The Book of Isaiah

Word Study

Explanation

An embassy arrives "from a far country," Babylon, ostensibly to congratulate Hezekiah on his recovery, but in truth to explore an alliance against Assyria. Hezekiah "was glad of them," and his gladness leads him astray. He "shewed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold... and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures." The text presses the point: "there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not." He held nothing back. Then Isaiah comes with pointed questions: "What said these men? and from whence came they?" and, more searchingly, "What have they seen in thine house?" Hezekiah's answer betrays no sense of wrong: "All that is in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them." The man who once spread a letter before the LORD now spreads his wealth before Babylon. Where he had trusted God against Assyria, he now leans toward a human alliance and glories in his own riches.

Gospel Focus

This is one of the most sobering turns in Hezekiah's story, because it comes right after his greatest mercies. He had been delivered from Assyria and raised from his deathbed, and it was precisely then that "his heart was lifted up" (2 Chronicles 32:25). Pride so often follows blessing. When we have prospered, been healed, been honored, been used, that is the dangerous hour, when we are tempted to display our treasures and drink in the admiration of the world. "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18), and "when thou hast eaten and art full... then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God" (Deuteronomy 8:12-14). Notice too what Hezekiah showed off: his silver, his gold, his armory, the very things a man of faith should have held loosely. He gave Babylon a full inventory of what Babylon would one day come and take. Be watchful after God blesses you. Success is a harder test than trouble; many who stood in the storm have stumbled in the sunshine. Guard your heart when you are full, and give the glory to God rather than parading it before the world.

Word Study

Explanation

Isaiah's response to the king's boasting is a prophecy of loss: "Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house... shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left." The very treasures Hezekiah paraded would be plundered by the nation he tried to impress. And the judgment reaches into his own family: "of thy sons that shall issue from thee... shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." Over a hundred years later this came to pass exactly, when Babylon carried Judah into exile. Then comes Hezekiah's much-debated reply: "Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken," to which he adds, "For there shall be peace and truth in my days." At best this is humble acceptance of God's righteous word; at worst it is a smaller comfort, that at least the disaster will not fall in his own lifetime. Either way, the chapter ends with the shadow of Babylon now cast over the whole future of Judah, and the reader knows the exile is coming.

Gospel Focus

Hezekiah's closing words, "there shall be peace and truth in my days," carry a quiet caution. It is a good thing to submit to God's word, and he did say, "Good is the word of the LORD." But there is a danger in being content that trouble will only come after we are gone. A godly heart cares about the generations to come, not merely its own comfort; David "served his own generation by the will of God" (Acts 13:36), and the faithful lay up a good foundation for those who follow, "a good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children" (Proverbs 13:22). We are not to shrug at coming judgment because it falls on someone else's day. Yet even here the larger story is grace. This chapter names Babylon, and Babylon means exile, the lowest point of Israel's history. But the very next words of the book are, "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God" (Isaiah 40:1). God announces the exile and, in the same breath of the book, begins to announce the comfort beyond it, the coming of the LORD, the Servant who bears our sins, the salvation that reaches the ends of the earth. Even when our own pride sets loss in motion, God is already preparing redemption. The God who lets Babylon come is the God who will bring His people home, and beyond every exile He points to the Saviour who is our peace.