Daily Devotions
Isaiah
"Hear the word of the LORD of hosts"
Text: Isaiah 39:5
A SOMBRE WORD FROM GOD
Isaiah had been sent to Hezekiah by the LORD. This was a sombre word of prophecy concerning the future of Judah!
“Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, ‘Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:
‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house,
and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon;
nothing shall be left,’ says the LORD.
‘And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you,
whom you will beget;
and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
So Hezekiah said to Isaiah,
‘The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good!’
For he said, ‘At least there will be peace and truth in my days.'”
Isaiah 39:5-8
1. The Babylonian threat.
a) Hezekiah had proudly shown off his wealth to the Babylonians.
i) He had foolishly not consulted with Isaiah the prophet.
ii) Not being a prophet, he could not peer into the future.
b) All the wealth that had been accumulated.
i) His own personal wealth.
ii) The wealth accumulated by the previous kings.
iii) All that wealth would be taken by the Babylonians in the future.
c) Worse than the loss of material wealth.
i) His sons would go into captivity.
ii) Some of them would be made eunuchs by the Babylonian king
so that they may serve in the royal Babylonian household.
2. Hezekiah’s Reply.
a) He was not humble or repentant in the least.
b) He accepted Isaiah’s word from the LORD.
c) His concluding remark was callous and defiant.
i) He accepted that Judah would one day fall to the Babylonians.
ii) As long as it was not in his lifetime.
iii) He did not care very much as long as he would have “peace and truth”
in the days that he reigned over Judah.