Isaiah 36:2
And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field. And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field.
This verse belongs to the historical account of Sennacherib's invasion and threat against Judah during Hezekiah's reign, describing the Assyrian envoy's approach to Jerusalem that led to Hezekiah's triumph. The expedition described is Sennacherib's 701 B.C. campaign against Judah. The Assyrian record supports the account of his campaign against Judah's fortified cities and of Hezekiah being trapped in Jerusalem and made to pay tribute.
Rabshakeh was sent from Lachish, where Sennacherib was besieging the city, with a great army, after Assyria had taken Judah's fortified cities, while Jerusalem itself was under siege. Lachish was about thirty-four miles southwest of Jerusalem. The place where he stood was the Upper Pool of Gibeon, opposite the northwest corner of Jerusalem. The same approach to the city was later used by the Crusaders in their attack in 1099.
He came to deliver the Assyrian challenge and to intimidate the people of Jerusalem and challenge their trust in God. An Assyrian monument depicts the victory at Lachish, and Sennacherib's account claims tribute from Hezekiah rather than the capture of Jerusalem. The biblical and Assyrian accounts agree on thirty talents of gold from Hezekiah, and their different silver totals also agree when the difference between large and small talents is taken into account.
The account continues with Hezekiah's humility and God's message and deliverance of Jerusalem from Assyria. The campaign is connected with the tribute Hezekiah paid, the destruction of the Assyrian army by the angel of the Lord, and Sennacherib's later death at the hands of his sons. The ensuing deliverance showed that the God of Israel was mightier than the gods of the nations, for the Lord defended and saved Jerusalem by direct, miraculous intervention, so the victory testified to God's power rather than human strength.