Isaiah 36:18

18 lest Hezekiah doth persuade you, saying, Jehovah doth deliver us. `Have the gods of the nations delivered each his land out of the hand of the king of Asshur?

Isaiah 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.

Isaiah 36:18 In-Context

16 `Do not hearken unto Hezekiah, for thus said the king of Asshur, Make ye with me a blessing, and come out unto me, and eat ye each of his vine, and each of his fig-tree, and drink ye each the waters of his own well,
17 till my coming in, and I have taken you unto a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards;
18 lest Hezekiah doth persuade you, saying, Jehovah doth deliver us. `Have the gods of the nations delivered each his land out of the hand of the king of Asshur?
19 Where [are] the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where the gods of Sepharvaim, that they have delivered Samaria out of my hand?
20 Who among all the gods of these lands [are] they who have delivered their land out of my hand, that Jehovah doth deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.