2 Kings 18:24

2Ki 18:24 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

Ver. 24. And put thy trust in Egypt.] See on 2Ki 18:21.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(24) How then.—Literally, And how. The connection of thought is: (But thou canst not); and how . . .

Turn away the face of . . .—i.e., repulse, reject the demand of . . . (1Ki_2:16.)

One captain of the least of my master’s servants.—Rather, a pasha who is one of the smallest of my lord’s servants. He means himself. The word we render “pasha” is, in the Hebrew, pa’hath, a word which used to be derived from the Persian, but which is now known to be Semitic, from the corresponding Assyrian words pahat, “prefect,” “provincial governor,” and pihat, “prefecture.”

And put thy trust.—Rather, but thou hast put thy trust; assigning a ground for Hezekiah’s folly. There should be a stop at “servants.” (Comp. Isa_31:1 : “Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots.”)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24. How then wilt thou, &c.] Rab-shakeh impudently takes for granted that Hezekiah’s only answer would be ‘I have not the men’. So he proceeds with his insults, and points out what he deems the folly of resistance. ‘We, three of the principal officers of our master, are come to treat with you. As your power is so feeble, you ought not to think of opposition, but to listen to the Assyrian proposals if they were brought even by some inferior person.’ The word which in this verse is rendered ‘captains’ is that which is constantly used in Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther of the ‘governors’ of provinces belonging to the great king. Any one of these, Rab-shakeh intimates, would be a power by himself which Hezekiah ought not to despise, as he possesses no men, even if the horses were made a present to him, out of which to form a body of cavalry. When Assyria can be so liberal in offers of horses, and when even her smallest governors are so well equipped with troops, is it not folly to go to Egypt for chariots and horses? He knows, and intimates that the same kind of vassalage would be required by the king of Egypt, as the king of Assyria demands.

Some have taken the verb ‘wilt thou turn away’ as equivalent to ‘wilt thou defeat and put to flight’. But this seems to suit very badly with the concluding clause of the sentence. ‘To put trust in Egypt’ is a good antithesis to the rejection of a proposal from the side of Assyria, but not to the defeat of the Assyrian troops.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

How wilt thou force him to turn his back to thee, and flee away from thee?

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

24. Turn away the face — Or, cause to face about, that is, put to flight.

One captain of the least — That is, how canst thou repulse even one of the less valiant officers who commands one of the smallest divisions of the army? The word פחת, here rendered captain, means properly a governor or satrap. It is “first used of Assyrian subordinate stadtholders and generals; (Isa_36:9;) afterwards transferred to the governors and prefects of the Babylonian, (Jer_51:57; Eze_23:6; Eze_23:23,) Median, (Jer_51:28,) and Persian empires, (Est_8:9; Est_9:3;) applied especially to the Persian governors on this side of the Euphrates and in Judea, (Neh_2:7; Neh_2:9; Neh_3:7; Ezr_8:36; Hag_1:1; Hag_1:14,) Nehemiah and Zerubbabel being such. The word was transplanted into Hebrew by early Assyrian influence.” — Furst.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

How then wilt thou turn away the face ofi.e. "repulse, "cause to retreatone captain of the least of my master"s servants; literally, one governor the word used is that which in modern times takes the form of "pasha," or "pacha." It properly applies to the rulers of provinces; but as these were expected to collect and command, upon occasions, the troops of their province, it has a secondary sense of "commander" or "captain." And put thy trust; rather, and thou puttest thy trust in this extremity of weakness, so far as thine own forces are concerned, thou art so foolish as to put thy trust in Egypt, and to expect that her strength will make up for thine own impotence. Vain hope! (see ver. 21). On Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? or, chariots and chariot-men.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

Rabshakeh continues telling the message from the king of Assyria to King Hezekiah's men.

How could you resist even one captain of the least of my master's servants?

He asks this question to emphasize that the army of Hezekiah does not have the resources to fight. He also uses exaggeration to mock Hezekiah's army. AT: Possible meanings are 1) "You could not defeat even one of the least of the king's soldiers." or 2) "You could not defeat a group of the king's soldiers commanded by his least important officer." (See: Rhetorical Question and Hyperbole and Generalization)

Have I traveled up here without Yahweh to fight against this place and destroy it?

He asks this question to emphasize that Yahweh is behind his success to obey the command to destroy Israel. AT: "Yahweh himself told us to come here and destroy this land!" (See: Rhetorical Question)

translationWords

servant

chariot

horseman

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

How can you turn away one captain of my master's servants. For the smallest of them is captain over two thousand men, and you cannot obtain two thousand men. We deduce from here concerning the heads of the armies, who totaled one hundred and eighty-five thousand and fell with Sancheiriv, that the smallest of them was captain over two thousand men who were with him.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.