Jesaja 39:2 Kommentar

The story of this chapter likewise we had before, Kg2 20:12, etc. It is here repeated, not only as a very memorable and improvable passage, but because it concludes with a prophecy of the captivity in Babylon; and as the former part of the prophecy of this book frequently referred to Sennacherib's invasion and the defeat of that, to which therefore the history of that was very fitly subjoined, so the latter part of this book speaks much of the Jews' captivity in Babylon and their deliverance out of that, to which therefore the first prediction of it, with the occasion thereof, is very fitly prefixed. We have here, I. The pride and folly of Hezekiah, in showing his treasures to the king of Babylon's ambassadors that were sent to congratulate him on his recovery (Isa 39:1, Isa 39:2). II. Isaiah's examination of him concerning it, in God's name, and his confession of it (Isa 39:3, Isa 39:4). III. The sentence passed upon him for it, that all his treasures should, in process of time, be carried to Babylon (Isa 39:5-7). IV. Hezekiah's penitent and patient submission to this sentence (Isa 39:8).

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 39 This chapter gives an account of Hezekiah's fall into sin after his recovery, and the correction he had for it. The king of Babylon sent messengers to him to congratulate him upon his recovery, Isa 39:1. Hezekiah received them with great joy, and in the pride of his heart showed them all his treasures, Isa 39:2. Isaiah the prophet examined him about it, which he readily owned, Isa 39:3 upon which the Babylonish captivity is foretold, when all his riches and his children too should be carried into that land, Isa 39:5, to which sentence he quietly and patiently submitted, Isa 39:8.

And Hezekiah was glad of them,.... Not of the presents, for he was very rich, and stood in no need of them, nor does it appear that he was covetous; but of the ambassadors, and of the honour that was done him in having such sent to him from such a prince; his sin was vain glory; and because he might hope that such a powerful ally would be a security to him against any after attempt of the king of Assyria, in which he was guilty of another sin, vain confidence, or trusting in an arm of flesh; and being lifted up with pride that his name was become so famous abroad, and that he had got so good an ally: and in order to ingratiate himself the more into his esteem and favour, he "showed" these his ambassadors the house of his precious things; where his jewels and precious stones lay, and where were the silver and the gold; large quantities of not only which he and his predecessors had laid up, which had been very lately greatly exhausted by the demand of three hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold, by the king of Assyria; to answer which Hezekiah had given all the silver in the temple, and in the treasures of the king's house, and was so drove by necessity, that he cut off the gold from the doors and pillars of the temple, Kg2 18:14, so that it might be reasonable to ask, how came he so soon by all this treasure? it is possible that some part of the royal treasure might be unalienable, and he might have since received presents from his own nobles, and from foreign princes; but this was chiefly from the spoils found in the Assyrian camp, after the angel had made such a slaughter of them, Kg2 19:35, as a learned (d) man observes: and the spices, and precious ointment; which, as Jarchi notes, some say were oil of olives; others the balsam which grew in Jericho; great quantities of this, with other spices, were laid up in store for use, as occasion should require: and all the house of his armour; where were all his military stores, shields, swords, spears, arrows, &c.: and all that was found in his treasures; in other places: there was nothing in his house; in his royal palace: nor in all his dominion; that was rare, curious, and valuable: that Hezekiah showed them not; even the book of the law, as Jarchi says. (d) Nicolai Abrami Pharus Vet. Test. l. 6. c. 17. p. 164.

In the parable of the rich man, he flattered himself about the increase of his fields. But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” It was the same way when King Hezekiah heard from Isaiah the sad doom of his kingdom after he had gloried before the envoys of Babylon in his treasures and the deposits of his precious things.

Now, when the Babylonians heard about Hezekiah’s healing from the sickness, they sent ambassadors to him, and not without reason. Indeed, on the day when the sun went backward, one extra hour was added to the duration of the day, which did not elude the Babylonians, who were skilled in their observation of the stars. And as they venerated the sun as divine, they perceived that it was turned back by a superior power. Therefore they were eager to investigate the cause of the phenomenon. Thus driven by curiosity, they learned that the God of the Hebrew people was great and that he was the Creator of the world. When Hezekiah was healed, through which also the miracle of the sun took place, they perceived what happened and strongly desired the friendship of Hezekiah as a man loved by God. That is the story of the Jewish teacher.However, I grasped that all of the following events happened the same year: the attack of the Assyrians against the Jewish people, the defeat of the Assyrians by the angel of God, Sennacherib’s escape, the revolt of his subjects and the death of the son who succeeded him, which is not mentioned in this text. It is likely that the rumor about all those events reached the Babylonian king, who showed friendship toward Hezekiah and sent him gifts, an ambassador and letters.

You juxtaposed [events] so that you might not grieve us and that you might save them. Those who had seized our silver brought gold. Those who had wounded our bodies brought myrrh. Those who had burned our sanctuary offered frankincense to your divinity.The myrrh [of the Magi] intercedes for their swords with which they killed us. Their gold intercedes for our treasures, for they plundered the treasuries of the house of Hezekiah. Their frankincense appeases your divinity, for they had angered your Father.… The Babylonians, too, came up [and] afflicted the children in Judah. By you the children have found peace, for by you the vicious have become worshipers. Those who despised old men honor a Child who is older than all. Babylon, too, sent offerings to Hezekiah; the envoys who saw his treasures were amazed. What did you show to the Magi? You showed a wonder, for they rendered you homage although you were poor. However great was the ivory palace of the kings of our people, greater and more beautiful is the little cave in which I bore you.

(Chapter 39, verses 1 onwards) At that time Merodach Baladan, son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and gifts to Hezekiah, for he had heard that he had been sick and had recovered. And Hezekiah was pleased with them; and he showed them his treasury, the house of his precious things, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, 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. Above we read that in the fourteenth year of the reign of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, the king of the Assyrians, ascended over all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. Then he besieged Lachish, passed through Libnah, sent part of his army to Jerusalem, and slaughtered one hundred and eighty-five thousand of his soldiers. He himself fled to Nineveh and was killed by his sons in the temple of his god. After that, his son Esarhaddon reigned in his place. Hezekiah became sick but was saved by a message from the prophet. A remarkable sign occurred when the sun turned back ten hours and nearly became a two-day event. Now we read that in that time, that is, in the same year in which all these things happened, Merodach Baladan, son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent books and gifts to Hezekiah; not Assaraddon, who had succeeded his father Sennacherib as king of the Assyrians, of whose death or life Scripture is silent. From this it is clear that there was another kingdom of the Assyrians and another of the Babylonians at that time. Finally, the Assyrians captured Samaria, that is, the ten tribes. But we read that Jerusalem was later conquered by the Chaldeans, whose king was Nebuchadnezzar. And because they practice the observation of the stars and have acquired knowledge of the courses of the stars through long use and exercise, which is also demonstrated in the birth of the Lord: they understood that the sun had reversed its course, the length of the day doubled, and they believed that it served the only true God. And when they investigated the causes and reason for this miracle, with the rumor spreading to all nations, they learned that due to the illness of the king of Judah, even the course of the most brilliant constellation had changed. That it is not my opinion, but the faith of the Holy Scriptures, which testify with the words of Isaiah, who said among other things: Hezekiah himself, who closed the upper springs of the waters of Gihon and diverted them below to the west of the city of David. In all his works he prospered in whatever he desired; however, when the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who had been sent to him to inquire about the sign that had happened on the earth, God left him to be tested and to make known all that was in his heart (2 Chronicles 32:30, 31). Therefore, he was left to temptation because after such a great victory, and the return of the sun, and the congratulations of the most powerful kingdom, his heart was lifted up. Finally, in the same volume it is written: Many brought offerings and sacrifices to the Lord in Jerusalem, and gifts to King Hezekiah of Judah, and he was exalted in the sight of all the nations. In those days he became sick unto death, and he prayed to the Lord, and He heard him, and gave him a sign; but He did not repay him according to the benefits he had received, for his heart was lifted up and wrath came upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 32:23-24). And the holy Scripture again says that the exaltation of his heart was tempered by repentance, stating: 'And he was humbled thereafter, because his heart was lifted up, both he, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and therefore the Lord's wrath came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.' So he rejoiced at the arrival of the ambassadors of Merodach, whom the Hebrews consider to have been the father of Nebuchadnezzar; and in the bringing of gifts, and in the celebration of his health. And he showed them the house next to the Septuagint, which was translated by Symmachus for his spices; and the treasures of silver, and gold, and fragrances, and the best ointment: which is written in Hebrew, good oil; and all the treasures of the vessels of the treasure, or, as it is read there, of his vessels. But in the Persian language, riches are called Gaza: it is not a Hebrew word, but a Barbarian one. He said, there was no word (which according to Hebrew custom is often taken for a thing), that he did not show them in his house and in all his power. Wherefore God's most just wrath, since he manifested not only his treasures and palaces, but also the Temple: which surely was in his power, from whose gates he had already taken sheets of gold.

Often the care of government, when undertaken, distracts the heart in divers directions; and one is found unequal to dealing with particular things, while with confused mind divided among many. Whence a certain wise man providently dissuades, saying, "My son, meddle not with many matters;" because, that is, the mind is by no means collected on the plan of any single work while parted among divers. And, when it is drawn abroad by unwonted care, it is emptied of the solidity of inward fear: it becomes anxious in the ordering of things that are without, and, ignorant of itself alone, knows how to think of many things, while itself it knows not. For, when it implicates itself more than is needful in things that are without, it is as though it were so occupied during a journey as to forget where it was going; so that, being estranged from the business of self-examination, it does not even consider the losses it is suffering, or know how great they are. For neither did Hezekiah believe himself to be sinning, when he shewed to the strangers who came to him his storehouses of spices; but he fell under the anger of the judge, to the condemnation of his future offspring, from what he supposed himself to be doing lawfully. Often, when means are abundant, and many things can be done for subordinates to admire, the mind exalts itself in thought, and fully provokes to itself the anger of the judge, though not breaking out in overt acts of iniquity. For he who judges is within; that which is judged is within. When, then, in heart we transgress, what we are doing within ourselves is hidden from men, but yet in the eyes of the judge we sin.

Second, he sets out the vainglory of Ezechias himself, which he derived from this, setting out the joy of vainglory: Ezechias rejoiced; against this is what is said in Job 31:25: if I have rejoiced over my great riches; and the manifestation of vainglory in his works, in the exhibition of his riches: and he showed them the storehouses of his aromatical spices, which are called fragrant species, either the place where kings were buried, or the lower part of the house of the forest, which was of alabaster, where things of this kind were best preserved; storehouses, cellars; no word, nothing worthy of a word, in all his dominion, as to those things which were in the temple, which indeed had been usurped in the dominion of the king: bring not every man into your house (Sir 11:31[29]).

This chapter gives an account of the siege and taking of Jerusalem; the flight, capture, and punishment of Zedekiah; the burning of the city; and the carrying away of the people, (a few of the meanest excepted), to Babylon, Jer 39:1-10; also of the release of Jeremiah, and the special orders of Nebuchadnezzar concerning him, Jer 39:11-14. The remaining verses relate to the subject of the preceding chapter; and contain promises of personal safety to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian amidst the public calamities, on account of his piety, and his humanity to the prophet, Jer 39:15-18.

HEZEKIAH'S ERROR IN THE DISPLAY OF HIS RICHES TO THE BABYLONIAN AMBASSADOR. (Isa 39:1-8) Merodach-baladan--For a hundred fifty years before the overthrow of Nineveh by Cyaxares the Mede, a succession of rulers, mostly viceroys of Assyria, ruled Babylon, from the time of Nabonassar, 747 B.C. That date is called "the Era of Nabonassar." Pul or Phallukha was then expelled, and a new dynasty set up at Nineveh, under Tiglath-pileser. Semiramis, Pul's wife, then retired to Babylon, with Nabonassar, her son, whose advent to the throne of Babylon, after the overthrow of the old line at Nineveh, marked a new era. Sometimes the viceroys of Babylon made themselves, for a time, independent of Assyria; thus Merodach-baladan at this time did so, encouraged by the Assyrian disaster in the Jewish campaign. He had done so before, and was defeated in the first year of Sennacherib's reign, as is recorded in cuneiform characters in that monarchs palace of Koyunjik. Nabopolassar was the first who established, permanently, his independence; his son, Nebuchadnezzar, raised Babylon to the position which Nineveh once occupied; but from the want of stone near the Lower Euphrates, the buildings of Babylon, formed of sun-dried brick, have not stood the wear of ages as Nineveh has. Merodach--an idol, the same as the god of war and planet Mars (Jer 50:2). Often kings took their names from their gods, as if peculiarly under their tutelage. So Belshazzar from Bel. Baladan--means "Bel is his lord." The chronicle of EUSEBIUS contains a fragment of BEROSUS, stating that Acises, an Assyrian viceroy, usurped the supreme command at Babylon. Merodach- (or Berodach-) baladan murdered him and succeeded to the throne. Sennacherib conquered Merodach-baladan and left Esar-haddon, his son, as governor of Babylon. Merodach-baladan would naturally court the alliance of Hezekiah, who, like himself, had thrown off the yoke of the Assyrian king, and who would be equally glad of the Babylonian alliance against Assyria; hence arose the excessive attention which he paid to the usurper. sick--An additional reason is given (Ch2 32:31). "The princes of Babylon sent to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land"; namely, the recession of the shadow on Ahaz' sundial; to the Chaldean astronomers, such a fact would be especially interesting, the dial having been invented at Babylon.

glad--It was not the mere act, but the spirit of it, which provoked God (Ch2 32:25), "Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him, for his heart was lifted up"; also compare Ch2 32:31. God "tries" His people at different times by different ways, bringing out "all that is in their heart," to show them its varied corruptions. Compare David in a similar case (Ch1 21:1-8). precious things--rather, "the house of his (aromatic) spices"; from a Hebrew root, to "break to pieces," as is done to aromatics. silver . . . gold--partly obtained from the Assyrian camp (Isa 33:4); partly from presents (Ch2 32:23, Ch2 32:27-29). precious ointment--used for anointing kings and priests. armour--or else vessels in general; the parallel passage (Ch2 32:27), "treasuries . . . for shields," favors English Version. His arsenal.

"And Hezekiah rejoiced (K. heard, which is quite inappropriate) concerning them, and showed them (K. all) his storehouse: the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the fine oil (hasshâmen,K. shemen), and all his arsenal, and all that was in his treasures: there was nothing that Hezekiah had not shown them, in his house or in all his kingdom." Although there were spices kept in נכת בּית, נכת is not equivalent to נכאת (from נכא, to break to pieces, to pulverize), which is applied to gum-dragon and other drugs, but is the niphal נכת from כּוּת (piel, Arab. kayyata, to cram full, related to כּוּס (כּיס), נכס (נכס), and possibly also to כּתם, katama (Hitzig, Knobel, Frst), and consequently it does not mean "the house of his spices," as Aquila, Symmachus, and the Vulgate render it, but his "treasure-house or storehouse" (Targ., Syr., Saad.). It differs, however, from bēth kēilim, the wood house of Lebanon (Isa 22:8). He was able to show them all that was worth seeing "in his whole kingdom," inasmuch as it was all concentrated in Jerusalem, the capital.