Isaiah 36:4

“And Rabshakeh said unto them, &c.] The three ministers above mentioned: say ye now to Hezekiah; tell him what follows; he does not call him king, as he does his own master: thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria; this he said boastingly of his master, and in order to terrify Hezekiah and his subjects; whom he would represent as little in comparison of him, who had subdued many kingdoms, and aimed at universal monarchy; so the eastern kings used to be called, as now the Grand Signior with the Turks, and the French call their king the great monarch; but the title of a great king suits best with God himself, (<199503>Psalm 95:3): what confidence is this wherein thou trustest? meaning,…”

“great king--the usual title of the Persian and Assyrian kings, as they had many subordinate princes or kings under them over provinces (Isa 10:8).”

“What confidence - What is the ground of your confidence? on what do you trust? The appellation ‘great king’ was the customary title of the kings of the Persians and Assyrians. return to 'Top of Page'”

“36:4-22 The Assyrian chief of staff attempted to use intimidation to negotiate a settlement without bloodshed. In his first speech (36:4-10), he rightly argued against Egypt’s ability to rescue but wrongly charged Hezekiah with misplaced trust in the Lord. Strikingly, the Assyrian did not see the contest as being between the gods of Assyria and the Lord but rather between Sennacherib—the great king—and the Lord. 36:4 Great king is a title similar to emperor.”

“Thus saith: Isa 10:8-14, Isa 37:11-15; Pro 16:18; Ezek. 31:3-18; Dan 4:30; Act 12:22, Act 12:23; Jde 1:16 Assyria: Assyria proper, now Kourdistan, was bounded by Armenia on the north, Media and Persia on the east, Babylonia on the south, and the Tigris, which divides it from Mesopotamia, on the west, between 33 degrees and 38 degrees n lat. and 42 degrees and 46 degrees e long. But the Assyrian empire, the bounds of which were different at different times, in its most flourishing state, according to the descriptions of the Greek and Roman writers, comprehended all the countries and nations between the Mediterranean on the west, and the Indus on the east, and between the deserts of Scythia on…”