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2 Kings 20:12-19

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

12. At that time Berodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah: for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. 13. And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and shewed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and [all] the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not. 14. Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country, [even] from Babylon. 15. And he said, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All [the things] that [are] in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them. 16. And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD. 17. Behold, the days come, that all that [is] in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD. 18. 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. 19. Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good [is] the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. And he said, [Is it] not [good], if peace and truth be in my days?

2 Kings 20:12-19 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on 2 Kings 20:12

Theological / Devotional

Berodach-baladan. This should be written Merodach-baladan as in Isa. 39:1. This king has been identified with the pugnacious Marduk-apal-iddina, who was king of Babylon from 721 to 709, according to Ptolemy’s Canon. He held Babylon again for a short period in 703. He was a sore thorn in the flesh of the Assyrians, presenting a constant challenge to their control of Babylonia. At the time of Sennacherib’s campaign in Hezekiah’s 14th year and the latter’s illness, Merodach-baladan was, according to the chronology of the kings employed in this commentary, a king in exile, seeking for allies who were also opposed to Assyria and who might be of assistance to him against Assyria. Even though deposed, he could properly be called “king of Babylon” by those who still regarded him as the rightful but dispossessed ruler. Hezekiah evidently so recognized him.

Son of Baladan. Assyrian inscriptions call him the son of Yakin, a king of the 9th century, each of whose descendants referred to himself as “son of Yakin.” Son probably stands for descendant as in the Assyrian inscriptions, which call Jehu the “son of Omri.” In Merodach-baladan’s ancestry there was probably a Baladan as well as a Yakin.

Sent letters. Babylonian astronomers noticed that this wonderful sundial miracle had occurred (see 2 Chron. 32:31). When Merodach-baladan heard why it had happened, he sent envoys to Jerusalem to congratulate Hezekiah and to learn more about the God who could perform such miracles (see PK 344). These ambassadors also may have taken the occasion to congratulate Hezekiah on his courageous resistance against Assyria. Merodach-baladan may have been seeking, at the same time, a formal alliance with Hezekiah against the common enemy.

By SdaBc