Now the king of Assyria is beginning to brag about his military conquests. To paraphrase, he is saying, "didn't I destroy Calno just as I did Carchemish? Haven't I beaten those of Hamath like I beat those of Arpad?"
During the reign of Hezekiah, after Israel had been captured, the Assyrian king sent emissaries to the Jews to subject them to their king. Three men (named Tartan, Rabsaris, and Rabshakeh) came to the Jews to taunt them and command them to submit to Assyrian authority or be destroyed as the other nations had been. Part of their argument was that the Jews had no one who could help them. Egypt would not save them. Certainly, their god could not save them. They mocked the Jews declaring that their god was no more able to save them from the Assyrians than the gods of the other nations were able to save them. They asked, 'Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? Have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand?' (2 Kings 18:34) This is the same argument as in verse 11, 'Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and to her idols.' The response of the Jews and Hezekiah is to seek protection from the Lord and counsel from Isaiah. They are promised the Lord's protection and receive it in a most dramatic way (v. 26).