Next the enemy seeks to deter us from believing those who would encourage us to trust in the Lord. The commander exalts the Assyrian king and belittles God.
Then the enemy uses seduction again, offering each of them their own "vine and fig tree". This was a symbol of a good life. The land he would take them to, if he had the chance, would be a land of slavery. So we see the pattern here: cast doubt on God's ability or willingness to rescue us, then offer a supposed means of escape. We must not be deceived by such ploys.
Next he points out to the fact that the gods of all the other nations had failed to deliver them. Now again we see the mixture of truth and lies. It was true that all these other "gods" had proved futile, but then they were not true gods, just idols. Our Lord is the one true living God. We need not listen to the taunts of anyone else.
Wisely Hezekiah had commanded the people to remain silent. There is nothing to be gained by engaging in dialogue with the enemy, nor with fear. We are so easily prone to arguing with fear in our minds. We are better just to ignore fear and remain silent.
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