Isaiah 39:8: “Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.”
II Chronicles 32:26: “However, Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah.”
Many of our modern translations will say that Hezekiah thought or was thinking that there would be peace and truth in his days. In other words our modern English translations would have us to believe that old Hezekiah was such a selfish old goat that so long as God’s judgment did not fall upon him while he was alive he was happy. So let the kids suffer, at least he would skate through life without any problems.
This really bothers me. For one thing Hezekiah witnessed firsthand the destruction of his brother nation Israel by Sargon’s Assyrian army in 720 BC. He knew of the devastating horrors and torments that these foreign invaders could inflict upon a conquered nation. The Assyrians were noted for their barbaric treatment of conquered people. So he breathed a sigh of relief that at least he would not see this horror in his lifetime. However, his children would but what of it. Let them suffer so long as he escapes.
I am watching the Republican presidential convention and will watch the Democratic Convention as well. Right now I am hearing all the speeches as to why we should elect a man who has absolutely no political experience and has never been elected to a public office. This is absolutely unheard of in our country’s history. There have only been four Presidents who never held an elective office. However, two of them, Grant and Eisenhower held high ranking military positions and Taft and Hoover held high ranking non-elective governmental positions. Taft served as the Secretary of War and Hoover was the Secretary of Commerce. Hoover is the closest to Trump as he never ran for public office like Trump, never held a high military rank like Trump and like Trump was an immensely successful business man who owed coal mines throughout the world. Like Trump he was a great humanitarian and all round nice guy. Of course we all know what happened within the first two years of Hoover’s administration. Yet people are rallying around Trump for the very reason he is an outsider. This country has been through continual wars in the Middle East, has watched our economy bottom out and has experienced attacks on our soil from foreign invaders through terrorism. I watch the convention and hear the speeches and I see people, ordinary people living the American dream. Unlike, the modern English translators paraphrasing of Isaiah 39:8, these people are not really concerned so much about themselves, they are genuinely concerned about this nation’s future and the future well-being of their children so much so that they are driven to support an outsider to run this nation who promises to make it great for their children.
Hezekiah was a good man, a Godly man who turned his nation Judah back to God from idolatry. He messed up when he didn’t give God credit for his recovery from an illness when the Babylonian ambassadors paid him a visit to congratulate him. Hezekiah was no dummy, he knew they came to visit because they were star gazers and that miracle of the sundial had them baffled and they knew this celestial event had its origins in Judah. It was a great chance to give God some glory but Hezekiah failed to do this, he just bragged on the greatness of his nation.
Now Isaiah has confronted Hezekiah with this failing and Hezekiah has repented. Isaiah points out that Babylon will one day rule Judah but not during Hezekiah’s life time. Now our modern translators assume Hezekiah breathed a sigh of relief and thought “at least it will not be in my lifetime.” The word thought is not in the Hebrew text, it is simply the word ‘amar which means to speak or to say. Of course you can stretch it to mean he thought but that is a judgment call and based upon one’s interpretation of the context.
I interpret the context differently. I do not see Hezekiah as a selfish self-absorbed person, but one who is truly concerned for his nation and his and its children. A study of his life bears this out. Secondly, the prophecy does not say they would suffer the horrors under the Babylonians like Israel did under Assyria. He just met the representatives from Babylon and they seem like alright guys. The prophecy said his children would be officials in Babylon. That word officials in Hebrew is sarism which is sometimes rendered as eunuchs in our modern translations. That sounds bad but eunuchs often held good solid respectable positions although the process of becoming a eunuch was not only painful but infections often proved fatal. Still, the word saris does not have to be a eunuch. It could simply mean a high official as it was used with Potiphar as a high official to Pharaoh and Potiphar had a wife so odds are he was not a eunuch. So all Hezekiah saw was the possible ending of his empire.
Still, he did say the word was good but he would have peace and truth in his lifetime still sounds selfish unless you consider the words used for word and good. The word for word is dabar which are words from one’s heart or in this case God’s heart. The word good is tov which means to be in harmony with someone or something. So what Hezekiah said was “The words from God’s heart are in harmony with Him.”
It does not say: “At least (or for) there will be peace and truth in my days” which most translations say. That is a paraphrase. In the Hebrew the word used is ki which means because. In other words: “It is in harmony with God because there will be peace and truth in my days.” Hezekiah is not saying: “Oh goodie, at least I will escape, tough luck on the kids.” He is saying: “This is in harmony with the nature of God. I’ve rid the nation of idolatry, brought the people back to worshipping God and the people all obeyed and turned to God. He promises to not send judgment on those who repent and He is keeping his promises.” Peace I can understand, but why truth? Big deal, he will have truth for the rest of his life. What truth are we talking about? The word truth is ‘emith which also means faithfulness and stability. I believe we need to put all three of these English words to ‘emith. There will be peace and stability as well as faithfulness from God and the assurance that when God makes a promise it is truth.
You see an important lesson here is shrouded by the bias of the translator. Instead of seeing Hezekiah as this self-absorbed selfish individual watching out for his own gizzard in total disregard for his nation’s future and that of his children you have a man who spent his life bringing revival to his nation, preaching that this was the only way his nation would survive and not suffer the fate of their brothers in the North from the Assyrians. Hezekiah received confirmation from Isaiah that his efforts were not in vain. This national revival promised peace and stability for it had to prove the truth of God that if His people who are called by His name would humble themselves and seek His face He would hear them and protect them.
So why do I follow the Republican convention and the Democratic convention? I am concerned about the future of our country and the youth of our country. I watch a video yesterday of hundreds of American young people who gathered together worshipping God with all their hearts soul and might. I want that they will have a nation free to continue in that worship. I know from Hezekiah and the prophecy of Isaiah that God keeps His promises to protect a nation. I am listening for the platform that will insure the right for me to continue to join hands with the multitudes, perhaps millions of Americans who want to bring this nation back to God. For if we do we have the promise of Isaiah 39:8.
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