Isaiah 39 reminds me of something called Street Smarts. To me, that means being aware of potential dangers in your environment. Being alert to vulnerability will often prevent you from making yourself a target. The chapter begins with a reminder that we tend to get careless after a battle. In the previous chapter we learned that King Hezekiah had miraculously recovered from illness by God’s mercy. It seems the king of Babylon took the opportunity to butter him up by sending him gifts when “he had heard of his illness and recovery“. Babylon was, of course an enemy of both Israel and Assyria and feared both. Hezekiah, perhaps feeling invincible, “received the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his storehouses the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine olive oil his entire armory and everything found among his treasures“. The recklessness of flaunting the nation’s treasure before the enemy shows a lack of judgment. “Nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them“. We have a responsibility to guard ourselves against harm. We may not have treasuries of gold, but we do have to guard our emotions, our physical intimacy and our fears from every flattering envoy. Jesus said, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard” (Matt 10:16). Have you exposed your heart to imposters?
Next Isaiah questions the king. “What did those men say, and where did they come from? What did they see in your palace?” The king was clueless, “They came to me from Babylon… They saw everything in my palace“. Many people are plundered as a result of “being nice”. Turning the other cheek describes absorbing an insult concerning our faith, it does not allow for abuse. It is never too late to put a halt to the tour and call in reinforcements. We cannot change history, but God will cover our past and give us a new start. Is it time?
The chapter ends with Isaiah explaining what will happen as a result of the king’s gullibility, “The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD“. Not only the gold, and valuable possession, but the sacred items created for the worship of God were taken from the temple. Even our relationship with God can be ripped away from us when we fail to recognize safe boundaries. Jesus taught that not everyone that approaches is sincere. He warns, “Do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces” (Matthew 7:6). The chapter ends with a promise that this lapse in judgment will harm even “your descendants, your own flesh and blood… will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon“. Hezekiah still appears blind to the magnitude of the devastation. “For he thought, ‘There will be peace and security in my lifetime’.” This is an incredibly self-centered reaction, yet we see it regularly today; loneliness or insecurity blind people to relationship dangers. 1 Corinthians 10:11 reminds us, these things are given “as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come“. Do not forget we are in a spiritual battle. Friend, have you been careless with your valuables? Allow His word to give you discernment and His smarts!