Isaiah 39:7

And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. THY SONS THAT SHALL ISSUE FROM THEE - the sons which Hezekiah (as Josephus tells us) wished to have (note, , on "wept sore") will be among the foremost in suffering. EUNUCHS - fulfilled, Daniel 1:2; ....

7._Of thy sons _It might be thought that this was far more distressing to Hezekiah, and therefore it is put last for the sake of heightening the picture. Even though any calamity spread widely in a nation, it is commonly thought that kings and their families will be exempted, as if they were not placed in the same rank with other men. When he understood, therefore, that his sons would be made captives and slaves, this must have appeared to him to be exceedingly severe. Hence again we may learn how much God was displeased with Hezekiah for seeking aid from earthly wealth, and boasting of it in the presence of wicked men, when God by a dreadful example punishes it as an unpardonable crime, that Hezekiah made an ambitious display of his wealth in presence of unbelievers....

AND OF THAT SONS - Thy posterity (see the note at Matthew 1:1). THAT SHALL ISSUE FROM THEE - Of the royal family. The captivity at Babylon occurred more than a hundred years after this, and of course those who were carried there were somewhat remote descendants of Hezekiah. AND THEY SHALL BE EUNUCHS - The word used here (סריסים _sâriysiym_) denotes properly and strictly eunuchs, or such persons as were accustomed to attend on the harems of Oriental monarchs Esther 2:3, Esther 2:14. These persons were also employed often in various offices of the court...

EXPOSITION This chapter is parallel with 2 Kings 20:12, and scarcely differs from it at all. Verse I has the additional words, "and was recovered;" 2 Kings 20:2, the phrase, "was glad of them," for "hearkened unto them;" 2 Kings 20:5, "Lord of hosts," for "Lord" simply; and 2 Kings 20:8 makes Hezekiah's last utterance an observation instead of a question. Otherwise the two accounts are almost word for word the same. Both relate the novel and important fact of ambassadors being sent _to _Hezekiah by the King of Babylon, shortly after his illness, and tell of the reception which he gave them, of the message which Is

AND OF THY SONS THAT SHALL ISSUE FROM THEE, WHICH THOU SHALT BEGET, SHALL THEY TAKE AWAY,.... Manasseh his immediate son was taken and carried to Babylon, though afterwards released; nor does it appear that he was made a eunuch or an officer there; this had its fulfilment in Jeconiah and his children, and in others that were of the seed royal, as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, to whom the Jewish commentators apply this; this is expressed in different words, signifying much the same, to affect the mind of Hezekiah the more: AND THEY SHALL BE EUNUCHS IN THE PALACE OF THE KING OF BABYLON; or "chamberlains"; and who very often were castrated for that purpose, though it does not necessarily signify such, being used of officers in general. The Targum renders it "princes" f; and such an one was Daniel in the court of the king of Babylon; and his three companions were also promoted,...

CHAPTER 39 Hezekiah's Self-Exaltation 1. _The ambassadors of Merodach-baladan (Isaiah 39:1)_ 2. _Hezekiah's boasting (Isaiah 39:2)_ 3. _Isaiah's inquiry (Isaiah 39:3)_ 4. _The Babylonian captivity announced (Isaiah 39:5)_ 5. _Hezekiah's submission and comfort (Isaiah 39:8)_ The prediction of Isaiah of the Babylonian captivity, fulfilled through King Nebuchadnezzar about 100 years after these words were spoken, is startling. The reader will bear in mind that the Assyrian was not yet overcome, for the sickness and self-exaltation

ISAIAH 36-39. This section has been extracted from 2 Kings 18:13 to 2 Kings 20:19, and the Song of Hezekiah has been added. For an exposition see the notes on 2 K.; here we have simply to deal with the Song of Hezekiah. ISAIAH 38:10. THANKSGIVING FOR DELIVERANCE FROM IMMINENT DEATH. This is now generally regarded as a post-exilic psalm. Its absence in the parallel narratine in Kings is significant. Apparently it was inserted here by an editor who thought it suitable to Hezekiah's circumstances. If, as seems likely, it has been influenced by the Book of Job, it must be post-exilic. The title cannot, any more than the Psalm titles, weigh against internal evidence. Hezekiah's writing after his recov

THY SONS. Hezekiah had none as yet, and Jehovah's promise to David (2 Samuel 7:16) seemed in danger of failing. Manasseh was not born till the third of the fifteen added years. Hence his reference to this position in the "Songs of the Degrees". See Psalms 127:3; Psalms 127:3 and Psalms 128 (quoting in Isaiah 39:5 the words in Isaiah 39:8). Hezekiah did not marry till after this, and there may be. reference to his marriage to Hephzi-bah in...

This is the only occasion on which a prophecy of the Babylonian Exile appears to be attributed to Isaiah. It is not easy to reconcile such a prediction with the particular circumstances in which it is reported to have been uttered. The announcement naturally left on Hezekiah's mind the impression that his own days would be spent in peace, whereas in reality the most critical juncture of his reign still lay before him, and it is hardly credible that Isaiah should have disclosed to him the remote fate of his descendants, without warning him of the more immediate and personal consequences of his folly. This difficulty would be removed if we could hold that the prophecy was uttered _after_the deliverance from Sennacherib; but we have seen that this supposition is inadmissible on historical grounds. A more serious consideration is that Isaiah's Messianic ideal leaves no room for a transferenc...

_Isaiah 39:7. They shall be eunuchs,_ &c. The Hebrew word סריסים _sarisim,_ rendered _eunuchs,_ signifies great officers employed about the person of the sovereign; and, as eunuchs were generally invested with these offices, the word _eunuch,_ and a _great officer,_ became frequently synonymous terms in the East, though they convey perfectly different ideas in our language. See Parkhurst on the word סדס and Daniel 1:3; Daniel 1:21....