Isaiah 39:1-8--Envoys from Babylon

Isaiah 39
English Standard Version

Envoys from Babylon
39 At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. 3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” 4 He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”

​5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: 6 Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD. 7 And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.”

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Foreign kings from far-away places heard of Hezekiah's miraculous recovery and sent official envoys to congratulate him on his recovery.  Of note (the delegation we will be talking about in this passage) is the nation of Babylon.  Though they have a long history since the book of Genesis chapter 11 (see Genesis 11 for more about the people of Babel, the city of Babel, the worldview of Babel and the leaders of Babel who were cut from the same cloth as Nimrod).  I'm not sure if the people of God had forgotten who these people were and how rebellious they were against the LORD or if Hezekiah didn't care because he was quite full of himself at this point in his life and they were stroking his ego.  Either way, Hezekiah is going to try to impress them and did not imagine that these envoys where there as spies to take back a report to Babylon on the wealth and defenses of the nation of Judah.

Hezekiah was a fool and showed these envoys everything that was in the land, great and small, all of his storehouses and treasuries, and even the treasury of the Temple of the LORD.  Isaiah comes to Hezekiah and tells him that everything that he has shown to them will be taken by them, that Hezekiah's descendants will be taken into exile by them to be eunuchs for the king of Babylon (see the book of Daniel).  Hezekiah's response?  He said that the prophecy was good because it would not happen to him and not in his time--someone else would pay for his mistake.  He cared nothing for his descendants or the nation or the Temple or for God's reputation.  He cared only of himself and if he would be punished or if he would escape punishment.  This is why I think I said yesterdays that in some ways it seems that it would have been better for Hezekiah to have died 15 years earlier and not to have recovered so that Babylon would have never sent these envoys, yet, it seems they had their eye on Judah as they were expanding, and Hezekiah's son was even less ready to be king when Hezekiah was sick unto death.