Yeshayah 36:18

18 Beware lest Chizkiyah mislead you, saying, Hashem will save us. Hath any of the elohei HaGoyim delivered his land out of the yad Melech Ashur?

Yeshayah 36:18 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 36:18

Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you
To trust in the Lord, stand up in your own defence and not listen to these proposals; or, lest he "deceive you" F13; with vain words; whom he would represent not only as not being their lawful king, and therefore never gives him that title, but also as a deceiver and impostor, of whom they should be cautious, and guard against: saying, the Lord will deliver us;
and therefore need not fear the boasts and threats, the force and fury, of the enemy: hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land;
over whom he presided, and to whom the people of it were devotees: out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
this reasoning would have had some weight in it had the Lord God of Israel been like the gods of the nations, but he is not; he is the Former and Maker of all things, and sits in the heavens, and does whatsoever he pleases in heaven and in earth; and therefore, though they could not deliver their nations that worshipped them, it did not follow that the God of Israel could not deliver Hezekiah and his people.


FOOTNOTES:

F13 (Mkta tyoy Np) "ne forte decipiat vos", Calvin, Vatablus; "ne seducat vos", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Yeshayah 36:18 In-Context

16 Pay heed not to Chizkiyah; for thus saith HaMelech Ashur, Make a brocha with me, and come out to me; and eat ye every one of his gefen, and every one of his te’enah and drink ye every one the waters of his own bor;
17 Until I come and take you away to an eretz like your own eretz, an eretz dagan and tirosh, an eretz lechem and kramim (vineyards).
18 Beware lest Chizkiyah mislead you, saying, Hashem will save us. Hath any of the elohei HaGoyim delivered his land out of the yad Melech Ashur?
19 Where are the elohei Chamat and Arpad? Where are the elohei Sepharvayim? And have they saved Shomron out of my yad?
20 Who are they among all elohim of these lands, that have saved their land out of my yad, that Hashem should save Yerushalayim out of my yad?
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.