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Person

Rabshakeh

Assyrian official

Senior Assyrian officer sent by Sennacherib to demand Jerusalem's surrender from King Hezekiah, whose taunting speech prompted Isaiah's deliverance oracle.

16 appearances2 Bible books1 known aliases

Who or what is this?

Rabshakeh is the title (meaning "chief cupbearer" or "chief officer") of the official sent by King to during the reign of of , recorded in 2 Kings 18–19, 36–37, and briefly in 2 Chronicles 32. He stood at the conduit of the upper pool and addressed the officials of Hezekiah in , deliberately speaking to the people on the wall, mocking Hezekiah's trust in Egypt and in God, and urging surrender by promising resettlement. His speech provoked a crisis of faith in Jerusalem; Hezekiah spread the letter before the LORD and appealed to the prophet Isaiah, whose oracle assured him that Sennacherib would not take the city.

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All appearances16