Hezekiah' pride
Isaiah 39: "(1) At that time Merodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered. (2) And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not. (3) Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon. (4) Then said he, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them.
(5) Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: (6) Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD. (7) And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. (8) Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days."
Before analyzing the text, it is still worth quoting verses from 2 Chronicles chapter 32:
(25-26) "But Hezekiah’s heart was proud and he did not respond to the kindness shown him; therefore the Lord’s wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. Then Hezekiah repented of the pride of his heart, as did the people of Jerusalem; therefore the Lord’s wrath did not come on them during the days of Hezekiah."
(31) " But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask him about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart."
Hezekiah boasts of wealth
As we read, Hezekiah fell into pride after his illness. The earlier verses depict Hezekiah's fatal illness and how his prayer was answered by God, adding 15 years to his life. What did the king say about this? He wrote a psalm, which we can read in Isaiah 38:10-20, and in it he praises the Lord. After some time, the ruler received Babylonian envoys, to whom he showed all his wealth. He showed incredible hubris here. Why?
All the gold, silver and other valuables that the king possessed were not his due, but a blessing from God. Here we read nothing of Hezekiah praising his Benefactor; on the contrary, he praises how rich he is. Had it not been for divine intervention, Jerusalem would have fallen under the Assyrian onslaught, and the king himself would have died of a fatal disease. Although he wrote a psalm praising God, in time his heart apparently recognized that what he possessed he owed to himself. We should always remember that everything we have is from God, for everything on earth belongs to Him, and instead of praising our own abilities or even diligence, let us point to God's grace.
Would this mean that everyone who is rich has God's favor and has gained wealth through God? In part, yes, because God can take it away at any time, but He doesn't. He is the one who created the earth and people, we only use His raw materials, from which we make other things. Now I don't want to consider why often bad people are rich, because that's a topic for another article. In short: a wise Christian knows that what he has, he has from God. Hezekiah was a believer and a good king however during this period he lacked gratitude in favor of the sin of pride.
The reason Hezekiah acted so foolishly may have been his desire to free himself from Assyria with the help of the Babylonians. The display of his wealth was to show that Judea would count as a good ally. Another mistake the king made was that instead of relying on God, he may have wanted to make alliances based on the strength of other armies.
The moral decline of the Israelites after the death of Hezekiah
In the following verses we read about how God announced that Jerusalem would be conquered. We know from the pages of the Bible that after the death of Hezekiah, terrible blasphemy prevailed in the country. Idol statues were put up in place of the true God, people were guided by evil instead of love. God had foreseen this.
"Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days." Is Hezekiah's thought selfish? Definitely not! He could not be held responsible for the actions of other people, nor could he influence events after his death. As a king he tried to make Judea honor God, he did the right thing. Certainly if the subsequent kings had loved the Lord, the defeat of Jerusalem would not have happened. Even in the verses above, we read that when the people humbled themselves, their trespasses were forgiven. So little was enough, and yet this too was lacking.
The prophecy concerning the fall of Jerusalem was written 70 years before these events. There would be nothing unusual about this, were it not for the fact that Jerusalem was never so destroyed after this invasion, and Assyria at the time was an invincible power that Babylon (having been a vassal before) trembled before.
Skeptics will say that these verses could have been written after Babylon invaded. This would not make sense, since the faith of the Jews of the Old Testament as well as the New Testament recognized this prophecy as true. They were supposed to believe in the veracity of the fulfillment of a prophecy that they themselves had already written after the events? Moreover, the apostles quoted the Book of Isaiah, and if it had been forged, they could not have recognized it as true. The Book of Isaiah also foretold the coming of the Messiah and his death, which we know was fulfilled through the coming of Jesus Christ.
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