As a continuation of the story of Chizkiyahu's illness, he receives a delegation from Merodakh Baladan, king of Babylon. After the delegation departs, Yeshayahu delivers a severe prophecy of rebuke and calamity: "'Behold – the days are coming when all that fills your palace and all that your fathers amassed until this day will be borne away to Babylon, and nothing will be left, the Lord has said it, while sons of yours who come forth from you, who were born to you, will be born far away castrated slaves in the palace of the king of Babylon." (Yeshayahu 39:6–7)

What Was Chizkiyahu's Sin?

The great miracle outside Jerusalem had raised hopes that Yeshayahu’s prophecies about the elevation the mountain of the Lord's House and the spread of His ways among the nations would be fulfilled: "Many peoples will come saying: 'Come, let us go up to the mount of the Lord, to the House of Yaakov's God; He will teach us His ways; we will walk in His pathways.' For teaching will come forth from Zion, from Jerusalem, the Lord's word." (Yeshayahu 2:3) Instead of using the miracle to glorify God's name and showing the delegation the House of the Lord, Chizkiyahu sought to glorify himself by displaying his treasure house and all his riches.

This story parallels the account of the Queen of Sheba’s visit to Shlomo (Melakhim I 10). There, the Queen of Sheba speaks with Shlomo about “all that she had in mind,” (Melakhim 10:2) and Shlomo succeeds in answering her riddles: “There was nothing that remained hidden from the king, and there was nothing he failed to address.” (Melakhim 10:3) Similarly, in this story, Chizkiyahu shows the Babylonian delegation “everything that was kept in his treasuries, in his palace, and all his realm; there was nothing that Chizkiyahu did not show them.” (39:2) In the story of the Queen of Sheba, she comes to witness Shlomo’s wisdom, and by the end of her visit, she blesses God: “Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you and set you upon the throne of Israel.” (Melakhim10:9) However, in the story of Chizkiyahu and the Babylonian delegation, the opportunity to glorify God was missed.

"There Is No Earlier or Later": From biblical chronology (15 years before Chizkiyahu’s death) and archaeological evidence (the fall of Merodakh Baladan), it seems that Chapters 38 and 39 occurred before the Assyrian siege on Jerusalem. This alteration by Yeshayahu, who wrote his book out of chronological order, requires us to understand the reason for the change. I propose that his intent was to have us read these stories against the backdrop of the miraculous victory of the angel of God over Assyria and the missed opportunities associated with it.