Arrival of envoys from Babylon, Hezekiah’s pride
39
📚At that time Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 📚And Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them his treasure house, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and the whole of his armory, and all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in his whole realm that Hezekiah did not show them. Isaiah rebukes Hezekiah, declares God’s judgment
3 📚Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And where did they come from to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They came to me from a far country, from Babylon”.
4 📚Then he said, “What did they see in your house?” And Hezekiah answered, “They saw everything that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them”.
5 📚Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: 6 📚‘See, the days are coming when all that is in your house and what your fathers stored up until this day, will be carried to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. 7 📚And they will take away some of your sons who will issue from you, whom you will beget, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ”
8 📚Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good”. He also said, “For there will be peace and truth in my days”.
39:8 This concludes the first part of Isaiah. Chapters 1-35 were spoken and written before the Assyrian invasion of Judah, and much of what is in those chapters was written with that event in view. Chapters 36 and 37 record the crushing defeat suffered by the Assyrians at Jerusalem. In chapter 39 a new threat appears – the invasion of Judah by the Babylonians. They would not fail as the Assyrians had, but would capture Jerusalem and take the people into exile. Chapters 40-66 were written with that in view. Isaiah prophesies of the fall of Babylon, of the return of the people from there, and of the future glory of Jerusalem. And he brings before us very clearly the One on Whom the eternal salvation of Jews and other peoples depends – the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.⚜