What is "rabshakeh"

n. (context biblical English) One of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sennacherib messengers to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezekiah, quoted in 2 Kings 18:27–37 and Isaiah 36:12–20.

Rabshakeh, also Rab-shakeh and Rabsaces ( Akkadian language Rabshaqe; ; Rapsakēs; ) Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: This name meaning chief of the princes in the Semitic Akkadian and Aramaic languages, was given to the chief cup-bearer or the vizier of the Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian royal courts in ancient Mesopotamia, and revived by the Assyrians as a military rank during World War I.

The Bible mentions it for one of Sennacherib's messengers to Hezekiah. The speech he delivered, in the Hebrew language, in the hearing of all the people, as he stood near the wall on the north side of the city, is quoted in 2 Kings 18:27–37 and Isaiah 36:12–20:

He and the other envoys returned to their master and reported that Hezekiah and his people were obdurate, and would not submit.

Rabshakeh is also the title of a novel by J Francis Hudson (Lion Publishing 1992). It concerns the life of King Saul, as seen through the eyes of his Amalekite cup-bearer.