“But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not.”
The Judean officials and people maintain silence, having been commanded by the king not to respond to the Rabshakeh. The silence represents disciplined restraint, a refusal to engage in rhetorical contest with the Assyrian representative. The oracle shows that strategic wisdom sometimes involves silence rather than speech, recognizing that engagement would only spread propaganda. The silence also represents a kind of trust, an implicit commitment to allow the king and God to respond rather than to try to counter the Rabshakeh's arguments.
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