Isaiah 39:1 says, At that time Merodachbaladan, 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. Matthew Henry points out that this event is also told about in 2 Kings 20, starting with verse 12. The son of Baladan the king of Babylon sent Hezekiah a gift because he heard he had been sick. Merodachbaladan, the name of the king of Babylon’s son, was doing something nice, but sometimes even things done for nice reasons can turn out wrong in the end.
Verse two adds, 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. Hezekiah gave in to pride and showed the emissaries from Bablon all his treasure. He didn’t leave anything out. God had just restored Hezekiah’s health, but he seemed more proud of talking about his possessions than of talking about the miracle that God had performed in his life. We should never let pride in our possessions become more important than our relationship with God is, but we too often talk more about our possessions than we do about our God Who has given them to us. We can get caught up in pride just as Hezekiah did.
Verse three continues, 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. Isaiah came to Hezekiah and asked who these men were and where they came from, and Hezekiah said they had come from a far country, Babylon, to see him. I believe that Hezekiah was full of pride than men would come from so far to see him and he didn’t think any more about what they might decide to do later when they saw all his treasures. I don’t believe there is ever a good reason to show off or brag about our riches. As Christians, we need to understand that everything we have is a blessing from God and should be used for His honor and glory and not our own.
Verse four concludes, 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. Isaiah asked Hezekiah what he had shown these men from Babylon, and he said everything. Once more, I believe that his pride clouded his judgment just as it can do ours today. Anytime we allow pride in what we possess to become more important than following the will of God, we allow sin to slip back into our life and set ourselves up for a fall. It would have been so much better if Hezekiah had prayed about what he should do when these men from Babylon came bringing him a gift than to just become full of pride in his position and start showing off His possessions instead of giving God praise for what He had without bragging. Self-pride will always get us in trouble when we start thinking that what we have is more important than God or even a sign that He approves of all that we are doing.
Verse five states, Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: After telling Isaiah everything that he had shown to the Babylonians, Isaiah had a message from God for Hezekiah. It is always better if we hear God’s message for us before we do anything than it is to hear it after we have done something that we shouldn’t do.
Verse six adds, 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. The message wasn’t a good one, and sometimes God’s message to us may not be something good if we have been acting outside of His will. Isaiah said that one day the Babylonians were going to carry away all the treasures of the people of Israel. One day, all the treasures that we have laid up here on the earth will be done away with, so there really is no reason to flaunt them in self-pride.
Verse seven continues, 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. Isaiah said not only would all the treasures of Israel be taken away, but Hezekiah’s sons, instead of being rulers, would be taken away to serve as eunuchs in the place of the king of Babylon. They would be left completely powerless. When we allow anything to come between God and us, we become spiritually powerless and may find ourselves enslaved to sin once again, even though we have everlasting forgiveness as Christians. Just because we are forgiven doesn’t mean we can become full of self-pride and do whatever we want to do without there being a price to be paid.
Verse eight concludes, 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. Hezekiah said what Isaiah had spoken was good, because there would be peace in his days. Hezekiah was basically saying that God was acting justly with him and the people of Israel, so he could live at peace with that. We have to acknowledge that if God has to chastise us as followers of Christ that He will always be acting justly, and we should be at peace in our soul if this happens. When we as Christians sin once more, then God is going to hold us accountable.
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