Isaiah 36:8 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.

NIV: " ‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them!

NASB: Now then, come make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to put riders on them!

CSB: "Now make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you two thousand horses if you’re able to supply riders for them!

NLT: 'I’ll tell you what! Strike a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find that many men to ride on them!

KJV: 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.

NKJV: Now therefore, I urge you, give a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses—if you are able on your part to put riders on them!

The Rabshakeh—some kind of advisor or commander (Isaiah 36:1, 4)—continues to taunt and mock King Hezekiah for resisting to Assyria's King Sennacherib. One likely reason Judah made an alliance with Egypt was because Egypt had many horses, chariots, and riders. The Assyrians obviously had many more and knew how to use them to destroy their enemies.

Judah was a tiny nation with limited resources, and their ally Egypt had already been defeated. After mocking Hezekiah for trusting Egypt or trusting the Lord to save Judah from the Assyrians, the Rabshakeh now mocks the idea that Judah's army could ever hope to put up a real fight.

The field commander mockingly offers a wager. He will give Judah 2,000 battle horses if they can scrape together enough men who can ride them. Both the Rabshakeh and Hezekiah know Judah doesn't have anywhere near that many trained riders. Without Egypt, they are completely outnumbered, out-equipped, and out-matched by the Assyrians.

Isaiah 36:4–10 is the Assyrian king's message to Jerusalem, delivered by a royal commander or "Rabshakeh." The spokesman mocks Israel for trying to ally with Egypt, who is now defeated. He sneers at the idea of Israel's God having power. He even dares to give Israel 2,000 war horses if they have men to ride them, which they do not. The Assyrian even claims that it was Israel's God who sent him there in the first place.

Sennacherib and the Assyrian army conquer all of Judah except for Jerusalem. There, a remnant of the people waits inside the walls. Sennacherib sends a messenger to meet with Hezekiah's officials. The messenger taunts Hezekiah, mocking their attempts at alliances as well as their faith in God. This commander, also called "the Rabshakeh" calls out in the local Hebrew language so everyone will understand. He offers life and prosperity to those who surrender now. In his opinion, none of the gods of any of the nations the Assyrians have defeated were able to stop them. So why will the Lord God of Israel be any different?

Isaiah 36 shifts from poetic prophecies to the historical account of an Assyrian army's threats against Judah. Sennacherib's army conquers everything in Judah other except for Jerusalem. An Assyrian messenger taunts the people and tells them that no gods have stopped Assyria yet, so they shouldn't trust in Judah's God, either. Diplomats return to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem with this news. Hezekiah will seek help from Isaiah, pray to God, and receive a spectacular miraculous rescue (Isaiah 37).

Isaiah is among the most important prophetic books in the entire Bible. The first segment details God's impending judgment against ancient peoples for sin and idolatry (Isaiah 1—35). The second part of Isaiah briefly explains a failed assault on Jerusalem during the rule of Hezekiah (Isaiah 36—39). The final chapters predict Israel's rescue from Babylonian captivity (Isaiah 40—48), the promised Messiah (Isaiah 49—57), and the final glory of Jerusalem and God's people (Isaiah 58—66).