Today we’re going to read a whole chapter, because the whole thing is only eight versus. And it’s story/prophecy/Response which is not easy to split into little parts. The first bad decision was in revealing all the treasures of the country.
Please read the first 4 verses of this chapter.
Hezekiah Shows His Treasures
1 At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent [messengers with] letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 Hezekiah was pleased and showed them his treasure house—the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his entire armory and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor in all his area of dominion that Hezekiah did not show them. 3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did these men say? From where have they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They came to me from a far country, from [a]Babylon.” 4 Then Isaiah said, “What have they seen in your house?” And Hezekiah answered, “They have seen everything that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”
They came from a far country… They have seen everything. Do you get the feeling that Isaiah is there for clarification because God sent him to prophecy?
Please read the last four verses.
Revealing the Prophecy
5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts, 6‘Listen carefully, the days are coming when everything that is in your house and everything that your predecessors have stored up until this day will be carried to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. 7‘And [b]some of your own sons (descendants) who will come from you, whom you will father, will be taken away, and they will become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.’” 8 Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and faithfulness [to God’s promises to us] in my days.”
I find Hezekiah’s response to the prophecy as selfish and so disappointing. How does it make you feel? I don’t really know if this was the reason for the Babylonian captivity, but it most certainly contributed to that judgment.
It’s not about revealing what should be hidden, so much as it’s about flaunting all that his predecessors stored up. And Hezekiah doesn’t even seem to realize his own sons will be taken away from home. The days are coming indeed, for all the prophecies yet to be filled to find their fulfillment.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 39:3 During this period Babylon was not regarded as a threat.
- Isaiah 39:7 The fulfillment of this prophecy was initiated when Daniel and some of the other royal sons were taken to Babylon to serve in the court of the king.