Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 39:3
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.
3. The prophet’s appearance on the scene shews that he suspected the king of coquetting with a foreign alliance, although it is remarkable that on neither side is there any explicit allusion to the political aspect of the affair. Perhaps the first evasive answer of Hezekiah betrays a consciousness of wrong-doing.
from a far country ] He answers that part of the question which involved least embarrassment. It is hardly likely that he means to hint that an alliance with so distant a country was out of the question; more probably he will excuse himself on the ground of hospitality to strangers who had come so far. It is noticeable that he does not mention the ostensible motive of the embassy.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Then came Isaiah – Isaiah was accustomed to declare the will of God most freely to monarchs (see Isa. 7)
What said these men? – What proposition have they made? What is the design of their coming? It is implied in the question that there had been some improper communication from them. To this question Hezekiah returned no answer.
And from whence came they? – It was doubtless known in Jerusalem that ambassadors had come, but it would not be likely to be known from what country they had come.
From a far country – Probably this was said in order to palliate and excuse his conducts, by intimating to the prophet that it was proper to show respectful attention to foreigners, and that he had done nothing more than was demanded by the laws of hospitality and kindness.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 39:3
Then came Isaiah the prophet unto King Hezekiah
The prophet higher than the king
It is well to have Isaiahs in society, for Hezekiahs could never keep it together.
This is the tone we want. The prophet should be higher than the king. The Christian teacher should stand upon the topmost place. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
3. What . . . whenceimplyingthat any proposition coming from the idolatrous enemies of God, withwhom Israel was forbidden to form alliance, should have been receivedwith anything but gladness. Reliance on Babylon, rather thanon God, was a similar sin to the previous reliance on Egypt (Isa30:1-31:9).
far countryimplyingthat he had done nothing more than was proper in showing attention tostrangers “from a far country.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then came Isaiah the prophet unto King Hezekiah,…. Quickly after the ambassadors had been with the king, and he had shown them all his treasures; the prophet did not come of himself, but was sent by the Lord, though he was not sent for by the king; in the time of his distress and illness he could send for him, but now being well, and in prosperity, he forgot the prophet, to send for him, and have his advice, how he should behave towards these men, as not to offend the Lord:
and said unto him, what said these men? what was their errand to thee, and their business to thee? what did they communicate to thee, or request of thee?
and from whence came they unto thee? from what country? these questions the prophet put to the king, not as ignorant of the men, and their business, and country, but in order to have everything from the king himself, and to lead on to further conversation with him on these things:
and Hezekiah said, they are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon; he makes no answer to the first question, but at once replies to the second, as being what his heart was lifted up with; that ambassadors should come to him from a very distant country, and from so famous and renowned a place as Babylon; which showed that his name was great in foreign parts, and was in high esteem in distant countries, and even so great a prince as the king of Babylon courted his friendship.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The consequences of this coqueting with the children of the stranger, and this vain display, are pointed out in Isa 39:3-8: “Then came Isaiah the prophet to king Hizkiyahu, and said to him, What have these men said, and whence come they to thee? Hizkiyahu said, They came to me from a far country (K. omits to me) , out of Babel. He said further, What have they seen in thy house? Hizkiyahu said, All that is in my house have they seen: there was nothing in my treasures that I had not shown them. Then Isaiah said to Hizkiyahu, Hear the word of Jehovah of hosts (K. omits ts e bha’oth ); Behold, days come, that all that is in thy house, and all that thy fathers have laid up unto this day, will be carried away to Babel ( , K. ): nothing will be left behind, saith Jehovah. And of thy children that proceed from thee, whom thou shalt beget, will they take (K. chethib, ‘will he take’); and they will be courtiers in the palace of the king of Babel. Then said Hizkiyahu to Isaiah, Good is the word of Jehovah which thou hast spoken. And he said further, Yea ( , K. ), there shall be peace and stedfastness in my days.” Hezekiah’s two candid answers in vv. 3 and 4 are an involuntary condemnation of his own conduct, which was sinful in two respects. This self-satisfied display of worthless earthly possessions would bring its own punishment in their loss; and this obsequious suing for admiration and favour on the part of strangers, would be followed by plundering and enslaving on the part of those very same strangers whose envy he had excited. The prophet here foretells the Babylonian captivity; but, in accordance with the occasion here given, not as the destiny of the whole nation, but as that of the house of David. Even political sharp-sightedness might have foreseen, that some such disastrous consequences would follow Hezekiah’s imprudent course; but this absolute certainty, that Babylon, which was then struggling hard for independence, would really be the heiress to the Assyrian government of the world, and that it was not from Assyria, which was actually threatening Judah with destruction for its rebellion, but from Babylon, that this destruction would really come, was impossible without the spirit of prophecy. We may infer from Isa 39:7 (cf., Isa 38:19, and for the fulfilment, Dan 1:3) that Hezekiah had no son as yet, at least none with a claim to the throne; and this is confirmed by 2Ki 21:1. So far as the concluding words are concerned, we should quite misunderstand them, if we saw nothing in them but common egotism. (for) is explanatory here, and therefore confirmatory. , however, does not mean “yea, if only,” as Ewald supposes (324, b), but is also explanatory, though in an interrogative form, “Is it not good (i.e., still gracious and kind), if,” etc.? He submits with humility to the word of Jehovah, in penitential acknowledgement of his vain, shortsighted, untheocratic conduct, and feels that he is mercifully spared by God, inasmuch as the divine blessings of peace and stability ( a self-attesting state of things, without any of those changes which disappoint our confident expectations) would continue. “Although he desired the prosperity of future ages, it would not have been right for him to think it nothing that God had given him a token of His clemency, by delaying His judgment” (Calvin).
Over the kingdom of Judah there was now hanging the very same fate of captivity and exile, which had put an end to the kingdom of Israel eight years before. When the author of the book of Kings prefaces the four accounts of Isaiah in 2Ki 18:13-20, with the recapitulation in 2Ki 18:9-12 (cf., Isa 17:5-6), his evident meaning is, that the end of the kingdom of Israel, and the beginning of the end of the kingdom of Judah, had their meeting-point in Hezekiah’s time. As Israel fell under the power of the Assyrian empire, which foundered upon Judah, though only through a miraculous manifestation of the grace of God (see Hos 1:7); so did Judah fall a victim to the Babylonian empire. The four accounts are so arranged, that the first two, together with the epilogue in Isa 37:36., which contains the account of the fulfilment, bring the Assyrian period of judgment to a close; and the last two, with the eventful sketch in Isa 39:6-7, open the way for the great bulk of the prophecies which now follow in chapters 40-66, relating to the Babylonian period of judgment. This Janus-headed arrangement of the contents of chapters 36-39 is a proof that this historical section formed an original part of the “vision of Isaiah.” At any rate, it leads to the conclusion that, whoever arranged the four accounts in their present order, had chapters 40-66 before him at the time. We believe, however, that we may, or rather, considering the prophetico-historical style of chapters 36-39, that we must, draw the still further conclusion, that Isaiah himself, when he revised the collection of his prophecies at the end of Hezekiah’s reign, or possibly not till the beginning of Manasseh’s, bridged over the division between the two halves of the collection by the historical trilogy in the seventh book.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Vs. 3-4: AN INQUIRY CONCERNING HEZEKIAH’S VISITORS
1. The prophet of God was not blind to what was happening in Jerusalem; nor had the king been able to hide his delight in proudly displaying the rich treasures of his house.
2. When the emissaries of Babylon had departed, Isaiah made discreet inquiry of the king, (comp. 2Sa 12:1; 2Ch 16:7).
a. What message did they bear? and from whence they come?
(vs. 3a).
b. The reply of the king was that they came to him from a far country, even Babylon, (vs. 3b; Deu 28:49; Jer 5:15).
3. Then the prophet further questioned the king (with whom he had always enjoyed a good relationship).
a. What have they seen in your house?
b. And the king answered that they had SEEN IT ALL! Nothing had been with-held from their observation!
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
3. Then came Isaiah the Prophet He continues the same narrative, but likewise adds doctrine. Although he does not say that God had sent him, yet it is certain that he did this by the influence of the Holy Spirit and by the command of God; and, therefore, he bestows on himself the designation of the Prophet, by which he intimates that he did not come as a private individual, but to perform an office which God had enjoined on him, that Hezekiah might clearly see that he had not to deal with a mortal man.
Now, when he says that he came, we ought to infer that he was not sent for, but was allowed to remain quietly at home, while Hezekiah was making’ a boastful display of his treasures; for prophets are not usually invited to consultations of this sort. But formerly, while he was weighed down by extreme distress, while Rabshakeh insulted him so fiercely, and uttered such daring’ blasphemies against God, he sent, to Isaiah, and requested him to intercede with God, and to soothe his anguish by some consolation. (Isa 37:2.) Thus in adversity and distress the prophets are sought, but in prosperity are disregarded or even despised; because they disturb our mirth by their admonitions, and appear to give occasion of grief. But Isaiah came, though he was not invited; and in this we ought to observe and praise his steadfastness, and are taught by his example that we ought not to wait till we are sent for by men who need the discharge of our duty, when they flatter themselves amidst the heaviest distresses, and bring danger on themselves either by levity, or by ignorance, or even by malice; for it is our duty to gather the wandering sheep, and we ought to do this diligently, even though we be not requested by any person.
Though Hezekiah may be justly blamed for having been corrupted by the flatteries of the king of Babylon so as not to ask counsel of God, yet it is a manifestation of no ordinary modesty, that he does not drive away or despise the Prophet, as if he had found fault without reason, but replies gently, and at length receives calmly and mildly a very severe reproof. It would have been better that he had, from the beginning’, inquired at the mouth of God, as it is said in the psalm,
“
Thy commandments are the men of my counsel,” (Psa 119:24😉
but, having committed a mistake, it was his next duty to receive submissively the remedy for the fault.
What did those men say? The Prophet does not immediately inflict on him the pain of a severe reproof, but wounds him gently, so as to lead him to a confession of his sin; for Hezekiah flattered himself, and thought that all was going well with him, and, therefore, needed to be gradually aroused from his slothfulness. Still these words gave a sharp wound; as if he had said, “What have you to do with those men? Ought you not to keep at the greatest distance from a plague so contagious?” He likewise inquires about the contents of the message, in order to make Hezekiah ashamed of not having perceived the deceit that was practiced on him; for there is reason to believe that he would not have censured the congratulation, if there had not been some poison mingled with it, but he points out those snares in which the Babylonians wished to entangle him.
And yet it is evident from the reply, that Hezekiah was not yet struck by that gentle reproof; for he is still on good terms with himself, and boasts that those men came from a distant country, from Babylon There is reason to believe that Isaiah was not ignorant of that country, so that Hezekiah did not need to express the distance in such magnificent language; but he boasts in this manner, because he was under the influence of ambition. It was therefore necessary that he should be more keenly pressed, and that sharper spurs should be applied.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) Then came Isaiah . . .The words that follow, like those in Isa. 7:3, are spoken with the authority at once of age and of a Divine mission, perhaps also of a master speaking to one who had been his pupil. No sooner does the arrival of the embassy from Babylon reach his ear than he goes straight to the king to ask him what it all meant. The kings answer seems to plead that they came from a far country as an excuse. Could he refuse to admit those who had taken so long a journey in his honour? Could intercourse with a land so distant bring any moral or political danger? It was not like the alliance with Egypt, to which Isaiah was so strenuously opposed.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THREATENING OF THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY OCCASIONED BY HEZEKIAH, Isa 39:3-8.
3, 4. Then came Isaiah Who was an ethical terror to ill-doing monarchs and their false flatterers.
What said these men The answer elicited did not satisfy the faithful prophet, who saw through the guise of the king’s flattered, perhaps wily, heart. Good as Hezekiah was, prosperity had elated and beguiled him. On the questions being pressed, however, he candidly told all, and submitted meekly to whatever should follow.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Then Isaiah the prophet came to king Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, even from Babylon.”
Isaiah had seen these rich and powerful lords, and knew that mischief was afoot. But he was unable to do anything until they had gone. No doubt a great deal of secrecy had been preserved. (If there is one thing men love more than showing off it is being involved in intrigue, and to feel that they are a part of the inner circle). But then, once they had departed, he immediately sought the king’s presence and asked who they were and where they had come from. It is, however, probable that he already had a good idea what the answer would be.
As we read Hezekiah’s reply we can sense the great pride that he felt at the visit. These men had come a long way from a great king of a mighty city and country, who had proved his power in the past by at times achieving independence from the Assyrians, and they had come to see him.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
came Isaiah: Isa 38:1, Isa 38:5, 2Sa 12:1, 2Ki 20:14, 2Ki 20:15, 2Ch 16:7, 2Ch 19:2, 2Ch 25:15, Jer 22:1, Jer 22:2
They are: Deu 28:49, Jos 9:6, Jos 9:9, Jer 5:15
Reciprocal: Isa 5:26 – end Isa 10:3 – in the desolation Jer 4:16 – from Jer 8:19 – the voice Eze 23:22 – I will raise
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
God’s Spirit and Hezekiah’s failure to trust the Lord undoubtedly moved Isaiah to confront Hezekiah. First, the prophet asked about the visit of the Babylonian ambassadors and what Hezekiah had done with them. Hezekiah told the truth and put his actions in the best light, but he did not relate what the envoys had said or explain his motive. He put the best possible light on his actions. Nevertheless he put his own neck in the noose by answering Isaiah’s simple questions as he did (cf. Gal 6:7).