Lack of concern for family?

[YO-ELEVEN-11]

English Standard Version:

Isaiah 39

5. Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:

6. Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD.

7. And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon."

8. Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good." For he thought, "There will be peace and security in my days."


Questions?

1.Why would GOD allow his sons to be Eunuchs ?
2.Why would Hezekiah be happy with this?

I mean it sounds like GOD told Hezekiah that his sons will not be men any more and Hezekiah just felt that it was good that he would see peace in his days and did not care about his children.

any thoughts?

 

[wil]

English Standard Version:

Isaiah 39

5. Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:

6. Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD.

7. And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon."

8. Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good." For he thought, "There will be peace and security in my days."


Questions?

1.Why would GOD allow his sons to be Eunuchs ?
2.Why would Hezekiah be happy with this?

I mean it sounds like GOD told Hezekiah that his sons will not be men any more and Hezekiah just felt that it was good that he would see peace in his days and did not care about his children.

any thoughts?

At one level to me the sons are thouughts/ideas offsprings of the father and eunuchs those ideas without material thought, only spiritual thought.

 

[Caimanson]

I remember reading somewhere (a long time ago) that the word eunuch was used with a wider meaning than the specific one, that is a synonym for royal servant. In some cases eunuchs had a lot of power in their roles serving their masters, and perhaps it wasn't necessarily perceived as something horrible by society.
Whether this is right for this passage I don't know.

 

[Caimanson]

Double post

 

[kenod]

English Standard Version:

Isaiah 39

5. Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:

6. Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD.

7. And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon."

8. Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good." For he thought, "There will be peace and security in my days."


Questions?

1.Why would GOD allow his sons to be Eunuchs ?
2.Why would Hezekiah be happy with this?

I mean it sounds like GOD told Hezekiah that his sons will not be men any more and Hezekiah just felt that it was good that he would see peace in his days and did not care about his children.

any thoughts?

My thoughts ...

Hezekiah was one of the most godly kings of Judah, and he recognized Isaiah as a true prophet of God. By saying "The word of the Lord is good", Hezekiah is acknowledging that God's ways are right and just. Sometimes the bad things that happen are the will of God, and we need to accept that.

The "sons" referred to are Hezekiah's descendants - the prophecy was fulfilled nearly 100 years later (2 Chronicles 36:14-20) because "the people transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen" (v.14)

 

[YO-ELEVEN-11]

My thoughts ...

Hezekiah was one of the most godly kings of Judah, and he recognized Isaiah as a true prophet of God. By saying "The word of the Lord is good", Hezekiah is acknowledging that God's ways are right and just. Sometimes the bad things that happen are the will of God, and we need to accept that.

The "sons" referred to are Hezekiah's descendants - the prophecy was fulfilled nearly 100 years later (2 Chronicles 36:14-20) because "the people transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen" (v.14)

Hello Kenod,

I agree with you on most of what you said, but, it's the last thing that Hezekiah "thought" that kinda "throws" things off for me and made me wonder if he was being selfish or not.

8. Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good." For he thought, "There will be peace and security in my days."

 

[YO-ELEVEN-11]

At one level to me the sons are thouughts/ideas offsprings of the father and eunuchs those ideas without material thought, only spiritual thought.

Hello Wil,

Will, Why do you feel that Isaiah is talking about "thoughts" and "ideas" expressed here and that he is not refering to real people?

After all he did express that he would have "sons".

Most of the OT express "thought" or "ideas" as either an inspiration from G!D or from another source. I could be wrong though.



7. And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon."

 

[YO-ELEVEN-11]

I remember reading somewhere (a long time ago) that the word eunuch was used with a wider meaning than the specific one, that is a synonym for royal servant. In some cases eunuchs had a lot of power in their roles serving their masters, and perhaps it wasn't necessarily perceived as something horrible by society.
Whether this is right for this passage I don't know.

Hello Caimanson,

I did some checking on the word "eunuch" and it is true that they could have been "protectors" in the royal house.

So, they could have been "protectors" instead of the the classic "eunuch" that we envision when the word is mentioned.

For a long time, I thought that all eunuchs were " male singers" with high pitched voices who only sang opera. They were refered to as "castrato" in the 16th century. Found out differently after my research though.


Point taken, but that does not explain Hezekiah's last "thought".

8. Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good." For he thought, "There will be peace and security in my days."

 

[Dondi]

It is interesting what God says about eunuchs in a later chapter of Isaiah:

"Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.

For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off." - Isaiah 56:2-5

I'm also thinking that the peace and security in Hezekiahs house might be the result of having no in-laws.

 

[kenod]

Hello Kenod,

I agree with you on most of what you said, but, it's the last thing that Hezekiah "thought" that kinda "throws" things off for me and made me wonder if he was being selfish or not.

8. Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good." For he thought, "There will be peace and security in my days."

I've always admired Hezekiah because he was brave enough to destroy the brass serpent Moses had made, as people had made it an object of worship (2 Kings 18:4). I think he must have been a very spiritual man.

When Hezekiah spoke of "peace and security" I think his concern was for the welfare of his kingdom (his people) more than for himself personally.

 

[flowperson]

It is interesting what God says about eunuchs in a later chapter of Isaiah:

"Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.

For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off." - Isaiah 56:2-5

I'm also thinking that the peace and security in Hezekiahs house might be the result of having no in-laws.

Hi Dondi:

Could it be that this passage in Isiah is an acknowledgement in ancient times that there was sexual ambiguity within the humanity created by G-d ? And that this part and portion of our body of humanity that was neither distinctly male or female served a set of special purposes within G-d's human creation and plan ? I'd be interested in any other observations in this regard.

flow....

 

[wil]

Will, Why do you feel that Isaiah is talking about "thoughts" and "ideas" expressed here and that he is not refering to real people?

/There are literal, historical, social, allegorical, metaphorical, metaphysical...interpretations of everything.

I think that there exist many meanings in each scripture, some say seven, but I'm inclined to seventy times seven. Beyond the above, based on ones experience and one's current life situation scripture evolves to be applicable to each of our 'nows'. When I am being my Isaiah self...

 

[Caimanson]

Point taken, but that does not explain Hezekiah's last "thought".

8. Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good." For he thought, "There will be peace and security in my days."

I agree.
Then you have Samuel's mum giving him away to the Lord as soon as he was weaned, heartbreaking in my eyes.
It makes you think how people's worldviews can be so different, can that be a sort of answer to your dilemma?

 

[YO-ELEVEN-11]

I agree.
Then you have Samuel's mum giving him away to the Lord as soon as he was weaned, heartbreaking in my eyes.
It makes you think how people's worldviews can be so different, can that be a sort of answer to your dilemma?

Sorry for the late reply,

Yes Caimanson it helps. It is still a little disturbing though.

 

[Quahom1]

I remember reading somewhere (a long time ago) that the word eunuch was used with a wider meaning than the specific one, that is a synonym for royal servant. In some cases eunuchs had a lot of power in their roles serving their masters, and perhaps it wasn't necessarily perceived as something horrible by society.
Whether this is right for this passage I don't know.

Indeed, you are correct. Often Eunuchs chose their position out of honor and responsibility. It also meant they were not distracted from their duties by natural desires.

Acts 8 :26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. 27 So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”
30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 The place in the Scripture which he read was this:


“ He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;
And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
33 In His humiliation His justice was taken away,
And who will declare His generation?
For His life is taken from the earth.”[b]

34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. 36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”
37 Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.”
And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”[c]
38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. 39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea."