Isaiah 39:5 - Meaning and Application

Here we may observe several useful lessons.

1. If God loves us, he will humble us. When our hearts are lifted up too high, he will find a way to bring us down. A sharp message was sent to Hezekiah, king of Judah, so that he might be humbled for his pride and see how foolish it was. God may allow his people to fall into sin, as he did with Hezekiah, to test them and show them what is in their hearts. But he will not let them stay in that sin.

2. It is right for God to take away what we turn into a cause of pride and false confidence. When David became proud of the size of his people, God reduced their number. In the same way, when Hezekiah boasted in his treasures and took too much pleasure in them, he was like a foolish traveler who shows his gold to a thief and tempts him to steal it. What we use for pride can easily become the means of our loss.

3. If we could see what will happen later, we would be ashamed of how we think about present things. If Hezekiah had known that the future kings of Babylon would destroy his family and kingdom, he would not have received their messengers so proudly. And when the prophet told him this would happen, we can imagine how deeply he regretted what he had done. We cannot see the future clearly, but we are told in general that all is vanity, that is, all earthly things are empty and passing. So it is foolish to take pleasure in them or build our trust on them.

4. Those who love close ties with irreligious people will sooner or later have enough of it, and they will have reason to regret it. Hezekiah thought he was fortunate to have Babylon as a friend, though Babylon was full of idolatry and spiritual corruption. But Babylon, which at that time was seeking Jerusalem’s favor, later conquered Jerusalem and carried its people away captive. Alliances with sinners, and alliances with sin itself, end badly. Wisdom keeps a distance from both.

5. Those who truly repent of their sins are willing to be corrected for them. Hezekiah accepted as good the word of the Lord that exposed his sin and made him aware of what he had done wrong. Before that, he had not fully seen it. This is the mind of a true penitent: “Let the righteous strike me, it shall be a kindness” (Psalm 141:5). God’s law is good because, being spiritual, it shows sin to be sin, and very sinful indeed.

6. True penitents also submit quietly to God’s providence, meaning his wise rule over events, when he rebukes them through outward troubles. When Hezekiah heard of the punishment for his sin, he said, “Good is the word of the Lord.” He did not just accept the lighter part of the message, but the whole sentence. He had nothing to say against its fairness, and he agreed with the warning. Those who see how evil sin is, and what it deserves, will justify God in all he brings on them for it. They will admit that he punishes them less than their sins deserve.

7. We should care about those who come after us, yet we may also count it a mercy if there is peace and truth in our own days, and more than we had reason to expect. If a storm is coming, it is a kindness to reach the harbor before it arrives, and to be gathered to the grave in peace. Still, we cannot be sure of this. We must be ready for change even in our own time, so that we may stand complete in all the will of God and welcome whatever he sends.