The work of destruction accomplished, the Rabshakeh brought up all his forces and threw up a complete circle of earthworks round Jerusalem:  Hezekiah found himself shut up in his capital “like a bird in a cage.”  The inhabitants soon became accustomed to this isolated life, but Isaiah was indignant at seeing them indifferent to their calamities, and inveighed against them with angry eloquence:  “What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops?  O thou that art full of shoutings, a tumultuous city, a joyous town; thy slain are not slain with the sword, neither are they dead in battle.  All thy rulers fled away together, they are made prisoners without drawing the bow; they are come hither from afar for safety, and all that meet together here shall be taken together."*

     * [The R.V. gives this passage as follows:  “They were bound
     by the archers:  all that were found of thee were bound
     together, they fled afar off.”—­TR.]

The danger was urgent; the Assyrians were massed in their entrenchments with their auxiliaries ranged behind them to support them:  “Elam bare the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield (for the assault).  And it came to pass that thy choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen set themselves in array at thy gate, and he took away the covering of Judah.”

[Illustration:  029.jpg SENNACHERIB RECEIVING THE SUBMISSIONS OF THE JEWS]

In those days, therefore, Jahveh, without pity for His people, called them to “weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:  and behold, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine:  let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die.  And the Lord of hosts revealed Himself in mine ears, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord, the Lord of Hosts."* The prophet threw the blame on the courtiers especially Shebna, who still hoped for succour from the Egyptians, and kept up the king’s illusions on this point.  He threatened him with the divine anger; he depicted him as seized by Jahveh, rolled and kneaded into a lump, “and tossed like a ball into a large country:  there shalt thou die, and there shall be the chariots of thy glory, thou shame of thy lord’s house.  And I will thrust thee from thy office, and from thy station he shall pull thee down!"** Meanwhile, day after day elapsed, and Pharaoh did not hasten to the rescue.  Hezekiah’s eyes were opened; he dismissed Shebna, and degraded him to the position of scribe, and set Eliakim in his place in the Council of State.***

     * Isa. xxii. 1-14.

     ** Isa. xxii. 15-19.

***In the duplicate narrative of these negotiations with the Assyrian generals, Shebna is in fact considered as a mere scribe, while Eliakim is the prefect of the king’s house (2 Kings xviii. 18, 37; xix. 2:  Isa. xxxvi. 3, 22; xxxvii. 2).

Isaiah’s influence revived, and he persuaded the king to sue for peace while yet there was time.