Rabshakeh

Name

"Rabshakeh" is generally understood not as a personal name but as a title at the Assyrian court. It is commonly explained as deriving from the Akkadian rab shaqê ("chief cupbearer"). Many scholars hold that in practice it designated a high official who served in close attendance on the king. The Bible does not record this man's actual name.

Biblical Account

In the time of Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, attacked the cities of Judah. From Lachish, Sennacherib sent Rabshakeh, together with Tartan and Rabsaris, with a great army to Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:17). Isaiah 36 records the same event but mentions only Rabshakeh. 2 Chronicles 32 also treats the episode but refers only to "servants" of Sennacherib, without using the name Rabshakeh.

Rabshakeh stood outside the city by the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway of the fuller's field, and addressed Hezekiah's officials Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah. The main points of his speech were as follows:

• Relying on Egypt is like trusting in "the staff of this bruised reed" (2 Kings 18:21).
• Because Hezekiah had removed the high places and altars, the LORD would not help Judah either.
• The LORD Himself had told him to go up against this land and destroy it.
• The gods of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, and Samaria had not been able to stop Assyria, so neither could the LORD deliver Judah.

The officials of Judah asked him to speak in the Syrian (Aramaic) language so that the people on the wall would not understand. Rabshakeh refused and instead cried out loudly to the people directly in the Jews' language (2 Kings 18:26–28). The people remained silent, in obedience to the king's command not to answer him. Hezekiah tore his clothes and sent messengers to the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah replied that the king should not be afraid of the words with which the servants of the king of Assyria had blasphemed the LORD (2 Kings 19:6–7). Rabshakeh then returned to the king, who was warring against Libnah (2 Kings 19:8). Nothing further is recorded about him.

Significance Within Scripture

Rabshakeh's speech repeatedly raises the question of what, or in whom, Judah is trusting. It thus serves as the starting point of a narrative that leads to Hezekiah's prayer and God's deliverance. Sennacherib's army ultimately withdrew, and the text presents this as the result of God's direct intervention. Rabshakeh is not mentioned in the New Testament.

Interpretation and Issues

• Historical background: Scholars connect this event with Sennacherib's campaign against Judah, commonly dated to around 701 BC. Sennacherib's annals and the reliefs depicting the assault on Lachish also record this campaign. Scholars differ, however, on how to reconcile this date with the biblical reference to "the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah" (2 Kings 18:13).
• The claim that "the LORD commanded": This statement is often read as psychological warfare. Some interpreters, however, read it alongside Isaiah 10, where God uses Assyria as "the rod of mine anger" (Isaiah 10:5).
• Later traditions: On the basis of Rabshakeh's fluency in the language of Judah, some rabbinic literature is reported to contain a tradition that he was an apostate Israelite. This is not stated in the biblical text.

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church, Rabshakeh appears mainly in sermons on Hezekiah's prayer. In such sermons his taunts often serve as an example of the threatening and discouraging words that shake one's faith. The scene in which the people kept silent and did not answer is also frequently drawn upon as a point of application. In Sunday school, he is usually presented as part of the story of Hezekiah rather than as an independent figure.