Yeşaya 39:1 Yorum

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).

Hence we may learn these lessons: - 1. That humanity and common civility teach us to rejoice with our friends and neighbours when they rejoice, and to congratulate them on their deliverances, and particularly their recoveries from sickness. The king of Babylon, having heard that Hezekiah had been sick, and had recovered, sent to compliment him upon the occasion. If Christians be unneighbourly, heathens will shame them. 2. It becomes us to give honour to those whom our God puts honour upon. The sun was the Babylonians' god; and when they understood that it was with a respect to Hezekiah that the sun, to their great surprise, went back ten degrees, on such a day, they thought themselves obliged to do Hezekiah all the honour they could. Will all people thus walk in the name of their God, and shall not we? 3. Those that do not value good men for their goodness may yet be brought to pay them great respect by other inducements, and for the sake of their secular interests. The king of Babylon made his court to Hezekiah, not because he was pious, but because he was prosperous, as the Philistines coveted an alliance with Isaac because they saw the Lord was with him, Gen 26:28. The king of Babylon was an enemy to the king of Assyria, and therefore was fond of Hezekiah, because the Assyrians were so much weakened by the power of his God. 4. It is a hard matter to keep the spirit low in the midst of great advancements. Hezekiah is an instance of it: he was a wise and good man, but, when one miracle after another was wrought in his favour, he found it hard to keep his heart from being lifted up, nay, a little thing then drew him into the snare of pride. Blessed Paul himself needed a thorn in the flesh, to keep him from being lifted up with the abundance of revelations. 5. We have need to watch over our own spirits when we are showing our friends our possessions, what we have done and what we have got, that we be not proud of them, as if our might or our merit had purchased and procured us this wealth. When we look upon our enjoyments, and have occasion to speak of them, it must be with humble acknowledgements of our own unworthiness and thankful acknowledgements of God's goodness, with a just value for the achievements of others and with an expectation of losses and changes, not dreaming that our mountain stands so strong but that it may soon be moved. 6. It is a great weakness for good men to value themselves much upon the civil respects that are paid them (yea, though there be something particular and uncommon in them) by the children of this world, and to be fond of their acquaintance. What a poor thing was it for Hezekiah, whom God has so dignified, to be thus over proud of the respect paid him by a heathen prince as if that added any thing to him! We ought to return the courtesies of such with interest, but not to be proud of them. 7. We must expect to be called to an account for the workings of our pride, though they are secret, and in such instances as we thought there was no harm in; and therefore we ought to call ourselves to an account for them; and when we have had company with us that have paid us respect, and been pleased with their entertainment, and commended every thing, we ought to be jealous over ourselves with a godly jealousy lest our hearts have been lifted up. As far as we see cause to suspect that this sly and subtle sin of pride has insinuated itself into our breasts, and mingled itself with our conversation, let us be ashamed of it, and, as Hezekiah here, ingenuously confess it and take shame to ourselves for it.

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.

At that time Merodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon,.... The same is called Berodach, Kg2 20:12 which, according to Hillerus (z), is the same with Barmerodach, the son of Merodach; though it is generally took to be a slip of the scribe's there, or a change of letter, as is common in names; he was either afterwards made a god of, or he had his name from an idol of the Babylonians so called, Jer 50:1, which signifies "a pure lord." Jerom observes it, as the opinion of the Jews, that he was the father of Nebuchadnezzar, which is not probable. Kimchi takes him to be the same with Esarhaddon, the son of Sennacherib; but he was king of Assyria, not of Babylon; it is most likely that he is the Assyrian king, whom Ptolemy in his canon calls Mardocempad; his other name Baladan, which is compounded of two words, "bal" and "adan", and both of them signify lord, he took from his father, for he is called the son of Baladan; by Josephus (a) he is called Baladas, who says that Berosus the Chaldean makes mention of a king of Babylon by this name. Bishop Usher (b) thinks he is the same that is called by profane writers Belesis, and Belessus, and Nabonasarus; his name consists of the names of three idols, Merodach, an idol of the Babylonians, as before observed, and Bal, the contraction of Baal, and Adon, the same with Adonis: he sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; by his ambassadors, which was always usual in embassies and visits, and still is in the eastern countries; the purport of which embassy was to congratulate him upon his recovery, and to inquire concerning the miracle that was wrought in his land; either the destruction of the Assyrian army in one night by an angel, or rather the sun's going back ten degrees, Ch2 32:31 and, as Josephus (c) says, to enter into an alliance with him; and this seems to be the true reason of sending these ambassadors; or the king of Babylon had lately fallen off from the Assyrian monarch, and therefore was desirous of entering into a league with Hezekiah the king of Assyria's enemy, in order to strengthen himself against him, and secure his liberty he had just gained: for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered; which both gives a reason of the embassy, and points at the time when it was; very probably the same year of his sickness and recovery. (z) Onomast. Sacr. p, 603. (a) Antiqu. l. 10. c. 2. sect. 2. (b) Annales Vet. Test. p. 87, 88. (c) Ibid.

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.

At that time. Here he sets out the congratulation of friends, shown in the sending of messengers and gifts; and concerning this, he does three things. First, he sets out the sending of messengers: the king of Babylon, who was then under the Assyrians; books, letters; for he had heard that he had been sick and was recovered, but especially because of the sign which he had seen in the turning back of the sun: he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Arabia (Ps 71[72]:15).

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.

At that time Merodach-baladan - This name is variously written in the MSS. Berodach, Medorach, Medarech, and Medurach. "And ambassadors" - The Septuagint add here και πρεσβεις; that is, ומלאכים umalachim. and ambassadors; which word seems to be necessary to the sense, though omitted in the Hebrew text both here and in the other copy, Kg2 20:12. For the subsequent narration refers to them all along, "these men, whence came they?" etc.; plainly supposing them to have been personally mentioned before. See Houbigant.

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.

From this point onwards the text of the book of Kings (Kg2 20:12-19, cf., Ch2 32:24-31) runs parallel to the text before us. Babylonian ambassadors have an interview with the convalescent king of Judah. "At that time Merodach Bal'adan (K. Berodach Bal'adan), son of Bal'adan king of Babel, sent writings and a present to Hizkiyahu, and heard (K. for he had heard) that he (K. Hizkiyahu) had been sick, and was restored again." The two texts here share the original text between them. Instead of the unnatural ויּשׁמע (which would link the cause on to the effect, as in Sa2 14:5), we should read שׁמע כּי, whereas ויּחזק in our text appears to be the genuine word out of which חזקיהו in the other text has sprung, although it is not indispensable, as חלה has a pluperfect sense. In a similar manner the name of the king of Babylon is given here correctly as מראדך (Nissel, מרדך without א, as in Jer 50:2), whilst the book of Kings has בּראד (according to the Masora with א), probably occasioned by the other name Bal'ădân, which begins with Beth. It cannot be maintained that the words ben Bal'ădân are a mistake; at the same time, Bal'ădân (Jos. Baladas) evidently cannot be a name by itself if Merō'dakh Bal'ădân signifies "Merodach (the Babylonian Bel or Jupiter) (Note: Rawlinson, Monarchies, i. 169.) filium dedit." (Note: Oppert, Expdition, ii. 355.) In the Canon Ptol. Mardokempados is preceded by a Jugaeus; and the inscriptions, according to G. Rawlinson, Mon. ii. 395, indicate Merodach-Baladan as the "son of Yakin." They relate that the latter acknowledged Tiglath-pileser as his feudal lord; that, after reigning twelve years as a vassal, he rose in rebellion against Sargon in league with the Susanians and the Aramaean tribes above Babylonia, and lost everything except his life; that he afterwards rebelled against Sennacherib in conjunction with a Chaldean prince named Susub, just after Sennacherib had returned from his first (Note: The inscription is mention two campaigns.) Judaean campaign to Nineveh; and that having been utterly defeated, he took refuge in an island of the Persian Gulf. He does not make his appearance any more; but Susub escaped from his place of concealment, and being supported by the Susanians and certain Aramaean tribes, fought a long and bloody battle with Sennacherib on the Lower Tigris. this battle he lost, and Nebo-som-iskun, a son of Merodach Baladan, fell into the hands of the conqueror. In the midst of these details, as given by the inscriptions, the statement of the Can. Ptol. may still be maintained, according to which the twelve years of Mardokempados (a contraction, as Ewald supposes, of Mardokempalados) commence with the year 721. From this point onwards the biblical and extra-biblical accounts dovetail together; whereas in Polyhistor (Eus. chron. arm.) the following Babylonian rulers are mentioned: "a brother of Sennacherib, Acises, who reigned hardly a month; Merodach Baladan, six months; Elibus into the third year; Asordan, Sennacherib's son, who was made king after the defeat of Elibus." Now, as the Can. Ptolem. also gives a Belibos with a three years' reign, the identity of Mardokempados and Marodach Baladan is indisputable. The Can. Ptol. seems only to take into account his legitimate reign as a vassal, and Polyhistor (from Berosus) only his last act of rebellion. At the same time, this is very far from removing all the difficulties that lie in the way of a reconciliation, more especially the chronological difficulties. Rawlinson, who places the commencement of the (second) Judaean campaign in the year 698, and therefore transfers it to the end of the twenty-ninth year of Hezekiah's reign instead of the middle, sets himself in opposition not only to Isa 36:1, but also to Isa 38:5 and Kg2 18:2. According to the biblical accounts, as compared with the Can. Ptol., the embassy must have been sent by Merodach Baladan during the period of his reign as vassal, which commenced in the year 721. Apparently it had only the harmless object of congratulating the king upon his recovery (and also, according to Ch2 32:31, of making some inquiry, in the interests of Chaldean astrology, into the mōphēth connected with the sun-dial); but it certainly had also the secret political object of making common cause with Hezekiah to throw off the Assyrian yoke. All that can be maintained with certainty beside this is, that the embassy cannot have been sent before the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's reign; for as he reigned twenty-nine years, his illness must have occurred, according to Isa 38:5, in the fourteenth year itself, i.e., the seventh year of Mardokempados. Such questions as whether the embassy came before or after the Assyrian catastrophe, which was till in the future at the time referred to in Isa 38:4-6, or whether it came before or after the payment of the compensation money to Sennacherib (Kg2 18:14-16), are open to dispute. In all probability it took place immediately before the Assyrian campaign, (Note: A reviewer in the Theol. L. Bl. 1857, p. 12, inquires: "How could the prophet have known that all that Hezekiah showed to the Babylonian ambassador would one day be brought to Babylon, when in a very short time these treasures would all have been given by Hezekiah to the king of Assyria?" Answer: The prophecy is so expressed in Isa 39:6-7, that this intervening occurrence does not prejudice its truth at all.) as Hezekiah was still able to show off the abundance of his riches to the Babylonian ambassadors.