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.

When Satan would tempt men from trusting in God and cleaving to Him, he doth it by insinuating that in yielding to him they may better their condition; but it is a false suggestion, and grossly absurd, and therefore to be rejected with the utmost abhorrence, when the world and the flesh say to us, Make an agreement with us, and come out to us, submit to our dominion and come into our interests, and you shall eat every one of his own vine, they do but deceive us, promising liberty when they would lead us into the basest captivity and slavery. One might as good take Rabshakeh's word as theirs for kind usage and fair quarter; therefore, when they speak fair, believe them not. Let them say what they will, there is no land like the land of promise, the holy land.

( M. Henry.)