Isaiah 36:17

17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

Isaiah 36:17 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 36:17

Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land,
&c.]. Some have thought, as Jerom observes, that the land of Media was meant, which bore some likeness to the land of Judea in situation and fruitfulness. Maimonides thinks that Africa is intended F12. Rabshakeh names no land, nor could he name any like, or equal to, the land of Canaan; he could not conceal his intention to remove them from their own land to another; this having been always done by the king of Assyria to people conquered by him, and as was usual for conquerors to do, that so the conquered might have no expectation or opportunity of recovering their own land: a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards;
corn for bread, and vineyards for wine, and both for food and drink; such a land was the land of Judea. The description agrees with ( Deuteronomy 8:8 ) . Rabshakeh was well acquainted with the land of Judea; and this seems to confirm the conjecture of the Jews, that he was one of their people, since he could speak their language, and describe their land so well; all this he said to sooth and persuade them to a voluntary surrender.


FOOTNOTES:

F12 See T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 94. 1.

Isaiah 36:17 In-Context

15 Do not let Hezekiah make you rely on the Lord by saying, The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.'
16 Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: "Make your peace with me and come out to me; then everyone of you will eat from your own vine and your own fig tree and drink water from your own cistern,
17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
18 Do not let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, The Lord will save us. Has any of the gods of the nations saved their land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.