ISAIAH 39
OPENS WITH A HEALED AND RESTORED KING HEZEKIAH SHOWING OFF THE LORD'S TREASURE TO ENVOYS FROM BABYLON...
Verse 1 tells us King Hezekiah receives a letter from the king of Babylon.
"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."
At that time...This was after the miraculous recovery of Hezekiah. The LORD was good enough to give King Hezekiah 15 years more of life; but it was up to Hezekiah if those years would be lived in wisdom and to the glory of God.
The king of Babylon sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. Apparently this was a gesture of kindness from the king of Babylon, showing concern to Hezekiah as fellow royalty.
The presence of Merodach-Baladan shows this was more than a courtesy call.
WHY?
This was an attempt to bring the kingdom of Judah on to the side of the Babylonians against the Assyrians.
DID YOU KNOW?
MOTYER gives us more of the WHY AND the historical background ..."To the Assyrians Merodach-Baladan was a terrorist; to himself he was a freedom-fighter with his life devoted to the liberation of his beloved Babylon from Assyrian tyranny."
AND ISAIAH has already told us that Hezekiah was deeply worried about Assyria. Feeling honored by the embassy, he gladly welcomed the envoys of this archenemy of Assyria.
HEZEKIAH'S MISTAKE....AGAIN?
HE WELCOMED THEM... without FIRST consulting either the Lord or Isaiah.
2 CHRONICLES 32:27-29 CONFIRMS IT....HEZEKIAH without a THOUGHT of the future consequences, he showed them his vast treasures, his abundant supplies of food, and his military armaments. God had given Hezekiah great wealth, so the visitors were duly impressed.
REMEMBER SO FAR...
The first part of Isaiah (chapters 1 through 38) mainly dealt with the present threat from the Assyrian Empire.
The rest of Isaiah (chapters 39 through 66) will prophetically speak to the threat of the coming Babylonian Empire.
Verse 2 tells us Hezekiah entertains the envoys from the king of Babylon.
"And Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them the house of his treasures; the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all his armory; all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them."
And Hezekiah was pleased with them...We can imagine that this was flattering for King Hezekiah. After all, Judah was a lowly nation with little power, and Babylon as a junior superpower. To receive this notice and recognition from the king of Babylon must have really made Hezekiah feel he was important.
In gratitude, Hezekiah showed them the house of his treasures.
We can imagine Hezekiah wanting to please these envoys from Babylon, and wanting to show them that they had good reason to be impressed with him and his kingdom. So he does everything he can to impress them, and shows them the very best riches of the royal household - and he showed them everything (There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them).
As the coming rebuke from Isaiah will demonstrate, this was nothing but proud foolishness on Hezekiah's part. He is in the dangerous place of wanting to please and impress man, especially ungodly men.
It WAS a genuine compliment for Hezekiah to receive this recognition from the king of Babylon.
But Hezekiah received it WRONGLY, and let it go to his head.
AND THIS REMINDS US ALL...It is easy to get too puffed up when people compliment or recognize us, and to begin to take their praise - and ourselves - too seriously.
In this place of wanting to please man, Hezekiah is no longer a true servant of God.
REMEMBER WHAT Paul wrote in Galatians 1:10, "For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ."
When we live to please men, we cannot at the same time live to please and serve God.
When we live to please men, we are really living to serve ourselves, because what we value from men is the praise and honor and recognition they may give us.
It is a glorious thing to live to serve men, but not to live to please them.
BULTEMA says it well, "Just as Samson revealed his strength to the whore, so Hezekiah revealed God's glory to the devils as though he were their companion and had received favors from Babylon."
SO MANY ASK...WELL THEN WHAT SHOULD KING HEZEKIAH HAVE SAID TO THE BABYLON ENVOYS?
MOTYER says it well, 'Thank you for coming and thank Merodach for his gift and invitation, but the fact is I have a divine promise to lean on; it has been confirmed personally in my return to health and cosmically in the sign of the sun. I cannot turn from faith in the promises of God.'
Verses 3-4 tells us Isaiah questions & reproves Hezekiah regarding the BABYLONIAN VISIT.
"Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah, and said to him, "What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?" So Hezekiah said, "They came to me from a far country, from Babylon." And he said, "What have they seen in your house?" So Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them."
What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?... Isaiah probably already knew the answer to these questions. It is likely that his questions were guided by God to allow Hezekiah the opportunity to answer honestly (which he did) and the chance to SEE HIS ERROR himself (which he apparently did not).
They have seen all that is in my house...DO YOU HEAR, AS I DO THE BOASTING AND THE PRIDE IN KING HEZEKIAH AS HE TOLD ISAIAH THE TRUTH?
He is like a small-town boy who is awed by the attention of a big-city man. "Isaiah, you should have seen how impressed those Babylonians were by all I have. They really know we are something here in Judah!" Hezekiah's pride and inflated ego have made him blind.
MUCH LIKE IF WE WERE TO ALLOW AN UNKNOWN PERSON INTO OUR HOME, AND SAID, HERE IS THE CODE TO THE HOUSE SECURITY ALARM SYSTEM. HERE IS WHERE I KEEP OUR WEAPONS IN THIS HIDDEN GUN LOCKER. HERE IS THE NIFTY NEAT SAFE WHERE WE KEEP OUR CASH AND HEIRLOOMS, THAT IS HIDDEN IN THE FLOOR OF OUR DEN AND THE SERCURITY CODE IS THE SAME AS THE HOUSE SECURITY SYSTEM. AND YES, OUR GUARD DOGS ARE LET OUT TO GUARD THE PROPERTY AT NIGHT. AND WE ALSO HAVE A BASEMENT THAT IS FILLED WITH FOOD AND WATER AND OTHER SUPPLIES WE NEED IN CASE THE POWER FAILS.
AND WE SEE IT TODAY, PEOPLE OPEN THE DOOR TO UNKNOWNS, ALLOW THEM INTO OUR HOMES, AND THEN ARE SHOCKED TO THEIR TOES, WHEN THEY ARE ROBBED BLIND OR ASSAULTED, AMEN?
Verses 5-7 tells us the word of the LORD to Hezekiah through Isaiah.
"Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: 'Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,' says the LORD. 'And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'"
All that is in your father's house … shall be carried to Babylon... Hezekiah thought that this display of wealth would impress the Babylonians. All it did was show them what the kings of Judah had, and what they could get from them. One day the kings of Babylon would come and take it all away.
AND WE KNOW THIS WAS FULFILLED in 2 Kings 24:10-13 and 2 Kings 25:11-17, & in Daniel 1, under the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar.
It would be more than a hundred years before Babylon carried away the royal treasures of Judah, but they did come, just as Isaiah prophesied.
This prophecy is so REMARKABLY PIN POINT ACCURATE that many skeptics & Bible challengers INSIST - without grounds other than unbelief - a later "Isaiah" must have written it after the fact.
And they shall TAKE AWAY some of your sons … and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon...
Worse than taking the material riches of the kings of Judah, the king of Babylon would take the sons of the king of Judah - his true riches!
DANIEL 1:1-4 TELLS US OF THIS FULFILLMENT IN taking of Daniel and his companions into captivity.
AND DID YOU KNOW?
Daniel WAS one of the king's descendants taken into the palace of the king of Babylon. Because of this promise of God through Isaiah, many think that Daniel and his companions were made eunuchs when they were taken to serve in the palace.
Verse 8 tells us King Hezekiah's response.
"So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good!" For he said, "At least there will be peace and truth in my days."
"The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good!"...
For he said, "At least there will be peace and truth in my days."
MY FIRST THOUGHT WAS....GOOD GRIEF...DID KING HEZEKIAH REALLY SAY THAT?
BUT HE DID AND IT SHOWS THE TRUE HEART AND STATE OF MIND OF KING HEZEKIAH KING OF JUDAH.
God TELLS HEZEKIAH WHAT HIS ARROGANCE AND PRIDE AND BOAST WILL COST THE NATION IN THE FUTURE. GOD TELLS HIM ABOUT THE COMING JUDGMENT, and BECAUSE OF IT, THE NATION WILL LOSE LEAST OF ALL ALL OF THEIR MATERIAL WEALTH, BUT FAR WORSE, ALL THE SONS OF THE KING WILL BE TAKEN AWAY TO BE SLAVES AND SERVANTS OF BABYLON....
AND HEZEKIAH'S RESPONSE SHOULD HAVE BEEN TO HIT HIS KNEES AND CONFESS, REPENT, AND APOLOGIZE AND ASK FOR GOD'S GRACE AND MERCY....BUT HEZEKIAH SAYS TO ALL OF THIS....BASICALLY, THANK YOU GOD I WILL BE LONG DEAD AND GONE BEFORE IT HAPPENS.
HOW MUCH BETTER THEN AND ESPECIALLY TODAY, IF THE WORLD'S LEADERS COUNTED THE COST, AND SAT BACK TO CONSIDER AND MEASURE THE POSSIBLE FUTURE COSTS TO THEIR COUNTRIES...INSTEAD OF JUST FOR THE RIGHT NOW, AMEN?
HOW MUCH BETTER THIS WORLD WOULD BE IF THEY HAD PRAYED OVER ALL DECISIONS, SMALL AND LARGE, BEFORE MAKING A MOVE, AMEN?
YOU KNOW WE HAVE THOSE TODAY THAT SAY, WELL FORGET THE OLD TESTAMENT, THE PEOPLE IN ANCIENT TIMES WERE PRETTY IGNORANT. THEY DID NOT HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY WE HAVE TODAY. THEY ARE NOT AS LEARNED AND ADVANCED AS WE ARE TODAY. WHAT ELSE CAN YOU EXPECT FOR THEM?
BUT THIS IS JUST ANOTHER GLARING, IN YOUR FACE PROOF, THAT ADVANCEMENTS IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, EDUCATION, MEDICINE HAVE DONE NOTHING TO IMPROVE HUMAN NATURE. HUMAN NATURE, ARROGANCE, NARCISSISM, HEDONISM, SELFISHNESS AND SELF-SERVING MINDSETS HAVE NOT CHANGED.
AND THE ADAGE...THOSE WHO DO NOT LEARN FROM THE FAILINGS IN HISTORY ARE DESTINED TO REPEAT THEM, AMEN?
SO IT IS....IN THIS, Hezekiah shows himself to be almost the exact opposite of an "others-centered" person. He is almost totally self-centered. All he cares about is his own personal comfort and success. AFTER HE IS DEAD AND GONE WHAT HAPPENS TO ISRAEL IS NOT HIS PROBLEM NOR HIS CONCERN.
There is no doubt that Hezekiah started out as a godly king, and overall his reign was one of outstanding godliness, confirmed in 2 Kings 18:3-7.
Yet his beginning was much better than his end; Hezekiah did not finish well. God gave Hezekiah the gift of 15 more years of life, but the added years did NOT make him a better or more godly man.
ISAIAH 39 SHOWS US AND TEACHES US AND CERTAINLY COUNSELS US ALL ...TO TAKE THE TIME IN OUR DAILY LIVES...TO COUNT THE COST.
ISAIAH 39 SHOWS US AND TEACHES US THAT ARROGANCE, ACCLAIM AND ATTENTION, AND OUR PRIDE...WERE AND ARE MAJOR STUMBLING BLOCKS IN OUR DAILY LIVES.
ISAIAH 39 TEACHES US THAT TIME OR AGE DOES NOT NECESSARILY MAKE US ANY BETTER OFF NOR WISER.
Consider that time does nothing but pass away.
We sometimes say and hear others say, "time will tell," "time will heal," or "time will bring out the potential in me."
BUT THE TRUTH IS THIS....time will do nothing of the sort!
Time will only come and go.
It is only how we USE OUR TIME that matters.
HEZEKIAH HAD JUST BEEN MIRACULOUSLY HEALED.
HEZEKIAH HAD JUST BEEN PROMISED 15 YEARS OF EXTENDED LIFE.
HEZEKIAH HAD JUST BEEN GIVEN AN IMPOSSIBLY REMARKABLE SIGN FROM GOD HIMSELF.
YET THE NEXT THING HEZEKIAH DOES...IS GO BACK TO THE WORLD, CELEBRATE HIS EXTENDED LIFE.
HE GOT WHAT HE WANTED FROM GOD, NOW HE COULD HANDLE HIS LIFE AND HIS KINGDOM ON HIS OWN.
HE FORGOT TO PRAY ALL THINGS UP BEFORE GOD BEFORE HE MADE A MOVE THAT MIGHT HARM OR ENDANGER HIM AND HIS KINGDOM.
HE INVITED AND SHOWED OFF AND BRAGGED ABOUT ALL HE HAD, AND HE RETAINED...HE DID NOT GIVE GOD THE GLORY AND THE HONOR....HE LEFT THE LORD GOD OUT OF WALK AND DECISION MAKING.
Hezekiah didn't make good use of the extra time the LORD gave him.
WE NEED TO REMEMBER THE SMALL AND THE LARGE ARE IMPORTANT TO JESUS AND TO US. WE CAN NOT KNOW WHAT TOMORROW HOLDS, BUT WE KNOW THE ONE WHO HOLDS ALL OUR TOMORROWS.
STAY CLOSE TO THE LORD, INVITE HIM INTO YOUR EVERY DAY, YOUR JOB, YOUR FAMILY, YOUR LIFE...SEEK HIS FACE...SEEK HIS COUNSEL..
AND IN THE END OF OUR TIME ON THE EARTH, IN THIS LIFE, THOUGH OUR BEGINNINGS MAY NOT BE STELLAR, WE CAN FINISH WELL IN JESUS!