2 Reis 18

BLIVRE · Chapter 18/25

¹No terceiro ano de Oseias filho de Elá rei de Israel, começou a reinar Ezequias filho de Acaz rei de Judá.

²Quando começou a reinar era de vinte e cinco anos, e reinou em Jerusalém vinte e nove anos. O nome de sua mãe foi Abi filha de Zacarias.

³Fez o que era correto aos olhos do SENHOR, conforme todas as coisas que havia feito Davi seu pai.

⁴Ele tirou os altos, e quebrou as imagens, e arrancou os bosques, e fez pedaços a serpente de bronze que havia feito Moisés, porque até então lhe queimavam incenso os filhos de Israel; e chamou-lhe por nome Neustã.

⁵No SENHOR Deus de Israel pôs sua esperança: depois nem antes dele não houve outro como ele em todos os reis de Judá.

⁶Porque se chegou ao SENHOR, e não se separou dele, mas sim que guardou os mandamentos que o SENHOR prescreveu a Moisés.

⁷E o SENHOR foi com ele; e em todas as coisas a que saía prosperava. Ele se rebelou contra o rei da Assíria, e não lhe serviu.

⁸Feriu também aos filisteus até Gaza e seus termos, desde as torres das atalaias até a cidade fortificada.

⁹No quarto ano do rei Ezequias, que era o ano sétimo de Oseias filho de Elá rei de Israel, subiu Salmaneser rei dos assírios contra Samaria, e cercou-a.

¹⁰E tomaram-na ao fim de três anos: isto é, no sexto ano de Ezequias, o qual era o ano nono de Oseias rei de Israel, foi Samaria tomado.

¹¹E o rei da Assíria transportou a Israel à Assíria, e os pôs em Hala, e em Habor, junto ao rio de Gozã, e nas cidades dos medos:

¹²Porquanto não haviam atendido à voz do SENHOR seu Deus, antes haviam quebrado o seu pacto; e todas as coisas que Moisés servo do SENHOR havia mandado, nem as haviam escutado, nem praticado.

¹³E aos catorze anos do rei Ezequias, subiu Senaqueribe rei da Assíria contra todas as cidades fortes de Judá, e tomou-as.

¹⁴Então Ezequias, rei de Judá, mandou dizer ao rei da Assíria em Laquis: Eu pequei; afasta-te de mim, e suportarei tudo o que me impuseres. E o rei da Assíria impôs a Ezequias rei de Judá trezentos talentos de prata, e trinta talentos de ouro.

¹⁵Deu, portanto, Ezequias toda a prata que foi achada na casa do SENHOR, e nos tesouros da casa real.

¹⁶Então desmontou Ezequias as portas do templo do SENHOR, e as dobradiças que o mesmo rei Ezequias havia coberto de ouro, e deu-o ao rei da Assíria.

¹⁷Depois o rei da Assíria enviou ao rei Ezequias, desde Laquis contra Jerusalém, a Tartã e a Rabe-Saris e a Rabsaqué, com um grande exército: e subiram, e vieram a Jerusalém. E havendo subido, vieram e pararam junto ao aqueduto do tanque de acima,

¹⁸Chamaram logo ao rei, e saiu a eles Eliaquim filho de Hilquias, que era mordomo, e Sebna escriba, e Joá filho de Asafe, chanceler.

¹⁹E disse-lhes Rabsaqué: Dizei agora a Ezequias: Assim diz o grande rei da Assíria: Que confiança é esta em que tu estás?

²⁰Dizes, (por certo palavras de lábios): Tenho conselho e esforço para a guerra. Mas em que confias, que te rebelaste contra mim?

²¹Eis que tu confias agora neste bordão de cana quebrada, em Egito, no que se alguém se apoiar, lhe entrará pela mão, e se lhe passará. Assim é Faraó, rei do Egito, para todos os que nele confiam.

²²E se me dizeis: Nós confiamos no SENHOR nosso Deus: não é aquele cujos altos e altares tirou Ezequias, e disse a Judá e a Jerusalém: Diante deste altar adorareis em Jerusalém?

²³Portanto, agora eu te rogo que dês reféns a meu senhor, o rei da Assíria, e eu te darei dois mil cavalos, se tu puderes dar cavaleiros para eles.

²⁴Como, pois, farás virar o rosto de um capitão o menor dos servos de meu senhor, ainda que estais confiantes no Egito por seus carros e seus cavaleiros?

²⁵Além disso, acaso eu vim sem o SENHOR a este lugar, para destruí-lo? Foi o SENHOR que me disse: Sobe a esta terra, e destrói-a.

²⁶Então disse Eliaquim filho de Hilquias, e Sebna e Joá, a Rabsaqué: Rogo-te que fales a teus servos em siríaco, porque nós o entendemos, e não fales conosco judaico a ouvidos do povo que está sobre o muro.

²⁷E Rabsaqué lhes disse: Enviou-me meu senhor a ti e a teu senhor para dizer estas palavras, e não antes aos homens que estão sobre o muro, para comerem o seu excremento, e beberem a sua própria urina convosco?

²⁸Logo Rabsaqué ficou de pé, e clamou em alta voz na língua judaica, e falou, dizendo: Ouvi a palavra do grande rei, o rei da Assíria.

²⁹Assim disse o rei: Não vos engane Ezequias, porque não vos poderá livrar de minha mão.

³⁰E não vos faça Ezequias confiar no SENHOR, dizendo: De certo nos livrará o SENHOR, e esta cidade não será entregue em mão do rei da Assíria.

³¹Não ouçais a Ezequias, porque assim diz o rei da Assíria: Fazei comigo paz, e saí a mim, e cada um comerá de sua vide, e de sua figueira, e cada um beberá as águas de seu poço;

³²Até que eu venha, e vos leve a uma terra como a vossa, terra de grão e de vinho, terra de pão e de vinhas, terra de olivas, de azeite, e de mel; e vivereis, e não morrereis. Não ouçais a Ezequias, porque vos engana quando disse: o SENHOR nos livrará.

³³Acaso algum dos deuses das nações livrou sua terra da mão do rei da Assíria?

³⁴Onde está o deus de Hamate, e de Arpade? Onde está o deus de Sefarvaim, de Hena, e de Iva? Puderam estes livrar a Samaria de minha mão?

³⁵Que deus de todos os deuses das províncias livrou a sua província de minha mão, para que livre o SENHOR de minha mão a Jerusalém?

³⁶E o povo se calou, de maneira que não lhe responderam palavra: porque havia mandamento do rei, o qual havia dito: Não lhe respondais.

³⁷Então Eliaquim filho de Hilquias, que era mordomo, e Sebna o escriba, e Joá filho de Asafe, chanceler, vieram a Ezequias, com suas roupas rasgadas, e contaram-lhe as palavras de Rabsaqué.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Hezekiah becomes one of the most faithful kings of Judah, removing idolatry and trusting fully in God. When the powerful Assyrian king Sennacherib invades Judah and besieges Jerusalem, his commander the Rabshakeh publicly mocks Hezekiah's trust in God, trying to demoralize the people before their surrender.

Explanation

Hezekiah represents a rare moment of genuine and deep religious reform in Judah, including the destruction of Moses' bronze serpent, which had become an object of idolatry — showing that even symbols legitimately instituted by God can become corrupted over time if not properly kept in context. The Rabshakeh's arrogant speech, comparing the God of Israel to the defeated gods of other nations, sets up the dramatic climax that will be resolved in the following chapters, directly testing Hezekiah's faith under intense psychological pressure.

Fun facts

The bronze serpent destroyed by Hezekiah was the very object made by Moses in Numbers 21:8-9 as an instrument of healing; the fact that it had become, generations later, an idol called 'Nehushtan' shows how even sacred objects can turn into idolatry when separated from their original purpose.
Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem is mentioned in Assyrian records (the Sennacherib Prism), which describes Hezekiah as being shut up 'like a bird in a cage' in Jerusalem, but tellingly does not claim to have conquered the city — consistent with the biblical account that Jerusalem did not fall.

Verse-by-verse explanation

2 Reis 18:1Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, begins to reign over Judah (the southern kingdom) in the third year of Hoshea of Israel (the north), right in the final years before the fall of the northern kingdom.
2 Reis 18:2Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and stayed twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Abi, daughter of Zachariah.
2 Reis 18:3Hezekiah does what is right, compared directly to David — one of the highest compliments given to any king in the whole book.
2 Reis 18:4This bronze object, made by Moses centuries earlier to heal snakebites in the wilderness, had become an object of worship in its own right, to the point of getting its own name. Hezekiah destroys it precisely because the people had come to idolize the object instead of remembering what it stood for.
2 Reis 18:5Hezekiah trusts the Lord so completely that the text states there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, neither before nor after — the highest praise in the whole book of Kings.
2 Reis 18:6Hezekiah clings to the Lord without turning away, keeping the commandments God had given to Moses.
2 Reis 18:7The Lord is with Hezekiah, who prospers in everything he does, and he even rebels against the king of Assyria, refusing to remain a vassal — a risky political and religious decision.
2 Reis 18:8Hezekiah strikes the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from the small towns to the fortified ones.
2 Reis 18:9In Hezekiah’s fourth year (Hoshea’s seventh), Shalmaneser of Assyria comes up against Samaria and besieges it — the beginning of the end for the northern kingdom.
2 Reis 18:10After three years under siege, Samaria falls in Hezekiah’s sixth year (Hoshea’s ninth) — the exact date of Israel’s fall.
2 Reis 18:11The Assyrian king deports the people of Israel (the north) to Halah, Habor, the river of Gozan, and the cities of the Medes — the final exile of the northern kingdom.
2 Reis 18:12The reason given is always the same: they did not obey the voice of the Lord, broke the covenant, and ignored everything Moses had commanded.
2 Reis 18:13Facing Sennacherib’s invasion, Hezekiah tries to buy off the Assyrian withdrawal, even stripping the gold off the temple’s own doors. It shows how even a religiously praised king fell back on the same tactic of buying peace used by earlier kings.
2 Reis 18:14Hezekiah sends a message to the king of Assyria admitting the mistake of rebelling and offering to pay whatever is demanded; Assyria asks for three hundred talents of silver and thirty of gold.
2 Reis 18:15Hezekiah hands over all the silver he can gather from the treasures of the temple and the palace to pay the ransom.
2 Reis 18:16Hezekiah goes so far as to strip off the gold he himself had put on the temple’s doors and doorposts, handing it all over to the Assyrian king — a desperate measure.
2 Reis 18:17The Assyrian envoy deliberately speaks in the local language, ignoring the request from Hezekiah’s officials to use the diplomatic language of the day. The idea was for the people on the walls to hear the threat directly and panic — a psychological tactic of war.
2 Reis 18:18Summoned by the king of Assyria, three officials of Hezekiah go out to negotiate: Eliakim, the palace administrator, Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, the recorder.
2 Reis 18:19The Assyrian spokesman, Rabshakeh, sends this question to Hezekiah: what exactly is he trusting in to rebel against so powerful a king?
2 Reis 18:20Rabshakeh mocks Hezekiah’s military strategy, calling it empty talk, and questions where he gets so much confidence to rebel.
2 Reis 18:21He compares the alliance with Egypt to leaning on a splintered reed that pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it — an ally that betrays those who trust it too much.
2 Reis 18:22Rabshakeh twists the facts, hinting that trusting the Lord makes no sense since Hezekiah himself tore down the high places and altars and centralized worship in Jerusalem alone — an attempt at psychological warfare.
2 Reis 18:23Rabshakeh mocks by even offering two thousand horses, knowing Judah does not even have enough riders to mount them — a jab at the kingdom’s military weakness.
2 Reis 18:24He argues that Judah could not turn back even the least of Assyria’s officers, despite all its confidence in Egyptian chariots and horsemen.
2 Reis 18:25Rabshakeh even claims, falsely, that the Lord Himself sent Assyria to destroy that land — twisting theology into a weapon of psychological warfare.
2 Reis 18:26The officials of Judah ask Rabshakeh to speak in Aramaic, the diplomatic language, instead of Hebrew, so the people listening from the top of the wall will not understand and panic.
2 Reis 18:27Rabshakeh refuses on purpose, saying his message is meant exactly for the common people on the wall, with a raw threat about the misery the siege will bring.
2 Reis 18:28Rabshakeh stands up and shouts loudly in Hebrew, speaking directly to the people on the wall, ignoring the officials who tried to act as go-betweens.
2 Reis 18:29He warns the people not to let Hezekiah deceive them, since the king of Judah would have no way to deliver them from the hand of Assyria.
2 Reis 18:30He also warns them not to trust Hezekiah’s promise that the Lord will deliver them and that the city will not fall.
2 Reis 18:31The promise of eating from one’s own vine and fig tree before a future deportation is classic Assyrian rhetoric used to convince besieged populations to surrender without a fight. It promised a stable life elsewhere in the empire instead of immediate destruction.
2 Reis 18:32Rabshakeh offers a tempting alternative: surrender and live in peace until you are taken to a land as good as your own, insisting they should not believe the Lord will save them.
2 Reis 18:33He argues that no god of any nation has managed to deliver its people from the hand of the king of Assyria — trying to lump the Lord in with all the defeated gods.
2 Reis 18:34He names specific gods of already-conquered nations — Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim — as proof that no god has withstood Assyria, not even the god of Samaria.
2 Reis 18:35Rabshakeh closes with the ultimate challenge: if no god of any land has delivered its people, why would the Lord deliver Jerusalem?
2 Reis 18:36The people remain completely silent, answering nothing, because Hezekiah himself had ordered that no one respond to the taunt.
2 Reis 18:37The three officials return to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, a sign of distress, and report Rabshakeh’s threat word for word.