Babylon for some time was a subject district under Assyria. As one of the more powerful cities, with a very ancient history of local religion and learning going back too far to trace today, by Isaiah's day the ruling class was of the same ethnic stock as the Syrians who ruled from Damascus, the Arameans. We have no idea whence they arose, but their ancient migrations and settlement policies are well established. In the broad scattering of Semitic tongues dominating that part of the world, Aramean was one of the closest to Hebrew.
Keep in mind, Hebrew was originally identical to Aramean (also known as Chaldean) as spoken by Abraham. During the following generations, both before and after the sojourn in Egypt, the Nation of Israel absorbed the Canaanite tongues, also a branch of Semitic. Thus, the Hebrew of Moses is more Canaanite than Mesopotamian. The language of Assyria and Babylon was rather like a more ancient Hebrew. During the Captivity in Babylon, the Hebrew people again absorbed the ambient tongue, and the Restoration saw them once more using Aramaic, referring to it as "Hebrew" in the time of Christ.
It is this Babylonian Captivity Isaiah seeks to explain here in this chapter. Note the narrative is virtually identical to 2 Kings 20:12-19, which tells us a lot about the sources for 1&2 Kings. This passage sets up critical elements in the story of how Judah declined until destroyed. The arrogance of Hezekiah becomes a much bigger attitude problem contributing to the ultimate failure of Judaism as a whole.
What was the mission of the Nation of Israel? God says she was to be a "kingdom of priests" (Exodus 19:5-6) -- a whole nation who bring the revelation of God to the world, for He was not merely God of Israel, but God of all humanity. This was part of the inherent promise to Abraham: "And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:3). They lived to present to all the earth a model of what God demanded of all nations in terms of the Covenant of Noah. They were to reach out with a message of clarity, calling all mankind to obey their Creator.
Instead, Hezekiah lived and acted as if Judah was somehow better than the rest of the world. He hoped to show this by a superior use of the world's ways, particularly in use of statecraft. Merodoch-baladan (Babylonian: Marduk apla-iddin -- "Marduk grants a son") seized power over the Babylonian province in about 722 BC, at about the time Shalamaneser V of Assyria died after a short reign. Merodoch was accepted as the new vassal of Assyria by Sargon II. He was a major leader in a wider revolt in about 713 BC, and was defeated in battle, taken prisoner, and deposed in 710. When Sargon died around 705 BC, Merodoch regained his throne in a couple of years and led a fresh revolt before finally dying in about 701 as Sennacherib was pacifying the Assyrian Empire. This makes it hard to discern just which of these two periods saw Merodoch sending envoys to Hezekiah. In the broader sense, it won't matter too much. Sennacherib's invasion was in part due to his awareness of this friendship, however shallow, between Merodoch and Hezekiah.
Merodoch had been seeking an excuse to send envoys to Judah, and Hezekiah's near-death illness made the news in Babylon. Upon this, his servants carried the pretty words of Merodoch's court and Hezekiah let it go to his head. He didn't show them Scriptures and tell them about Jehovah, who granted the royal wealth and survival of Judah against Assyria so far. Instead, he acted the fool and showed off the royal treasures as his personal pride.
Isaiah's rebuke on the surface pointed up Hezekiah's pride and joy being a primary reason Babylon would some day return to take all that stuff. However, there is something more subtle at work here. Hezekiah suffered enough from false national pride, but the later survival of the Assyrian seige only made it worse. The entire nation somehow got the false idea God would hold His City and Temple untouchable, that He would protect them unconditionally. Snug and smug in their safe nest, the national leaders refused to believe the warnings God would allow invaders to destroy His Temple, making the task of Jeremiah and other prophets of that day very hard, indeed.
Isaiah's warning about Babylon fell on deaf ears, as Hezekiah selfishly figured his own eyes would see no sorrow.
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By Ed Hurst
26 March 2009
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