“This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.” (Isaiah 37:22)
This is the word of the Lord that Hezekiah received. Sennacherib king of Assyria sent Tartan the supreme commander, Rav-Saris the chief officer and Rabshakeh, a junior officer to Hezekiah to entice the people to surrender or the king would invade them. (2Kings 18:17) Rabshakeh spoke in the Hebrew language, but Judean scholars write that it was more precisely a dialect of the Hebrew language. “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.” (Isaiah 36:11) But Rabshakeh let them know that this was the reason the king had sent him to speak to the people. (Isaiah 36:12)
It was Rabshakeh who did all the talking. It is held in Jewish tradition that Rabshakeh was only fourteen years old. It turns out that Rabshakeh was royalty, Jewish royalty which was the reason for his elevated status in Assyria. He was Hezekiah’s son and Isaiah’s grandson by his daughter who married Hezekiah. This is Jewish rabbinic tradition and there is no Scripture to support it, but it answers the question of how Rabshakeh spoke an ancient Hebrew dialect so well and was able to deliver his insults and blasphemed God so aptly. It’s because he knew the language, knew the people and knew their fears.
But Hezekiah was pious and tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and prayed. So did the elders of the priests. And Hezekiah sent word to Isaiah. "And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.” (Isaiah 37:3-4) The Lord’s response was that the Assyrians had insulted and blasphemed Him. And Isaiah went and prophesied against the Assyrian king. “For I will defend this city to save it for Mine own sake, and for My servant David's sake. Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh." (Isaiah 37:35-37)
God is the same yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) He will protect His children. (Psalms 37:28) And although we are in a time of grace and God is patient with the sinner, we still hear of God’s hand in time of wars, where the impossible happens and the righteous have a victory. While we don’t wish our haters to die by the hand of God, we do want deliverance from their persecution. God commands us to pray for our enemies. (Matthew 5:44) And He says that vengeance is His. “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)
I will briefly tell of two experiences where the hand of God came against those who came against two separate pastors in two separate cities at two different times. The first pastor had this experience in the 1980’s. He wanted to purchase a plot of land next to his church in order to expand. A person came vehemently against him and blocked the sale at every turn. This went on for a long time. After several attempts to purchase the land. the man tragically died allowing the pastor to purchase the land and build a bigger church. In the other instance, in the 2000’s the other pastor with his own money purchased the church and land behind the church. When the church was in a financial bind, the pastor sold one of the back lots. Four ladies led by one vicious one came against him, investigating the sales and accusing him of defrauding the church and lying to the congregation. After extensive abuse months long, the leader of the group died and another of the ladies died. The other two ladies were never the same spiritually. The leader’s family was destroyed. Her daughter also died and terrible things happened in the family and to the family. It is a terrible thing to come against a pastor without knowledge and without authority.
I tremble when I hear someone speak against a pastor or a minister of the Gospel or ridicule a pastor or minister. God doesn’t tell us what He has directed a pastor or a minister to do or to say. We don’t know to whom God has directed their ministry, even if it doesn’t minister to us. We need to be sure we don’t come against God. We have the examples of those who came against Moses. They met a terrible end. (Numbers 14:1-16:25) They were not allowed to enter the Promised Land and wandered for forty years. And Korah and his followers were swallowed by the earth.
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