The Invitation of the Enemy
W. Clarkson Isaiah 36:16, 17 Listen not to Hezekiah: for thus said the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me… The King of Assyria, by the mouth of his general, appeals to the citizens of Jerusalem to abandon their allegiance to Hezekiah. and "go out to him," promising them great advantages for their disloyalty. It is closely analogous to the invitation of our spiritual enemy to go over to him and receive the wages of sin which he offers to our souls. I. IT IS A VERY PLAUSIBLE OFFER. 1. Under the circumstances in which they then were, loyalty was threatened with decided disadvantage: (1) with privation, for there was the probability of a long siege and its attendant scarcities; (2) with suffering, or even death, for attacks would be made and missiles would be hurled against the city. 2. On the other hand, surrender promised material good: (1) present exemption from exigency and assault (ver. 16); and (2) abundance of comfort in future days (ver. 17). So is it in the spiritual realm. Our great Adversary seeks to allure us from the true citizenship, and he has a plausible proposal to make. He says (1) that to serve God is to suffer loss; is to be shut out from many sources of wealth and joy; is to be starved and beggared; is to be exposed to the dislike, the derision, the hostile action of those who are the strongest and most numerous among men. He says also (2) that to be on the side of evil is to be in the way of prosperity; that its land is "a land of corn and wine," of strength and joy, of material prosperity and sensual enjoyment: be selfish and unscrupulous, and the prizes of life and the pleasures of sense are yours. But in regard to each of these proposals, the historical and the existing, it must be considered that - II. IT IS ESSENTIALLY FALSE. 1. Rabshakeh and his royal master were both mistaken in their calculations. Jerusalem was not to be reduced to the severe straits of a protracted siege, was not to be taken by assault; neither want nor sword was to devastate the city. And they left the most important consideration out of their account; for even if their military projects had succeeded, and if the Jews had been defeated and ]lad found the plains of the Tigris as fruitful as the valley of the Jordan, yet would they have missed and mourned the liberty, the sacred services, the natural independence of their own beloved country, - they would have hung their harps upon the willows, instead of making them sound the joyous strains of patriotism and piety. 2. Our spiritual enemy is also essentially wrong in his representations; he, too, leaves the principal considerations out of his reckoning. (1) All that we lose by our loyalty to God is that which no wise man would accept - iniquitous gain, injurious friendship, demoralizing pleasure, etc.; it is well, indeed, to be without these. (2) All that we could gain by subservience to his unholy will would leave us unblessed with the true riches - with the favour and friendship of God, with a sense of moral and spiritual integrity, with the power of rendering holy service to our kind, with the joy of sacred intercourse with a Divine Redeemer and with like-minded fellow-servants, with the elevating and sustaining hopes that "enter within the veil." - C. Parallel Verses KJV: Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern; WEB: Don't listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, 'Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and each of you eat from his vine, and each one from his fig tree, and each one of you drink the waters of his own cistern;