Isaiah 39:1–8 At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. 3 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?” Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” 4 He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.” 5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: 6 Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD. 7 And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 8 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.”
Phishing, of course, is a scam that is usually performed by email. Someone sends you an offer that seems too good to be true, but still seems somewhat plausible. In replying, you open up your computer so they can gain access to lots of personal information. Often, the sad end of a phishing scam is the loss of a lot of valuables belonging to the victim. If it seems too good to be true, it almost certainly is.
I don’t know how sincere the envoys of the king of Babylon were when they came to inquire after Hezekiah, having heard that he had been sick but had been wonderfully healed. I suspect, though, that there was an element of intelligence-gathering that took place as a side benefit of their apparent concern for Hezekiah’s wellbeing.
In what was far from being his finest hour as king of Judah, Hezekiah gave them royal treatment. Including a personally guided tour which included all of his military equipment, all of his supplies of food and water (perhaps he boasted to them about how he had engineered the water flows down the west side of the City of David - 2 Chronicles 32:30) and all the treasure of his kingdom - silver, gold, spices and precious oils. He left out nothing from the itinerary. I can almost see the envoys with clipboards taking copious notes as they went from one site to the next!
There is not a word in this passage to suggest that Hezekiah boasted to the Babylonians about his greatest treasure - his mighty God, Who had miraculously delivered Israel from a vast Assyrian army, and his merciful God, who had seen his tears when he was sick and had miraculously delivered him from death and given him 15 more years of life.
Whether or not the envoys were sincere, the information Hezekiah gave them must have been like hitting the jackpot. How useful it must have proved as Babylon grew and her king’s desire to extend the scope of his rule grew too. If it was a phishing trip, Hezekiah took the bait hook, line and sinker! He even enjoyed the moment - a moment which had only been granted to him because God had healed him. And he received with apparent indifference the prophecy about Babylon’s eventual coming to take away all the riches that he had shown the envoys - “at least it won’t happen on my watch.”
Hezekiah blew it, to put it in modern language. He had the opportunity to point Babylon to the Lord and engender reverence and respect in their hearts for Him. Instead, he came right down to the level of the world. He put God on one side and showed the enjoys “rich” and “powerful” he was. In 2 Chronicles 32:31, it says that God left him to himself when the envoys came, in order to test him and to know all that was in his heart. Sadly, we have the answer in this account.
The obvious application here is to ask what is in our hearts today? What holds pride of place? What do we treasure above all else?
When we talk with others (even with believers, but certainly with unbelievers as Hezekiah did here) what do we most readily talk about? Is it our house and car, our position at work, our vacation and countless other trivial and transient things? Or is it our mighty God and Savior, Who miraculously delivered us from captivity to a vast and powerful army of the forces of darkness, and our merciful God and Savior, Who miraculously healed us when we were dying from sin and granted us eternal life in Jesus Christ? Do we attempt to puff ourselves up in the sight of men on the basis of the worldly things we own, or do we make much of the God Who has had mercy on pitiful wretches like us, and has given us life and everything else we possess here and a glorious and eternal inheritance?
So, as those who are to be fishers of men, let’s regain our awe and wonder that we should be called “Children of God,” and eagerly point people to our greatest Treasure, urging them to receive Him as their own Lord and Savior. Let’s not fall victim to the phishing exploits of the enemy of our souls, in which we are tricked into boasting of worthless, worldly baubles and put ourselves in danger of losing everything.
