And am I now come up without the LORD against this land
to destroy it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
(Isa. 36:10)
Rabshakeh boasted of the greatness and power of his king, in
order to terrify Hezekiah. Such is the manner in which wicked men act towards
us. By threatening words they attack us, and by various terrors they try our
patience, or rather through their agency Satan labors, whom we plainly see
speaking by the mouth of Rabshakeh.
We ought therefore to distinguish wisely when God speaks,
and when, on the other hand, his name is falsely assumed by men; for Satan
resorts to various artifices to make himself appear to be like God. All these
reproaches were unjustly, as we have said, brought by Rabshakeh against
Hezekiah, who did not place his hope in his own strength, and did not vaunt
himself through reliance on the Egyptians; but godly men, even when they do
well, must be exposed to evil reports. By these stratagems Satan attacks our
faith, and unjustly slanders us among men.
This temptation is highly dangerous, for we are desirous
that our integrity should be well known; and when we are well disposed, we take
it ill if other men put a different interpretation on our conduct. Thus Satan
endearours by slander to overturn all that has been done out of a good
conscience, or accuses us of something with which we are not at all chargeable,
or loads us with unfounded slanders, or contrives what never came into our
mind; but an upright conscience ought to be like a brazen wall to us, that,
imitating the example of Hezekiah, we may stand unshaken against such
accusations and slanders. (Commentaries)
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