Thursday, April 7, 2016

Isaiah 39: The Case Of The Short-Sighted Sovereign

Perhaps God's original plan to let King Hezekiah die prematurely in Isaiah 38 would have been the best plan after all.  As it is, Hezekiah's naive foreign policy after his miraculous recovery may have been a very costly blunder for his nation.  Even worse, it appears that he couldn't have cared less!
I suppose we have all seen evidence of our government's short-sightedness at times.  Trillions of dollars run up in national debt.  Wars started without a clear exit strategy.  Issues decided by courts that short-circuit the democratic legislative process.  Reform efforts that leave things worse off than before.  Such short-sightedness on the part of rulers is not a new phenomenon.  As it turns out, the Law of Unintended Consequences has been around for a long time.

After Hezekiah recovered, envoys from Babylon arrived in Jerusalem bearing a thoughtful gift.  Wisely, Hezekiah welcomed them.  Foolishly, Hezekiah gave them a grand tour of all the nation's riches and holdings.   He showed them everything.  You can bet that those foreign officials wrote down the inventory and kept it in their files.  

When Isaiah discovers what the king has done, he delivers what sounds like a devastating message: "Days are coming when all that is in your house, and that which your ancestors have stored up until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, says the Lord.  Some of your own sons who are born to you shall be taken away; they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon" (vs. 6-7).  While Babylon is only sending envoys now, Isaiah says, someday they will send a conquering army.

Unbelievably, Hezekiah received this message of doom as actually good news!  "Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, 'The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.' For he thought, 'There will be peace and security in my days'" (vs. 8).  Just because this horrible sentence would not affect Hezekiah directly, but only his heirs, he figured it was all good.  God save us from such short-sighted leaders today!

No comments:

Post a Comment