- 127-
who was by turns successful, vanquished, driven away and restored, and once more a
fugitive. This is not the place to give such outline of his history as may be gathered from
the notices of Berossus, the Chaldee historian,** from the canon of Ptolemy, the Bible,
and Assyrian inscriptions.***
- The writing "Berodach" in 2 Kings is evidently a clerical error. In the Assyrian
inscriptions Marduk-habal-iddina, "Merodach gave a son," is described as "the son of
Yakin;" but this designating, not his father, but the dynasty to which he belonged, which
ruled over "Blt-Yakin." (Comp. Schrader, u.s., p. 342).
** In the extracts from Alexander Polyhistor, preserved by Eusebius.
*** For the history of Merodach-baladan I must refer to Schrader.
Suffice it here, that the date of his embassy to Hezekiah must have coincided with a brief
period when at the beginning of Sennacherib's reign he once more occupied the throne of
Babylonia for six months. It was only natural that in prospect of his conflict with Assyria
he should have sought alliances in every quarter, and that the fame of Hezekiah's
miraculous healing, of his great wealth and power - all no doubt exaggerated in Eastern
fashion - should have induced him to send an embassy to Jerusalem. A diversion there, a
possible confederacy against Assyria in the far west, such as was afterwards really
formed, would have been of the greatest use to his cause. Equally natural was it, alike
with reference to Assyria and to Hezekiah, that such an intention should not have been
avowed, nor perhaps the possibility of an alliance formally discussed, till the
ambassadors had been able to judge for themselves of the exact state of matters in
Jerusalem. And so they went ostensibly to bring to Hezekiah congratulatory letters on his
recovery, and "a present."* But all parties including Sennacherib on the one side, and the
prophet Isaiah on the other - understood the real object of the embassy.
- In 2 Chronicles 32:31 the ostensible object is stated to have been "to inquire about the
wonder that was done in the land." Such an inquiry as to the real power of the God of
Judah would, from the heathen standpoint, not be inconsistent with the real aim of the
mission.
All this fully explains the Biblical narrative. It is not necessary to suppose that the
question of a treaty against Assyria was actually discussed between Hezekiah and the
envoys of Merodach-baladan. Indeed, as this is not stated in Scripture, it seems unlikely
that a treaty had been made or even proposed. In any case, it could not have been carried
out, since long before it could have been acted upon Merodach-baladan was driven away.
On the other hand, it seems equally clear that Hezekiah, however reticent he may have
been, secretly favored the design of the embassy. It was with this view -- to give practical
evidence of his might - that "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 oil,
(^)