external rebellion.

Driver2 · M

Sorry I don’t have enough years left to read all that

4meAndyou · F

Politics hasn't changed much, apparently.

Graylight · 51-55, F

Yeah, but was it addressed to me? Because otherwise, Return to Sender, please.

SW-User

eerr too long to read sorry

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