The Rabshakeh seems supremely confident and full of faith as he hurls abuse and dark predictions into the ears of Jerusalem’s defenders. His faith in Assyrian might seems sincere and he may have possessed it in greater measure than many of God’s people arrayed opposite him, but here’s the thing about faith, the object we put faith in is far more important than the amount we possess. You can have a perfect ocean of faith in a counterfeit bill, but that does not automatically imbue it with genuine worth or purchasing power. Such faith is misplaced no matter how strongly or sincerely it is felt. The opposite is also true. This is why Jesus said that faith like a mustard seed, which is another way of saying a faith that is small, can move mountains. A small and imperfect faith that is nevertheless placed in an object worthy of it not only doesn’t disappoint but is able to do far more than we could ask or imagine. Isaiah 36 and 37 tells the story of a showdown between two men of faith, The Rabshakeh and King Hezekiah, however, as we will see, what separates these men is what they have put their trust in.
Rabshakeh
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In Isaiah 36 we are introduced to a man who is called “the Rabshakeh.” Rabshakeh is probably not the man’s name but rather a title that translates roughly to “field commander.” He has been charged by King Sennacherib of Assyria with overthrowing Jerusalem. As I mentioned in last week’s worship service this Rabshakeh is a grade-A trash talker. However, it can also be said that the Rabshakeh was a man of extraordinary faith. We don’t often think of such a character as being a man of faith, but in a sense he really was. Read through the Rabshakeh’s words that he yelled up at the ramparts of Jerusalem and count the number of times that he uses the word “trust.” He poses questions like “On what do you rest this trust of yours?” and “In whom do you now trust?” Those seem like very worthy questions to ponder in any age, but the question that instantly follows in my own mind as I am reading this account is in what and in whom did the Rabshakeh trust that gave him so much bluster?