RABSCAE (Heb. rabh-shâqêh, Assyrian rab šâqê, according to etymology “great cupbearer” of beer). — Title designating a high Assyrian official and officer of the kirîr šarrâti, i.e., the king’s bodyguard, who not infrequently dealt with foreign relations.
A rab-shâqêh acts as the spokesman, protagonist in the dramatic scene narrated in 2 Kings 18–19, nearly identical to Isa. 36–37, briefly summarized in Ecclus. 48:20–24, which took place in the third year of Sennacherib (q.v.), i.e., 701 B.C. After subduing all the cities of the Phoenician and Palestinian coast, especially fighting against Ashkelon and Ekron, Sennacherib sought to humble the “arrogant and proud” King Hezekiah of Judah, who had recently strengthened Yahwism by eliminating idolatry from his kingdom. Sennacherib invaded the land and took a great number of its fortresses (cf. the reliefs of Lachish [q.v.]). Terms were reached; among other things, Hezekiah was to pay a heavy tribute. The mission of the rab-shâqêh was an attempt to intimidate Hezekiah, either to force his unconditional surrender or to depose him through his own people, which would have removed the entire work of the Yahwistic reform of the pious king. The rab-shâqêh, in his mission, proves himself by his discourse to be knowledgeable in languages, well-informed about the internal situation of the kingdom of Judah, a good orator, and, naturally, full of all the pride that a servant of the god Aššur (q.v.) could feel toward the God of that region rebellious to the great empire. He emphasizes the weakness of Hezekiah, who lacks trained soldiers, especially cavalry, and who has in Egypt “a broken reed for a support.” Nor should Hezekiah trust in Yahweh, after having suppressed the sacrifices on the high places (q.V. BRAHMÃ); and “what god in the west had been able to resist the mighty hand of Assyria?” The rab-shâqêh succeeded in producing in Jerusalem a “fear like that of a woman in childbirth.” But his true adversary was the prophet Isaiah (q.v.), who, against his blasphemous speeches, consoled Hezekiah and the people, announcing a plague in the Assyrian camp (an “angel” who struck down a great number of enemies), which forced Sennacherib to return to Nineveh.