Commentary - Isaiah 39:1-4

Bird's-eye view

This chapter serves as a pivotal and tragic hinge in the story of Hezekiah and the broader narrative of Judah. Fresh off the heels of a miraculous deliverance from the Assyrians and a personal, supernatural healing from a terminal illness, Hezekiah is at the zenith of his reign. God has shown him immense favor. But right here, at the peak of the mountain, he stumbles badly. An embassy from Babylon, a rising but not yet dominant power, comes to congratulate him, and Hezekiah, puffed up with pride, gives them a grand tour of everything he possesses. He shows them the instruments of his strength, the gold, the silver, the armory, forgetting entirely that his true strength was the Lord who had just routed Sennacherib's army. This act of carnal pride, this diplomatic flexing, is the seed of Judah's destruction. The prophet Isaiah comes to him immediately and announces the covenantal consequence: the very nation he sought to impress will be the nation that carries his descendants and all his treasures into exile. Hezekiah's personal failure of faith becomes the occasion for a prophecy of national disaster. It is a sobering lesson on how quickly spiritual victory can curdle into prideful folly.

What we are witnessing here is the anatomy of a fall. It is not a fall into some gross, public scandal, but rather a fall into the subtle and respectable sin of self-reliance. Hezekiah had just been given fifteen more years of life, and one of the first things he does is set up the nation for a death sentence. The Lord had delivered him, and he turns around and boasts in the stuff the Lord had given him, as though it were his own. This chapter is a stark reminder that the greatest temptations often follow the greatest blessings, and that the heart of man is perpetually inclined to take the glory that belongs to God alone.

Outline

Context In Isaiah

Isaiah 39 is the somber conclusion to a historical section that began in chapter 36. Chapters 36 and 37 recount the glorious deliverance of Jerusalem from the Assyrian siege, a high point of faith where Hezekiah humbled himself, prayed, and saw God act in a spectacular way. Chapter 38 details Hezekiah's illness and miraculous recovery, another profound display of God's personal mercy and power. These chapters are the historical proof of the theological truths Isaiah has been preaching. They demonstrate that God is the true King, the only one who can save. Chapter 39, then, acts as a tragic and ironic counterpoint. After seeing God's power to save from the greatest empire on earth (Assyria) and from death itself, Hezekiah's heart is lifted up in pride. This chapter provides the narrative justification for the second half of Isaiah's prophecy (chapters 40-66), which speaks extensively of the Babylonian exile and the ultimate restoration that will come through the Messiah. Hezekiah's sin with the Babylonian envoys is the pivot point where the immediate threat of Assyria recedes and the future threat of Babylon, and the need for a greater salvation, comes into sharp focus.

Key Issues

The High Cost of a Treasure Tour

We live in an age of curated self-presentation. We show off our successes, our possessions, our experiences. We give curated tours of our lives on social media. In one sense, what Hezekiah did is entirely normal. A foreign dignitary comes to visit, and you show him your strength. You show him why you would be a valuable ally. It is basic statecraft. But Hezekiah was not the king of a normal nation. He was the king of God's covenant people. His strength was not in his armory or his treasury; his strength was in the Lord God of hosts. He had just received two dramatic, undeniable, back-to-back proofs of this very fact.

The Assyrians had the greatest army in the world, and God wiped out 185,000 of them in a night without Judah lifting a sword. Hezekiah had a fatal illness, and God turned back the sun in the sky as a sign that he would be healed. After all that, what does he have to boast about? His silver? His spices? This was not just a diplomatic miscalculation; it was an act of profound spiritual amnesia. He forgot where his help came from. The Babylonians came asking about the wonder done in the land, likely the sundial moving backward, and instead of giving a testimony to the God of wonders, Hezekiah gave them an inventory of his trinkets. He traded the glory of God for the glitter of gold, and in so doing, he put a price tag on everything he showed them. The Babylonians made a note of it and would be back later to collect.

Verse by Verse Commentary

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

The timing here is crucial. At that time links this event directly to Hezekiah's recovery. Merodach-baladan was a Chaldean prince who twice carved out a kingdom in Babylon in defiance of the Assyrian empire. He was looking for allies in his rebellion against Assyria, and Judah, having just miraculously survived an Assyrian invasion, would have looked like a prime candidate. The stated reason for the visit is a diplomatic nicety, a get-well card. But the real reason was political calculation. He heard Hezekiah had been sick and was now strong, and he wanted to see just how strong. The enemy, whether spiritual or political, often approaches us under the guise of friendship and congratulation. The devil doesn't show up with horns and a pitchfork; he shows up with letters and a present.

2 And Hezekiah was glad about these things and showed them all his treasure house, the silver and the gold and the spices and the good oil and his whole armory and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

Hezekiah's reaction is telling. He was glad. The Hebrew here indicates he rejoiced over them. This wasn't just polite hospitality; he was flattered. His ego was stroked. And in this state of puffed-up gladness, he made his fatal error. He gave them the grand tour. Notice the exhaustive nature of the list: silver, gold, spices, oil, armory, treasuries. The narrator emphasizes the totality of this foolish disclosure: There was nothing...that Hezekiah did not show them. He laid everything bare. He was trying to show the Babylonians that he was a worthy partner in an anti-Assyrian coalition. He was trying to impress them with his material wealth and military might. But in doing so, he was directing their attention, and his own, away from the Lord. He was boasting in the gift instead of the Giver. This is the essence of idolatry. He was acting like a secular king, relying on secular instruments of power, and God was about to remind him that the instruments of power belong to the one who gives them.

3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where have they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.”

The party is over. The prophet arrives. Isaiah's appearance immediately casts a pall over Hezekiah's diplomatic triumph. Isaiah's questions are like a prosecutor's. They are simple, direct, and designed to lead the witness to incriminate himself. "What did these men say?" "Where are they from?" Hezekiah's answer is straightforward, but perhaps a little defensive. He emphasizes that they have come from a far country. This was likely meant to underscore the significance of the visit, to highlight his own growing international reputation. "Look how important I am, Isaiah. Even the Babylonians, way over there, have heard of me." But in the mouth of a prophet of God, distance means nothing. God's reach is universal, and so is His judgment.

4 And he said, “What have they seen in your house?” So Hezekiah said, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasuries that I have not shown them.”

This is the crucial question. "What have they seen?" What testimony did you give? What did you put on display? Hezekiah had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Envoys from a foreign power, prompted by a supernatural sign, came to his court. He could have told them about the God who routed the Assyrians. He could have told them about the God who healed him from the brink of death. He could have told them about the God who made the sun move backward. He could have shown them the Law of the Lord. He could have shown them the temple. Instead, he showed them his stuff. And his answer to Isaiah is a complete confession, without any apparent sense of wrongdoing. He almost seems proud of his thoroughness. "They have seen all... there is nothing... I have not shown them." He has no idea that he has just read the inventory of his own dispossession. He has shown the burglars exactly where the valuables are kept, and Isaiah is about to tell him that they will be back for them.

Application

The story of Hezekiah's treasure tour is a potent warning for every believer, every church, and every Christian institution. God blesses us. He gives us victories. He provides for us, sometimes lavishly. And the temptation is always, always to begin to trust in the blessings instead of the Blesser. The temptation is to find our security in our bank account, our reputation, our talents, our resources, or our strategic plans, rather than in the living God.

When the world comes calling, curious about our success or our resilience, what do we show them? Do we show them our clever programs, our beautiful buildings, our impressive budgets, our cultural savvy? Or do we show them our utter dependence on the grace of God in Jesus Christ? Do we give them a tour of our strengths, or do we confess our weakness, so that the power of Christ may be put on display? Hezekiah was glad when the world flattered him. We should be deeply suspicious of it. When the world is impressed with us, it is very likely because we are showing them something other than the cross.

The application is this: take a personal inventory. What are you proud of? What do you lean on when you are afraid? What gives you your sense of significance? If it is anything other than the free, unmerited favor of God in Christ, then you have a treasure house full of things that Babylon will eventually carry away. All earthly treasures are marked for exile. The only treasure that is secure is Christ Himself. Let us therefore boast in nothing, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to us, and we to the world.