Text: 2 Kings 18:32
OT Text Referred to: Deuteronomy 8:7-8
Subject: Rabshakeh's parody of the promised land description
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Longitudinal Theme
Significance: In 2 Kings 18:32, the Rabshakeh promises exile to "a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey." This language deliberately mirrors Deuteronomy 8:7-8, where Moses describes the promised land as having "wheat and barley, vines and fig trees and pomegranates, olive oil and honey." The Rabshakeh uses the Deuteronomic land-description formula to make deportation sound attractive — a perverse rhetorical strategy that replaces God's gift of the land with Assyria's forced relocation. The verbal echo highlights the choice before Jerusalem: trust Yahweh and keep the land He gave, or accept the counterfeit "promised land" of an imperial power.