Isaiah 36

9. captain--a governor under a satrap; even he commands more horsemen than this.

10. A boastful inference from the past successes of Assyria, designed to influence the Jews to surrender; their own principles bound them to yield to Jehovah's will. He may have heard from partisans in Judah what Isaiah had foretold ( Isaiah 10:5 Isaiah 10:6 ).

11. Syrian--rather, "Aramean": the language spoken north and east of Palestine, and understood by the Assyrians as belonging to the same family of languages as their own: nearly akin to Hebrew also, though not intelligible to the multitude (compare 2 Kings 5:5-7 ). "Aram" means a "high land," and includes parts of Assyria as well as Syria.
Jews' language--The men of Judah since the disruption of Israel, claimed the Hebrew as their own peculiarly, as if they were now the only true representatives of the whole Hebrew twelve tribes.
ears of . . . people on . . . wall--The interview is within hearing distance of the city. The people crowd on the wall, curious to hear the Assyrian message. The Jewish rulers fear that it will terrify the people and therefore beg Rab-shakeh to speak Aramean.

12. Is it to thy master and thee that I am sent? Nay, it is to the men on the wall, to let them know (so far am I from wishing them not to hear, as you would wish), that unless they surrender, they shall be reduced to the direst extremities of famine in the siege ( 2 Chronicles 32:11 , explains the word here), namely, to eat their own excrements: or, connecting, "that they may eat," &c., with "sit upon the wall"; who, as they hold the wall, are knowingly exposing themselves to the direst extremities [MAURER]. Isaiah, as a faithful historian, records the filthy and blasphemous language of the Assyrians to mark aright the true character of the attack on Jerusalem.

13. Rab-shakeh speaks louder and plainer than ever to the men on the wall.

15. The foes of God's people cannot succeed against them, unless they can shake their trust in Him (compare Isaiah 36:10 ).

16. agreement . . . by . . . present--rather, "make peace with me"; literally, "blessing" so called from the mutual congratulations attending the ratification of peace. So Chaldee. Or else, "Do homage to me" [HORSLEY].
come out--surrender to me; then you may remain in quiet possession of your lands till my return from Egypt, when I will lead you away to a land fruitful as your own. Rab-shakeh tries to soften, in the eyes of the Jews, the well-known Assyrian policy of weakening the vanquished by deporting them to other lands ( Genesis 47:21 , 2 Kings 17:6 ).

20. (Compare Isaiah 10:11 , 2 Chronicles 32:19 ). Here he contradicts his own assertion ( Isaiah 36:10 ), that he had "come up against the land with the Lord." Liars need good memories. He classes Jehovah with the idols of the other lands; nay, thinks Him inferior in proportion as Judah, under His tutelage, was less than the lands under the tutelage of the idols.

21. not a word--so as not to enter into a war of words with the blasphemer ( Exodus 14:14 , Jude 1:9 ).

22. clothes rent--in grief and horror at the blasphemy ( Matthew 26:65 ).