<< Isaiah XXXIX >>

1. AT that time Merodach-baladan, 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 rejoiced at them; and he shewed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and his whole arsenal, and all that was found in his treasures: there was not anything in his house, and in all his kingdom, that Hezekiah did not shew them.
3. And Isaiah the prophet came unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What say these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come to me from a distant country, from Babylon.
4. And he said, What have they seen in thy house? And Hezekiah said, They have seen everything in my house: there is nothing in my treasures which I have not shewn them.
5. And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, Hear thou the word of Jehovah of Hosts:
6. Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in thy house, and that thy fathers have treasured up unto this day, shall be carried away, to Babylon: there shall not be anything left, saith Jehovah.
7. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt beget, shall they take; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
8. And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, Good is the word of Jehovah which thou hast spoken! For, said he, there shall be peace and truth in my days.

 
1. AT that time Merodach-baladan, 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 rejoiced at them; and he shewed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and his whole arsenal, and all that was found in his treasures: there was not anything in his house, and in all his kingdom, that Hezekiah did not shew them.
3. And Isaiah the prophet came unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What say these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come to me from a distant country, from Babylon.
4. And he said, What have they seen in thy house? And Hezekiah said, They have seen everything in my house: there is nothing in my treasures which I have not shewn them.
5. And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, Hear thou the word of Jehovah of Hosts:
6. Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in thy house, and that thy fathers have treasured up unto this day, shall be carried away, to Babylon: there shall not be anything left, saith Jehovah.
7. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt beget, shall they take; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
8. And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, Good is the word of Jehovah which thou hast spoken! For, said he, there shall be peace and truth in my days.

 
VERSES 6, 7. Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in thy house, and that thy fathers have treasured up until this day, shall be carried away to Babylon, &c.-[This act of Hezekiah, in shewing the things in his own house, and the treasures of the Lord's bouse, or of the temple, to the messengers from the king of Babylon, represented the profanation of everything belonging to the church, and the consequent destruction of everything heavenly and spiritual in the human mind. To "shew these things to the messengers from Babylon," is to expose all the Goods and Truths of the Word and of the church, which are the real treasures, to profanation, by bringing them under the influence of what is signified by "Babylon," which, as we have seen in the Exposition of chapters xiii. and xiv., is the infernal lust of power and of dominion grounded in the love of self. In the act, itself "there was nothing sinful in shewing these" treasures" to the messengers from Babylon, but the doctrine of representatives shews us in what this sin consisted. See A..E. 1029.]

Author: Emanuel Swedenborg [Compiled by J. H. Smithson 1860]