Isaiah 39

Envoys from Babylon

Hezekiah shows ambassadors from Babylon everything in his treasury, and Isaiah foretells that all of it, and some of his own descendants, will be carried to Babylon.

c. 703 BC Read with footnotes in Gospel Library

Background

The “king of Babylon” in verse 1 is Merodach-baladan (Akkadian Marduk-apla-iddina, “Marduk has given an heir”), a Chaldean chieftain from the marshes of southern Mesopotamia who…

The “king of Babylon” in verse 1 is Merodach-baladan (Akkadian Marduk-apla-iddina, “Marduk has given an heir”), a Chaldean chieftain from the marshes of southern Mesopotamia who spent his career fighting Assyria. He seized the throne of Babylon in 721 BC and held it for about twelve years, until Sargon II drove him out. When Sargon died in 705, he took Babylon again, briefly, in 703, before Sennacherib expelled him on his first campaign. Sennacherib’s annals describe the campaign, and a boundary stone from Merodach-baladan’s reign, now in Berlin, shows the king himself.

So the “letters and a present” were not a get-well card. A Babylonian rebel was looking for allies in the west who would rise against Assyria at the same time he did. Hezekiah, who was preparing his own revolt, had good reason to impress him. The embassy probably came around 703, before Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah in 701, which is why Isaiah places it “at that time,” soon after Hezekiah’s recovery.

In Isaiah’s day Babylon was a junior partner in a doomed rebellion. A century later it would be the empire that destroyed Jerusalem.

The thread through the chapter

Isaiah 39 is a short chapter about a good man’s small mistake with enormous consequences, and it turns the whole book toward Babylon.

Isaiah 39 is a short chapter about a good man’s small mistake with enormous consequences, and it turns the whole book toward Babylon.

Hezekiah has just been healed by a miracle. Now foreign dignitaries come to congratulate him, and he is flattered. He shows them everything: silver, gold, spices, oils, the armory, “there was nothing in his house… that Hezekiah shewed them not” (verse 2). The Chronicler supplies the diagnosis Isaiah leaves implicit: “Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up” (2 Chr. 32:25), and in the matter of the Babylonian envoys “God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart” (2 Chr. 32:31).

Isaiah arrives and asks three questions, like a doctor taking a history: Who were they? Where did they come from? What did they see? (verses 3–4). Hezekiah answers honestly, and the verdict follows. Everything he showed off will be carried to Babylon, and some of his own descendants will serve as officials in the Babylonian palace (verses 6–7).

In chapter 37 Hezekiah spread a threatening letter before the Lord. In chapter 39 he spreads his treasures before men. The one who trusted God against Assyria now looks to Babylon for approval.

And then the book goes silent about Hezekiah. The next words are “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people” (40:1), addressed to people who are already in the Babylon that Isaiah 39 predicts.

Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.

Verses 1–2

Hezekiah shows the envoys everything

In plain words

At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, because he had heard that Hezekiah had been ill and had recovered. Hezekiah was delighted with them and showed them his storehouse: the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine oil, his whole armory, and everything in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace or in his whole kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.

1 At that time Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered.

History & Setting #

Merodach-baladan

Isaiah’s spelling is the accurate one. The parallel in 2 Kgs. 20:12 reads “Berodach-baladan,” a scribal confusion of two similar-sounding letters.

Isaiah’s spelling is the accurate one. The parallel in 2 Kgs. 20:12 reads “Berodach-baladan,” a scribal confusion of two similar-sounding letters. Cuneiform sources give his name as Marduk-apla-iddina, and “Merodach” is the Hebrew form of Marduk, the chief god of Babylon (Jer. 50:2).

He is one of the best-documented figures in Isaiah. Assyrian royal inscriptions from both Sargon II and Sennacherib describe their campaigns against him. Sennacherib says that on his first campaign (703 BC) Merodach-baladan fled before him and hid in the marshes, and that the Assyrians plundered his palace in Babylon, listing gold, silver, and furnishings. There is some irony in that. The king who came to Jerusalem looking for allies, and was shown a full treasury, soon lost his own.

Historians generally accept the outline of the Assyrian accounts, allowing for royal propaganda: a long, stubborn Chaldean resistance that ultimately failed.

Sources: “Merodach-baladan”, Bible Dictionary. James B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 3rd ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969. Mordechai Cogan and Hayim Tadmor, II Kings, Anchor Bible 11. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1988.

2 And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.

Liken It #

Showing everything

What exactly was wrong with Hezekiah’s tour? Several things, and the text lets us see them without spelling them out.

Politically, it was a display of military and economic strength meant to persuade Babylon that Judah was a worthy ally against Assyria. That is exactly the kind of foreign alliance Isaiah had condemned for years (Isa. 30:1–3; Isa. 31:1).

Spiritually, it was a failure of gratitude. The Chronicler says that after his healing Hezekiah “rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up” (2 Chr. 32:25). The envoys came because of a miracle. Hezekiah could have told them about the Lord who healed him and made the sun’s shadow go back. Instead he showed them the silver.

The Chronicler adds that “God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart” (2 Chr. 32:31). The test wasn’t a crisis. It was a compliment. Hezekiah passed the harder test in chapter 37 and failed the easier-looking one in chapter 39. Success and admiration are often more dangerous than threats. Mormon observed that the Nephites’ prosperity was the moment they were most likely to “forget the Lord their God” (Hel. 12:2).

Sources: Ezra Taft Benson, “Beware of Pride”, general conference, Apr. 1989.

History & Setting #

The armory and the treasury

“The house of his armour” is probably the building Isaiah elsewhere calls “the armour of the house of the forest” (Isa. 22:8), the great cedar hall Solomon built, called “the…

“The house of his armour” is probably the building Isaiah elsewhere calls “the armour of the house of the forest” (Isa. 22:8), the great cedar hall Solomon built, called “the house of the forest of Lebanon” (1 Kgs. 7:2; 1 Kgs. 10:17).

The treasures didn’t stay in Jerusalem long. In 701 Hezekiah had to strip the temple and palace to pay Sennacherib: 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold, even cutting the gold off the temple doors (2 Kgs. 18:14–16). Sennacherib’s own account on his prism gives 30 talents of gold and 800 of silver, with a long list of other goods. The difference in the silver figure is a known discrepancy; it may reflect different units or Assyrian exaggeration. Either way, the storehouse Hezekiah proudly displayed around 703 was emptied within two years.

Sources: Sennacherib’s Prism (the “Taylor Prism”), British Museum, London, museum no. 91032. James B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 3rd ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969.

Verses 3–4

Isaiah’s questions

In plain words

Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say? Where did they come from?” Hezekiah answered, “They came to me from a distant country, from Babylon.” Isaiah asked, “What did they see in your palace?” Hezekiah answered, “They saw everything in my palace. There is nothing in my treasuries that I didn’t show them.”

3 Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon.

4 Then said he, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them.

Verses 5–7

Everything will go to Babylon

In plain words

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: The time is coming when everything in your palace, and everything your ancestors have stored up until now, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. And some of your own descendants, who will come from you, will be taken away, and they will be officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

5 Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:

6 Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD.

History & Setting #

A prophecy about Babylon, in 703 BC

This verse is one of the most discussed in the book, because it names Babylon as the future conqueror more than a century before it happened.

This verse is one of the most discussed in the book, because it names Babylon as the future conqueror more than a century before it happened. Nebuchadnezzar carried off “all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house” in 597 BC (2 Kgs. 24:13) and destroyed the city in 586.

Scholars read this in different ways.

Many critical scholars regard the passage as written, or at least shaped, after the fact (the technical term is vaticinium ex eventu, “prophecy from the event”). On this view Isaiah 39 was composed or edited during or after the exile to connect the Isaiah of Hezekiah’s day with the exilic chapters that follow.
Others point out how odd the prediction would have been as a later invention. In 703 Babylon was a small, rebellious client of Assyria, and Assyria was the obvious threat. The oracle also says nothing about the destruction of the temple or the city, which a writer after 586 might be expected to mention.

Latter-day Saints, who accept predictive prophecy as a real gift (Amos 3:7; 2 Ne. 25:7), have no difficulty with Isaiah foreseeing Babylon’s rise. What matters for the reading of the book is that chapter 39 deliberately hands the reader over to Babylon. The prophet who warned of Assyria for thirty-eight chapters now points to the next empire, and chapter 40 speaks to its captives.

Sources: Brevard S. Childs, Isaiah, Old Testament Library. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001. Christopher R. Seitz, Zion’s Final Destiny: The Development of the Book of Isaiah, Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991. Joseph Blenkinsopp, Isaiah, Anchor Bible, 3 vols. New York: Doubleday, 2000–2003.

7 And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

History & Setting #

Eunuchs in Babylon

The Hebrew word sārîs can mean a castrated man, but it is also the ordinary title for a royal official.

The Hebrew word sārîs can mean a castrated man, but it is also the ordinary title for a royal official. Potiphar, a married man, is called Pharaoh’s sārîs (Gen. 39:1). So the prophecy may mean that Hezekiah’s descendants would be castrated, or it may mean that they would serve as courtiers in a foreign palace. Either way they lose their freedom and, in effect, their future as a royal line.

The fulfillment is familiar. Nebuchadnezzar told “the master of his eunuchs” to bring him young men “of the king’s seed, and of the princes,” among them Daniel and his three friends (Dan. 1:3–6). Jewish tradition has long read Daniel 1 as the fulfillment of Isaiah 39:7.

The book of Isaiah does not leave the eunuchs there. Later the Lord speaks directly to the eunuch who fears, “I am a dry tree,” and promises him “a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters… an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off” (Isa. 56:3–5). The judgment spoken in chapter 39 is answered by grace in chapter 56.

Sources: “Eunuch”, Bible Dictionary.

Verse 8

“Good is the word of the LORD”

In plain words

Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “At least there will be peace and security during my lifetime.”

8 Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.

Liken It #

Submission or relief?

Hezekiah’s response is one of the most debated lines in the Hezekiah stories.

Hezekiah’s response is one of the most debated lines in the Hezekiah stories. Read one way, it is humble submission, like Eli’s “It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good” (1 Sam. 3:18). The Chronicler supports that reading: “Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart… so that the wrath of the LORD came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah” (2 Chr. 32:26).

Read another way, the second half of the verse sounds like relief that the disaster won’t land on him: “there shall be peace and truth in my days.” In 2 Kgs. 20:19 it is even phrased as a question: “Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days?” That sounds uncomfortably like someone content to pass trouble on to his grandchildren.

Both readings are defensible, and the text may intend the ambiguity. Hezekiah really was a righteous king (2 Kgs. 18:5), and he was also a man whose vision didn’t reach much past his own lifetime. The pairing is a gentle warning. Faithfulness includes caring about the generations after us, which is exactly what the Lord asked of fathers in Isa. 38:19.

Seeing Christ in Isaiah 39

Hezekiah shows all his treasures to the representatives of a worldly kingdom and receives their admiration. When the devil showed Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them,” the Savior refused them: “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Matt. 4:8–10). Hezekiah’s treasures went to Babylon. Christ taught us to lay up treasure where no one can carry it off: “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matt. 6:19–21).

The chapter ends with the house of David headed for exile and its sons made eunuchs in a foreign palace. The book of Isaiah answers with a Servant who is Himself “cut off out of the land of the living” and yet “shall see his seed” (Isa. 53:8–10), and who promises the eunuch a name better than sons and daughters (Isa. 56:4–5). The Davidic line that seemed to end in Babylon comes to its fulfillment in Jesus Christ, the Son of David.

Liken it to yourself

Hezekiah held steady under threat and slipped under flattery. Which do I handle better? What “envoys” come to me with compliments that pull me toward the wrong alliances?
When people notice a blessing in my life, do I show them my “silver and gold” or tell them about the Lord who gave it?
Isaiah asked, “What have they seen in thine house?” If someone toured my home, schedule, or phone, what would they conclude I treasure?
Am I content with “peace and truth in my days,” or do I think seriously about what my choices will mean for my children and grandchildren?

Worth exploring next

The parallel accounts. Compare Isaiah 39 with 2 Kgs. 20:12–19 and the Chronicler’s commentary in 2 Chr. 32:25–31.
The fulfillment. Read 2 Kgs. 24:10–16, 2 Kgs. 25:8–17, and Dan. 1:1–7.
The hinge. Read Isaiah 39:5–8 and then 40:1–2 without stopping. What does the juxtaposition do?
Pride after deliverance. Compare Hezekiah with Deut. 8:11–18 and with the Nephite “pride cycle” described in Hel. 12:1–6.

This chapter elsewhere in scripture

2 Kgs. 20:12–19 — The same account, nearly word for word.
2 Chr. 32:25–31 — The Chronicler explains that God left Hezekiah “to try him.”
Dan. 1:1–7 — Young men of royal descent taken to serve in Nebuchadnezzar’s palace.

Sources & further reading

“Hezekiah”, Bible Dictionary.
“Merodach-baladan”, Bible Dictionary.
“Babylon or Babel”, Bible Dictionary.
Brevard S. Childs, Isaiah, Old Testament Library. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001.
Christopher R. Seitz, Zion’s Final Destiny: The Development of the Book of Isaiah, Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991.
Mordechai Cogan and Hayim Tadmor, II Kings, Anchor Bible 11. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1988.
John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, New International Commentary on the Old Testament, 2 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986–1998.
Chapter 16: The God of Israel and the Nations (Isaiah 36–47), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).

I’ve studied Isaiah 39