Isaiah 36:4

4 Rabshakeh said to them, Say you now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this in which you trust?

Isaiah 36:4 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 36:4

And Rabshakeh said unto them
The three ministers above mentioned: say ye now to Hezekiah;
tell him what follows; he does not call him king, as he does his own master: thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria;
this he said boastingly of his master, and in order to terrify Hezekiah and his subjects; whom he would represent as little in comparison of him, who had subdued many kingdoms, and aimed at universal monarchy; so the eastern kings used to be called, as now the Grand Signior with the Turks, and the French call their king the great monarch; but the title of a great king suits best with God himself, ( Psalms 95:3 ) : what confidence is this wherein thou trustest?
meaning, what was the ground and foundation of his confidence? what was it that kept him in high spirits, that he did not at once submit to the king of Assyria, and surrender the city of Jerusalem to him?

Isaiah 36:4 In-Context

2 The king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah with a great army. He stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field.

3 Then came forth to him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder.

4 Rabshakeh said to them, Say you now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this in which you trust?

5 I say, [your] counsel and strength for the war are but vain words: now on whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?

6 Behold, you trust on the staff of this bruised reed, even on Egypt, whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust on him.