Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word
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⚙ Annotations & References ▾
People 2 ▾
Hezekiah Divided Monarchy 1-5, 8 Isaiah Divided Monarchy 3, 5, 8
Empires 1 ▾
Babylonian Empire c. 1894-539 BC 6
Speakers 2 ▾
Isaiah human 1-5, 7-8 God divine 6
Prophecies 1 ▾
The Babylonian Exile 6-7
Historic voices 6 ▾
Antiquities of the Jews 1× 1 Against the Arians (Orationes contra Arianos) 1× 7 John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible 1× 1-8 Keil and Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament 1× 1-3 Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary 1× 1, 5 Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary 1× 2-8
Manuscript witnesses 6 ▾
Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a) c. 125 BC Codex Sinaiticus Aleph c. AD 330-360 Codex Vaticanus B c. AD 300-325 Codex Alexandrinus A c. AD 400-440 Aleppo Codex (Crown of Aleppo) c. AD 930 Leningrad Codex (Codex Leningradensis) AD 1008
Cross-references 41 ▾
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What is Isaiah 39 about?

Word of Hezekiah's recovery brings envoys from Merodach-baladan of Babylon bearing letters and a gift, and the flattered king shows them all his treasures, armory, and storehouses, holding nothing back. Isaiah confronts him with a solemn word: the day is coming when all he has shown will be carried off to Babylon, and his own descendants will serve as eunuchs in that king's palace. Hezekiah accepts the sentence as good, comforted that peace and security will last through his own lifetime. With Assyria repulsed but Babylon now on the horizon, the historical bridge turns the book from the Assyrian crisis toward the exile — and toward the comfort God will speak to a people He knows will one day be carried away.

Historical backdrop

Assyria was the terror of the age, its armies driving west with siege ramps and cavalry, dragging conquered peoples into exile. In Isaiah's lifetime the northern kingdom fell and vanished, its ten tribes deported, and Sennacherib's host came up against the fortified cities of Judah until Jerusalem alone stood, surrounded. Isaiah prophesied in that shadow, in the court of Jerusalem across four kings, while the largest empire the world had yet seen closed its hand on the small kingdoms of the Levant.

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 39
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Isaiah 39
The Church Fathers on Isaiah 39

Isaiah 39

Isaiah Chapter 39
39

1At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he heard that he had been sick, and was recovered. 2And Hezekiah was glad of them, and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not.

3Then 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.

4Then said he, What have they seen in thy house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in my house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not showed them.

5Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of Jehovah of hosts: 6Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in thy house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith Jehovah. 7And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

8Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good is the word of Jehovah which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.

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What is Isaiah 39 about?

Word of Hezekiah's recovery brings envoys from Merodach-baladan of Babylon bearing letters and a gift, and the flattered king shows them all his treasures, armory, and storehouses, holding nothing back. Isaiah confronts him with a solemn word: the day is coming when all he has shown will be carried off to Babylon, and his own descendants will serve as eunuchs in that king's palace. Hezekiah accepts the sentence as good, comforted that peace and security will last through his own lifetime. With Assyria repulsed but Babylon now on the horizon, the historical bridge turns the book from the Assyrian crisis toward the exile — and toward the comfort God will speak to a people He knows will one day be carried away.