“And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the fuller’s field” (Isa 36:2).
It cannot be a coincidence that Rabshakeh is standing in the same place outside the walls of Jerusalem where King Ahaz stood in Isaiah 7 (v. 3). The unique shared vocabulary, along with similar themes, motifs, and a distinctive sequence of events between Isaiah 36 and Isaiah 7, encourages us to take a second look at Ahaz through the inspired light of a comparison to Rabshakeh. By virtue of this comparison to a pagan Assyrian who has come not only to destroy Jerusalem but also to undermine Israel’s faith in the LORD, Isaiah wants us to identify Ahaz as an enemy of Israel from within.
Whenever a leader refuses to trust in the LORD (see Isa 7:12), he or she becomes a terrible danger to God’s people. For this reason, the number one priority of every leader is to inspire, motivate, and encourage God’s people to trust in the LORD with all their hearts and to lean not on their own understanding (see Prov 3:5; 1 Tim 4:12).
And if you find yourself struggling to believe God to do great things for His glory and for the good of those entrusted to your care, then let me encourage you to pray the prayer of a father who asked Yeshua for more faith—not for himself, but for the sake of his own son:
“Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, ‘I do believe; help my unbelief'” (Mark 9:24).
