Isaiah Part 4: The Historical Pivot 4.3

Isaiah 39

Prayer Carol, Jamison

Sandy, Alejandro doing great after spinal injury

Arlene, Christy started chemo

Gordon, Laura getting tests, and pray for Jeanne Wallis pneumonia

Susan, friend bonnie’s husband surgery, complications went back yesterday, doing OK. Tom

Faye,

Jean, prayer for cousin’s husband diagnosed with dementia, he’s caretaker for his wife; pray for Jean resolution of health problems

Janet, Steve hole in macula, surgical process; possibility

Debra, heart ablation

We’re back at it in Isaiah. Today starting with Isaiah 39. Just a little bit of context. We’ve walked through the “Assyrian Crisis” in which Hezekiah, the King of Judah, his faithfulness guided Judah to salvation by the hand of God from Sennacharib, the Assyrian King. Then we looked at the story of Hezekiah becoming sick and praying to God to be saved which He was and his life was prolonged.

Now this is an interesting section of Isaiah because the events of chapters 38 and 39 actually take place before the Assyrian crisis comes to its climax. But Isaiah, as they are ordered here in the narrative, put these stories after all these events.

Think, therefore, about the order of what we’ve seen. Hezekiah seeks the Lord and Judah is delivered from death and destruction at the hands of Assyria. Hezekiah seeks the Lord in his sickness and his saved and recovers. The marks of Hezekiah are of trust in the Lord, and their experience with YHWH is that of salvation and rescue. YHWH is trustworthy!

Now let’s read Isaiah 39, again keeping in mind that this happens before the other events, but Isaiah puts it, narratively and theologically, last.

Isaiah 39 ESV

1 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.”

The King of Babylon shows up in Judah! He sends an envoy to Hezekiah in Jerusalem. It, in some ways, feels like a strategic play by the Babylonian leader, after Hezekiah’s near-death illness, he hears of his recovery and now seems to send an envoy to shore up support and their alliance. Babylon, in this moment, is not the great power it would become, remember, at this point, this is before Sennacharib and the Assyrians. Refer to your timelines.

Hezekiah, what is his response to this foreign nation seeking an alliance and faith? He welcomes them gladly and shows them his treasure house! Shows him all the silver and gold and resources of Judah.

Immediately, two main themes jump out in this scene. First is the continued, ongoing theme of trusting in other nations. Hezekiah, though he will be faithful to YHWH and not trust the Assyrians, here seems ready to roll out the red carpet for Babylon. Oh, come on in! see what we have, we can share. He’s trying to impress the world and gain favor from the world.

Is this what we ought to be doing? No! We are not called to curry favor with the world, especially not on the world’s terms—here those terms are in physical resources. This is not the call of God’s people. We’re also not trying to impress the world around us. Often we face the temptation to lower our standards or to abandon biblical truth altogether in order to gain favor and impress the world.

This is not our call.

Secondly, Hezekiah is clearly putting a great deal of trust in Judah’s wealth and resources. He sees their storehouses as a sign of safety and security—we do the same! Our bank accounts, jobs, pensions, etc. These are signs of safety. But there is no security or safety guaranteed in this world apart from the rescue and safety that God offers.

So what is Isaiah doing by placing this story (chronologically somewhere in the middle) at the end of this half of the book? Narratively, this is how we ought to be thinking: If God could be trusted and would deliver Judah from the Assyrians (right, that came first when we read it), why would they have to try to impress Babylon? And remember, Isaiah is writing to people in exile, the earliest readers of Isaiah’s prophecies would have been people in exile to the very Babylonians we see in this story.

If you’re an ancient Judean in exile in Babylon and you read the story of the Assyrian crisis, you might ask: if God could be trusted to deliver us from those people, why were we defeated by the Babylonians?

The answer seems to be less that a single king made a bad decision and paraded his wealth around. No, it is more that trust in God must be true, whole-encompassing trust in God. Our faith, our trust in YHWH is not merely, as one scholar put it, “a magic talisman to be rubbed at critical moments.”

You see, the construction is a reminder of the pattern of unfaithfulness that faced the Israelites of Isaiah’s day.

Judah’s hope also could never be in any human leader, even Hezekiah who is considered a good king, gets swept up in trying to impress not God, but a foreign nation. Even the good king will be prone to failure.

The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 1–39 b. Babylonian Seduction (39:1–8)

This kind of reliance upon, and delight in, human power and glory is exactly what the first half Isaiah is warning us against. Hezekiah is glorying in the abundance of his palace, his great fortune and abundance. But the message of Isaiah is: Only in trust in God is there abundance (ch. 35).

The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 1–39 b. Babylonian Seduction (39:1–8)

This is not to say that Hezekiah had to turn the Babylonian envoys out in the street or ignore them. But look at Jesus for a model of how to handle people in power interested in you.

Nicodemus is a good example, Jesus met with him under the cover of night and his message was not clear to Nicodemus. Jesus did not compromise his message in order to get this powerful pharisee to jump in as his follower. Same with the rich young ruler, Jesus gives him a very hard saying and he turns away. The disciples surely were annoyed that Jesus didn’t just say to the rich man: just give some of your money to us and you’ll be good.

Jesus doesn’t turn them away, he moves to the heart of the Gospel. Hezekiah missed an opportunity with these Babylonian delegation. He chose to show off his fortune when what he should have done was showed off the glory of God.

The whole construction of the book of Isaiah is that in chapter 1-39, we would become acutely aware of Judah’s problem—a lack of trust in God. Chapters 40-66 then serve to beyond the first half in solution to the problem.

Chapters 1-39 are essential: here’s the problem, and here’s a solution: Trust in God. But it is their totally inability to trust in God that necessitates a deeper solution.

Chapters 40–66 address an exiled people who cannot save themselves through trust or obedience, preparing them for restoration that depends entirely on God’s initiative rather than their response.

The passage continues. Isaiah finds out about the envoy and shows up, Isaiah 39:3–4 “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.””

Isaiah is nervous! He sees a huge potential issue for Hezekiah and the people in this moment. And evidently, Hezekiah knows enough of Isaiah’s position on foreign alliances to avoid answer the first question “What did these men say?” He side-steps it completely by just relating not the conversation or any deal making, but instead the great show of hospitality.

And then Isaiah asks, what did you show them? What have they seen? And Hezekiah doubles-down—I showed them everything! But as we see, Hezekiah’s faithfulness throughout these episodes is not consistent and betrays a faith that is more like a secret code or talisman to be used in the right moment.

YHWH then brings a message to the king and the people through Isaiah. Isa. 39:5-7

Isaiah 39:5–7 ESV

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.”

Isaiah foretells of the exile to Babylon. Defeat will come, all of these riches that you have been glorying in, these will be carried away to Babylon. Your people, they will be taken as well. And not only that, but your sons, and not only will your sons be taken, but you sons will be made to be eunuchs in the palace of the King. It is not that they will merely be captives, but that they will be eunuchs, men who have been emasculated so that they no longer have any hope or consideration of their own family line and autonomy. They are essential slaves to the King of Babylon. And remember how important family lines were. Hezekiah’s son turned to Eunuchs, how then will the house and line of David continue on?

Now there will be a about a century between the events described in this passage and the day of Judah’s exile into Babylon.

The delay between prediction and fulfillment underscores the patience of God’s judgment. Judah had over a century to respond to Isaiah’s warning, yet the nation continued its trajectory of unfaithfulness. By the time exile arrived, multiple generations had passed. This reinforces the point that Isaiah 39 isn’t about one king’s personal redemption arc—it’s about a people’s collective spiritual condition that persists and deepens across time, eventually necessitating the radical grace of chapters 40–66. The exile becomes not an isolated punishment but the inevitable consequence of sustained refusal to trust God, making the comfort and restoration promised in the second half all the more remarkable.

And what do we make of Isaiah 39:8 “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.””

The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 1–39 b. Babylonian Seduction (39:1–8)

Calvin is perhaps typical here. He understands that Hezekiah is being submissive and repentant when he confesses that God’s word is good. Furthermore, Calvin believes that it is a consciousness of God’s ultimate grace that permits Hezekiah to receive this harsh word without railing. However, this position is called into serious question by the ensuing statement, “For there will be peace and stability in my days.” While it may be that Hezekiah is humbly thankful for God’s grace in not bringing the deserved punishment upon him immediately, it is hard to avoid the implication that the real reason for his saying that God’s word is good is merely the very human relief that he is not going to be destroyed. Whether his descendants are to be consumed does not seem to affect him. Furthermore, his reaction was quite different when his own demise was imminent (38:3).

The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 1–39 b. Babylonian Seduction (39:1–8)

Hezekiah is not the promised “child”; he is not infallible. Judah’s hope rests in One who is yet to come. To be sure, Hezekiah was the demonstration that God can be trusted. But he is also the demonstration that our trust can no more be in good human beings than in bad ones. Our trust is in God alone.

The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 1–39 b. Babylonian Seduction (39:1–8)

Through two sets of historical incidents (chs. 7–12; 36–39), which bracket a didactic section (chs. 13–35), it is made plain that God alone is trustworthy. There is nothing else—especially not human glory—to which we can turn. However, all of this raises again the larger questions posed at the beginning of the book. How can a sinful, congenitally distrustful people, nay, race, become the servants of God? That he is trustworthy is eminently clear. But to get human beings to trust him is another matter entirely, as ch. 39 brings into sharp focus. If trust in God is the basis for servanthood, what will motivate us to trust in him? Beyond this, what of God’s holy character and human sinfulness? How shall these be reconciled? Are they ultimately irreconcilable? Must the conflict be ignored? Or is there some resolution to the problem? When all is said and done, while chs. 7–39 provide the groundwork for the solution to the problem raised in chs. 1–5, the problem still remains: how can sinful, rebellious Israel become holy, submissive Israel? Trust God? Yes, but how? Chs. 40–66 exist to provide the answer to that question.