Isaiah 36:17

17 until I come and take you away to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

Isaiah 36:17 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 36:17

Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land,
&c.]. Some have thought, as Jerom observes, that the land of Media was meant, which bore some likeness to the land of Judea in situation and fruitfulness. Maimonides thinks that Africa is intended F12. Rabshakeh names no land, nor could he name any like, or equal to, the land of Canaan; he could not conceal his intention to remove them from their own land to another; this having been always done by the king of Assyria to people conquered by him, and as was usual for conquerors to do, that so the conquered might have no expectation or opportunity of recovering their own land: a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards;
corn for bread, and vineyards for wine, and both for food and drink; such a land was the land of Judea. The description agrees with ( Deuteronomy 8:8 ) . Rabshakeh was well acquainted with the land of Judea; and this seems to confirm the conjecture of the Jews, that he was one of their people, since he could speak their language, and describe their land so well; all this he said to sooth and persuade them to a voluntary surrender.


FOOTNOTES:

F12 See T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 94. 1.

Isaiah 36:17 In-Context

15 Don't let Hezekiah persuade you to trust the Lord, saying, 'The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.' "
16 Don't listen to Hezekiah. For the king of Assyria says: "Make peace with me and surrender to me; then every one of you will eat from his own vine and his own fig tree and drink water from his own cistern
17 until I come and take you away to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
18 [Beware] that Hezekiah does not mislead you by saying, 'The Lord will deliver us.' Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?
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