e enjte, 27 mars 2008

Isaiah 36:11-12

Passage:
Isaiah 36:11-12
Sennacherib Invades Judah.
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall."
12 But the Rabshakeh said, "Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?"

Journal: Well, today's passage [at least the response of Rabshakeh] is certainly straight forward and graphic. He is delivering a message of doom and gloom, and he intends to deliver the message in an intimidating manner and in a way that will discourage the greatest number of those living in Judah. The message to Judah is to surrender or to become desolate. A diplomatic mission would have called for the use of Aramaic, but Assyria was not into diplomacy. Instead, the intent of the Assyrian delegate was to arouse rebellion among the people of Judah and to plant the seed of surrender. Next week we will find out if the result of the intimidation and manipulation is surrender or steadfastness.