2. (Sept. Na/Sowapc/c v. r. Na/SovJap/c.) One of the princes of Nebuchadnezzar, who was present at the capture of Jerusalem, B.C. 588, when Zedekiah, alter en-
RAB-SHAKEH
872
RACCA
deavoring to escape, was taken and blinded and Benl in chains to Babylon (Jer. xxxix, 3). Bab-saris is men- tioned afterwards ver. 13) among the other princes who at the command of the king were Benl to deliver Jere- miah "ut of the prison. It is nol improbable thai we have nol only the title of this Bab-saris given, bul his name also, either Sarsechim (ver.3) or (ver. 13) Vebu- ■ orshipper of Nebo, l-a. xlvi, 1 1, in the same way as Nergal-sharezer is given in the same passages as the name of the Bab-mag.- Smith.
Rab-sha'keh (Heb. Rabshakeli', """J" : Sept 'l\i\l>'n:iir v. r. 'PajSffanjs I, an Aramaic name, signi- fying chief cup-bearer, but applied to an Assyrian gen- eral (2 Kings xviii, 17. 19,26,28,37; xix, l. 3; [sa. xxxvi, 2,4, 12, 13,22; xxxvii,4,8). B.C. 713. Not- withstanding its seemingly official significance, it ap- pears to have been used a- a proper name, as Butlei with us: for the person who bore it was a military chief in high command under Sennacherib, king of As- syria. Vi i ii is nol impossible, according to Oriental usages, thai a royal cup-bearer should hold a military command; and the office itself was one of high distinc- tion, in the same way as Rab-saris denotes the chief eunuch, and Rab-maff, possibly, the chief priest See Bawlinson, Ancient Monarchies, ii, 140. Luther, in his version, is nol quite consistent, sometimes (2 Kings xviii. 17: Isa. xxxvi. 2) giving Bab-shakeh as a proper name, bul ordinarily translating it as a title- of office — arch-cupbearer (//</• F.r::.trli< /</<>. The word Rab may be found translated in many places of the English ver- sion; for instance. 2 Kings xxv, 8, '20; Jer. xxxix, 11 : Dan. ii, 14 (B^riSZJ"^), Rab-tabbachim, "captain of the guard" — in the margin, "chief marshal," "chief of utioners;" Dan. i,3, Rab-sarisim, " master of the eunuchs;" ii. 18 ("^ijiO~^),Rab-siffnin, "chief of the governors;" iv. 9; v. 11 r-"~~~~z~ i, Rab-chartum- min, " master of the magicians; Jonah i, 6 ("nn tP). Rdb-kachobeL "ship-master." It enters into the titles Rabbi, Babboni, and the name Kabbah. — Smith: Kitto. See i: \r.m.
Bab-shakeh is the last named of three Assyrian gen- erals sent againsl Jerusalem in the reign of Hezekiah. Sennacherib, having taken oiler cities of Judah, was now besieging Lachish; and Hezekiah, terrified at bis -. and losing, for a time, his linn faith in God, sends to Lachish with an offer of submission and trib- ute. This he strains himself to the utmost to pay, giving for the purpose not only all the treasures of the Temple and palace, but stripping off the gold plates with which he himself, in the beginning of bis reign, had overlaid the doors and pillars of the house of the Lord (2 Kings xviii. 16; ■_' Chron. xxix, 3 ; see Raw- linson, Bampton Lectures, iv, 141; La van I. Nineveh and Babylon, p. 145). Bul Sennacherib, nol content with this — his cupidity being excited rather than appeased —sends a great host againsl Jerusalem under Tartan, Bab-saris, and Bab-shakeh; nol so much, apparently.
with the objeel of at present engaging in the Bit I
the citj as with the idea that, in its present disheart- ened state, the sighl "I an army, combined with the threats and Bpecious promises of Bab-shakeh, might in- irrender at once, m Isa. xxxvi, xxxvii, Bab- Bhakefa alone is mentioned, the reason of which would seem to be thai be .acted as ambassador and spokesman, and came bo much more prominently before the people than the others, Keil thinks that Tartan bad the su- preme command, inasmuch as in 2 Kings he is men- tioned first, and, according to [sa. xx, 1, conducted the siege of Ashdod. In 2 Chron. xxxii, where, with the addition of some nol unimportant circumstances, there is given an abstract ot these events, it is -imply said that (ver. 9) "Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his Bervants to Jerusalem." Bab-shakeh seems to have dis- charged bis mission with much zeal, addressing him- self, not only to the officers of Hezekiah, bul to the pi o-
ple on the wall of the city, setting forth the hopeless- ness of trusting to any power, human <>r divine, to de- liver them out of the hand of " the greal king, the king of Assyria," and dwelling on the many advantages to be gained by submission. .Many have imagined, from the familiarity of Bab-shakeh with Hebrew, that he ei- ther was a Jewish deserter or an apostate captive of Israel. Whether this be so or not, it i- nol impossible that the assertion which he makes on the pari of bis master, thai Sennacherib bad even the sanction and command of the Lord Jehovah for hi- expedition against Jerusalem elm I now come up without the Lord to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up againsl this land to destroy it" |. may have . to thi prophe-
cies ot Isaiah (viii,7,8; x,5,6) concerning the desola- tion of Judah and Israel bj the Assyrians, of which, in some form, more or less correct, he bad received infor- mation. Being unable to obtain any promise of sub- mission from Hezekiah, who, in the extremity of bis peril returning to trust in the help of the Lord, is en- couraged by the words and predictions of Isaiah, Bab- shakeh goes back to the king of Assyria, who bad now- departed from Lachish. Smith. See Hezkkiah.