Sefer Yeshayahu, chapter 39. With your permission, I would first like to read the entire chapter, to raise several questions that arise here in the chapter, which is a short chapter, and then to begin explaining everything according to the Malbim. "At that time Merodach Baladan son of Baladan, king of Bavel, sent letters and a gift to Chizkiyahu, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. Chizkiyahu rejoiced over them and showed them his treasure house, the silver and the gold, the spices and the fine oil, and all his armory, and all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house and in all his dominion that Chizkiyahu did not show them. Then Yeshayahu the prophet came to King Chizkiyahu and said to him, what did these men say, and from where did they come to you? And Chizkiyahu said, they came to me from a far country, from Bavel. And he said, what did they see in your house? And Chizkiyahu said, they saw all that is in my house; there was nothing among my storehouses that I did not show them. Then Yeshayahu said to Chizkiyahu, hear the word of Hashem of Hosts. Behold, days are coming when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up until this day, shall be carried off to Bavel; nothing shall be left, says Hashem. And of your sons who will issue from you, whom you will beget, they will take, and they will become officers in the palace of the king of Bavel. And Chizkiyahu said to Yeshayahu, the word of Hashem that you have spoken is good. And he said, for there will be peace and truth in my days."
Good, that is the text as it stands, and first of all we want to examine it. First, seemingly what does the prophet Yeshayahu want from him for boasting in his wealth? Did Shlomo not boast in his wealth? Did he not display his greatness, his kingship, before many nations? Did not all sorts of kingdoms come here to pose riddles to Shlomo, to behold his greatness? What in fact do they want from him? He showed his treasure houses, is a king forbidden to show his treasure houses? Another matter: it is written in Divrei HaYamim that Chizkiyahu's heart grew haughty, and there was wrath upon Yehuda and Yerushalayim. The Malbim asks, what haughtiness of heart? He innocently went and showed his treasures; what haughtiness of heart are we speaking of here? And in particular, the Malbim says, it is written that Hashem left him in the hand of the envoys of the officers of Bavel, to test him, to know all that was in his heart. What test, and what "all that was in his heart," and what was so exposed here? What is so terrible? And another difficulty: who is punished? His sons. What did his sons sin? Fathers ate sour grapes and the sons' teeth are set on edge? And in particular, since Chazal, as it were, say, come and see what is written here: the king of Bavel will come, carry off all that is in your house that your fathers stored up until this day, and take your sons to be officers in his palaces, exile them. What, does Yerushalayim have no sins? Did we do nothing? Only Chizkiyahu, this is what happened with Chizkiyahu, and because of this there is exile? After all, we know that Yerushalayim sinned grievously; there was idolatry there, immorality, bloodshed, and here, as it were, everything is pinned on Chizkiyahu. Chizkiyahu, you showed them the treasures, that's it, know that a decree has been issued. What, that's it? Am I the whole story here? Did Yerushalayim do nothing?
And in particular, afterward Chizkiyahu says the matter you have spoken is good; they tell you such a curse, as it were, so what is so good about it? What is so wonderful? Is Chizkiyahu pleased, as it were? Is the main thing that there will be peace and truth in his days? The main thing for me is that there will be peace in my days, I am at ease, do with my children as you wish. Can one understand such a thing? Is this how a person speaks regarding his own children? And in particular, that your children will suffer because of you. Any person would feel some pangs of conscience over this. And he says, what do I care, the main thing is that in my days it will be good, everything else does not interest me. That is seemingly how it comes across. It will be good in my days, that is enough for me, the main thing is that no harm will come to me. I only raise these as questions so that you do not remain stuck with them; we will soon see the Malbim's explanation, but seemingly it comes across very badly. It will be good in my days, that is enough for me, the main thing is that nothing bad will happen to me.
"At that time Merodach Baladan son of Baladan, king of Bavel, sent letters and a gift to Chizkiyahu, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered." Rashi first explains what caused Merodach Baladan son of Baladan, king of Bavel, to send letters and a gift to Chizkiyahu. Chazal say, that Merodach was accustomed to eating at the third hour and going back to sleep until the ninth hour. If we want it in our modern terms, he was accustomed to eating at 8:00-9:00 in the morning, going back to sleep until 3:00-4:00 in the afternoon, and he had an afternoon kingdom, not a daytime one. In the morning he would sleep. Since the sun's disk had returned for Chizkiyahu, when he arose from his sleep at the ninth hour, meaning 3:00-4:00 in the afternoon, he finds that it is morning. What is going on? What does he in fact realize? Sir, you slept 24 hours. For if I went back to sleep at 8:00-9:00 in the morning and I wake up again at 8:00-9:00 in the morning and I know that I slept several good hours, that means I in effect made, as it were, a full loop, I went around the full 24 hours, I slept. Over such a thing he sought to kill all his servants. He said, did you leave me sleeping day and night until morning? What, you did not wake me? They told him it was the sun's disk that had returned. No, we are sorry, my lord the king, know that the sun went backward. On that argument alone I would have killed them. But look, he accepts it as a natural matter. Ah, the sun's disk returned? Who returned it? That is to say, he accepts it, natural, it can be, it returned, it returned, it returned. Just tell me who returned it. The question is truly strange, but he accepts it. Apparently he saw that everyone was saying it, it was not some conspiracy staged against him or someone trying to deceive him. Then they told him, it is the God of Chizkiyahu. Apparently within a very short time the matter began to become widespread in the world, they told him it is the God of Chizkiyahu, that is, the sorcerers who knew somewhat more hidden things, they told him it is the God of Chizkiyahu. Then he said, if he has such a God, I want to speak with Him, to meet Him, to send Him a gift.
The Malbim says, let us now have the Malbim explain to us everything that stands behind the pesukim we read, which seemingly are innocent pesukim, a person is interested, sees some wonderful thing, wants to send a gift, but the Malbim explains to us everything happening here beneath the surface. The Malbim says, this miracle was an enormous miracle, a great miracle, a famous miracle; its report went out through all the land. The whole world sees the sun going back 10 degrees, from afternoon it becomes morning, this is something that cannot be ignored. They send in order to scout, to spy, to try to understand for what and for whom this miracle was performed. For truly, the Malbim says, the Holy One does not perform such a miracle for Chizkiyahu and for him to know that he would be healed. On this we already asked back then: what, Chizkiyahu, what do you want, to be healed? In another three days you will know. For this the sun must be turned back, as it seemingly comes across from the plain meaning of the text? From the plain meaning of the text it comes across that he asked what sign he would have that he would be healed, and Yeshayahu tells him the sun will go back 10 degrees. Why is such an enormous thing needed? Does a person need to buy a hospital because he needs an aspirin? Is that logical? Go buy an aspirin tablet, buy a tablet for two shekels, why for this does he go buy a whole hospital? Here the Holy One performs a miracle for a person, turns the sun back, for what? To tell Chizkiyahu, believe, you will be healed. In three days he will be healed, he will know, he will believe in another three days. What is the plain meaning of this? The Malbim says, certainly anyone who has eyes understands that this miracle was not performed for this reason, but rather this miracle was performed in order to inform someone far away that there is a great God in heaven. And to whom, in fact? "And those lost in the land of Ashur and those scattered in the land of Mitzrayim will come." The Holy One had already exiled, the ten tribes had already gone into exile, and the Holy One wants to arouse them and tell them, know that there is a great God in heaven who still thinks of you. And how would they know? Through what would they have an arousal to return and not sever the thin thread that still connects them to Judaism? When they see the God of Yisrael performing such miracles, such wonders, the sun going backward, the whole world talking about it, every news broadcast opening with it, and then they hear, the God of Yisrael, the Holy One, performed a miracle. Then they understand, there is still a God in heaven, we still have reasons to be connected to the Infinite One, blessed be He. And indeed Chazal say that as a result of this some of the ten tribes returned, returned back to the land. That is to say, there was some sort of arousal. Some of them returned to their land under the shade of Chizkiyahu, and none stood against them, for their dread had fallen upon all the inhabitants of the land, the Malbim says, as he prophesied about this above in chapter 18, in pesukim, and in chapters 24, 13, and 17, and in several places. The Malbim says, had they merited it, then now this would have been an opportunity through which the general ingathering would have occurred, and the Mashiach would have come, and the redemption would have arrived. Had they taken this miracle properly, had they used this miracle as a lever toward closeness to Hashem. And this is what Chazal say, the Holy One wished to make Chizkiyahu the Mashiach. The Holy One had a plan that now the redemption would come. The Holy One wished to make Chizkiyahu the Mashiach, but from this matter, instead of a great benefit emerging, a great ruin emerged.
And on the contrary, who arrives here? Merodach Baladan son of Baladan, king of Bavel. And why in fact does he come? From the plain meaning of the text it appears to be wonder, what a miracle, who is this, who is this God? For whose sake was such a miracle performed? No. He says, we see throughout Tanach that the king of Bavel and the king of Ashur had a very great closeness, and at times they were even called one kingdom. Ashur, Kasdim, Bavel, are sometimes all called one kingdom. They had a very great connection. And now we all remember what happened with Sancheriv. What happened to Sancheriv? Sancheriv died along with all his troops, 180,000 army chiefs. To Bavel this was very painful, they are part of them, this is their kingdom, they are together. And ever since then they think thoughts of how we will return and take vengeance on Yisrael, how we will recover all the millions, as we said, for Sancheriv king of Ashur came here, came here with all the silver and gold that he took against Tirhaka king of Kush, and all this we received, and they lost their entire army here, an army of millions. They think to themselves, how do we take vengeance on Yisrael, how do we exact from them for what they did to us. And behold, they did not wait long, in the time of Menashe it is written, the officers of the army of the king of Ashur came upon him and bound him with fetters and brought him to Bavel, they put him into a pot, as we all know the story, where he began to cry out to Hashem. He says, and if so, you will understand that they were very, very interested to know what the power of Yisrael is. Now see how clever they were. They came as interested parties. What is this? What is this power? From where? What is the miracle about? Why do they want to know? Because they have plans to come conquer Yisrael. And they in fact want to know, there is a secret weapon here, we must know how to deal with it. We must know how to neutralize this weapon. "Tell me wherein your strength lies, and with what you may be bound to subdue you." Who said this? Delila to Shimshon. This is exactly their aim. Wherein your strength lies, and with what you may be bound to subdue you. They want to know from where this power comes, and whether this power is conquerable, whether this power is a power that can be overcome.
But Chizkiyahu did not grasp the matter. Chizkiyahu did not understand that they came as spies, he thought they came as admirers. He thought they came as those in awe. This Chizkiyahu did not understand. And when they arrive and ask him by what merit this great wonder occurred, instead of Chizkiyahu telling them, the Holy One remembers the ten tribes, the Holy One wants to arouse them, the Holy One wants to gather His scattered ones, what does he tell them? Me. Me. Do you know how important I am to the Holy One? Do you know what merits I have before Hashem, blessed be He? Do you know how much the Holy One loves me? He moved the sun 10 degrees backward for me. A sign so that I would be healed of my illness. And this was a great sin for Chizkiyahu, the Malbim says. This sin is defined in Divrei HaYamim as "his heart grew haughty, and there was wrath upon him and upon Yehuda and upon Yerushalayim." This is truly a great sin. The Holy One performs such an enormous wonder, and you, Chizkiyahu, appropriate it to yourself for what? Only to say that you will be healed of your illness? Had you conveyed the matter as it was, Ashur would have sent back those scattered in Ashur, Mitzrayim would have sent back those lost in the land of Mitzrayim, they would have sent them back, they would have seen that there is a God in heaven. But what did you do? You calmed them down. You told them no, no, no, no, no, do not worry, this is only connected, this is me, me, the Holy One only wanted to show me that I would be healed. Now what did he do with this? The Malbim says, his sin was twofold. The meaning is that there was a double sin here. First, there was an element of pride here, that the Holy One performed such an enormous miracle and wonder especially for me. And this is what is written in Divrei HaYamim, "because He left him, God, to test him, to know all that was in his heart." That is to say, the Malbim has a difficulty: why did the Holy One not tell him explicitly, I will now perform a miracle to arouse the ten tribes? Why did He not tell him this explicitly? He says, this is what Divrei HaYamim states, "God left him to test him, to know all that was in his heart." Hashem wants to examine this very point. To know all that was in his heart, what passes through Chizkiyahu's heart. This is not literal, for the Holy One knows what is in a person's heart, but one cannot punish a person for what is in his heart. The Holy One wanted to see whether it would emerge from potential into actuality. Now understand, there was an additional sin here. The additional sin was that he went and told this to the officers of Bavel. And the Malbim says, this is not only a sin, it is also foolishness. For when you say such a thing to them, what did you cause? Ah, Chizkiyahu, we were already frightened, we thought Hashem performs such wonders for Yisrael, we thought, this is for you, personally. Conclusion: let Chizkiyahu finish his story, when he dies, we will deal with his son. Chizkiyahu is apparently a uniquely righteous man, according to what he now tells us, that the Holy One performs unique miracles for him. There have never been such things, and when Chizkiyahu departs there will never be such things again either. And then we will be able to overcome him. What did he in fact do? He encouraged them. He told them, know that this is a private miracle for me, you have nothing to worry about, it is not for Yisrael. So consequently after I depart, you will be able to do what you want. He did not say this explicitly, but in effect, by appropriating the miracle to himself, he as it were gave them a green light to come afterward. And this is what the Malbim says, and this is what caused them to strengthen their hearts to come in the time of Menashe. All the time of Chizkiyahu it was truly quiet, listen, one does not tangle with such a nation. He is capable of taking the sun backward, who knows what else he is capable of. But when he departs, with his son we will settle the account. And therefore they indeed come thinking that their shade has departed with the death of their king. That's it, their king was the problem here, he departed, it is finished. Therefore Chazal say that the Holy One wished to make Chizkiyahu the Mashiach, only that he did not sing a song of praise. What is the meaning of this? The Holy One performed an enormous miracle; you should have thanked Hashem, blessed be He, for the miracle He performed, instead of thanking Hashem for the miracle He performed by returning the sun in order to gather His scattered ones, instead you went and appropriated the miracle to yourself. Through this there was no general ingathering, no gathering of the scattered ones, no redemption of Yisrael, and additionally the dread of Yisrael from the kings of Ashur departed and they came upon them, as we said.
"Chizkiyahu rejoiced over them and showed them his treasure house, the silver and the gold, the spices and the fine oil, and all his armory, and all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house and in all his dominion that Chizkiyahu did not show them." "And he showed them his treasure house (beit nechoto)." Beit nechoto, Rashi brings, this is his storehouse of spices. They had a special place where they stored all their spices, as it is written "nechot and balm and myrrh." "And the fine oil," some say, Rashi says, this is the anointing oil, with which they would anoint the kings or the kohanim. Some say it is the balsam oil. Balsam oil was found in Eretz Yisrael, it is called peneg. It is called balsam oil, as brought in Sefer Yosifon, that this is the balsam oil that grew in Yericho, and therefore Yericho is called Yericho on account of the fragrance (reiach), which was most special. And do not confuse the persimmon we have today, the Ben Yehuda variety, with the balsam oil; there is no connection between them. Balsam oil was a most special oil, most precious, which spread its fragrance far. When was it used, does anyone know? For sin? To set the bride alight. Oh, long before. You are right, the mother-in-law set her daughter-in-law alight with balsam oil because it burns easily, correct, but long before. It is written that the people of Sedom, when they wanted to discover the hiding place where people hid their money, someone would deposit money with him, and he would place a vial of balsam along with it. That one would place it in his safe, in some hiding place where he hid his belongings, and the other would arrive like some little dog at night, sniffing, searching for where the fragrance of the balsam was, going by the smell, arriving there, taking his own money and also the money of the homeowner, and leaving. These were their methods. Balsam oil had a most special fragrance. "And there was nothing that he did not show them," Chazal say, even the Sefer Torah and the Tablets of the Covenant, he showed them everything. The Gemara in Sanhedrin 104 says, what is beit nechoto? Rav said, his wife poured drink for them. The meaning is his wife, you should have kept things private, and he brought his wife to be the one to pour drink for them. Bring servants, bring attendants. No, as it were he wanted to honor them, but where is your dignity? Shmuel said, he showed them his storehouses. Rabbi Yochanan said, weaponry that consumes weaponry. The meaning is iron that governs iron. Iron so strong that with it you can saw any other iron, yes, what is called today hardened steel. Apparently he had at that time a most special iron capable of governing all other iron, capable of bending and breaking and cutting all other iron.
The Malbim. The Malbim says, "and he rejoiced over them." This comes to inform you that he did not rejoice in them themselves. For he sensed that they did not come as those forging a covenant, as friends, as those coming as admirers, but rather came more as those wanting to try to understand from what and from where his power stems. Nonetheless he rejoiced over their occasion. Why over their occasion? That he now had an occasion to boast before them. He had an occasion to come and tell them how great he is, how much honor he has, how much wealth he has, what mighty treasures he has. And this is an opportunity, here there is someone before whom to boast, come and see, he shows them everything, there was nothing that Chizkiyahu did not show them in his house. I have an opportunity now, this is the meaning of "and he rejoiced over them," over the occasion presented before him to display and boast in his wealth. What does he in fact want to show them? Do not think only that I am favored in Hashem's eyes; know that I am also successful in all my affairs, in wealth, in honor, in the treasures of kings, in extraordinary success. And here the Malbim says, there was a double sin here. First, he sinned, in the Malbim's language it is called against the wisdom of governance. The meaning is, you did something here that by logic is foolishness. And why? Since you had already grasped that they came as spies, why do you show them your treasures? When you show a king who came to spy your treasures, what did you do here? You gave him an appetite, you tempted him. Listen, there are millions here, there are billions here. The Malbim says, the way of kings was to conceal their treasures. And why? So as not to encourage other kings to come conquer them. And what did you do? You showed them everything. So that is one sin, a sin of foolishness. The second sin, the Malbim says, is a sin against Hashem. For the Holy One said, he shall not greatly multiply for himself silver and gold. Why? So that his heart not be lifted above his brethren. Now, is that not what you did here? You, Hashem multiplies for you silver and gold, and you boast in it, glorify yourself over it, glorify yourself over them, telling them, see what wealth I have. For this very reason it is written that he shall not multiply for himself silver and gold, so you sinned against the divine command that he not multiply for himself silver and gold, and moreover you stumbled as a result of it, for behold your heart was lifted up and you appropriate all your successes to yourself.
"Then Yeshayahu the prophet came to King Chizkiyahu and said to him, what did these men say, and from where did they come to you? And Chizkiyahu said, they came to me from a far country, from Bavel." Before we see what the Malbim explains, first of all Rashi brings the words of Chazal: this is one of three men whom the Omnipresent tested, there is a difficult expression in Chazal, and found to be a jug of urine. A difficult expression, meaning He as it were struck them to see whether it was a sturdy vessel, and found that this vessel was a poor vessel. And who are they? Kayin, Chizkiyahu, and Bilam. Chizkiyahu should have answered him, why do you ask me who and what? You are a prophet, you ought to know. And instead of answering thus, he began to be proud and said, they came to me from a far country. Therefore he was punished. And likewise Bilam, when the Holy One asks him, who are these men with you? He should have said, Master of the world, is anything hidden from You? But no, what did he tell Him? Balak son of Tzipor, king of Moav, sent to me, I am important, Master of the world. Do You see how important I am? People send emissaries to me. Kayin, when the Holy One asks him, where is Hevel your brother? He should have said, Master of the world, all hidden things are revealed to You. And with all this, what did he tell Him? How should I know, am I my brother's keeper? What, do I look like a Russian to you? What am I guarding? What, why do you ask me questions? Is that an answer one gives to the Creator of the world? You should have said, Master of the world, You know better.
Let us see what the Malbim says. The Malbim says, whoever pays attention, examining the question the prophet asks, notices that there are in fact two questions here. "What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?" It is just that what is not understood here is the order of the question. For first I ask from where the men came to you, and afterward I get into the details, now tell me what they said to you. I do not begin with what they said to you and afterward from where they came to you. This is something contrary to logic. Another matter: he answers him that they came to him from a far country. The answer is, "and Chizkiyahu said, they came to me from a far country, from Bavel." Forgive me, but this is an insult to Yeshayahu's intelligence. For if you ask me from where they came, I say to you, from Bavel. Yeshayahu already knows whether Bavel is far or near. Why say "from a far country, from Bavel"? If you told me a place whose name you do not mention, you tell me "from a far country," fine, I understood. But once you tell me the place, do you need to tell me far or near? He asks you from where, you tell him from America, from far away. America, I know whether it is far or near. What is "they came to me from a far country, from Bavel"? What is the emphasis here? The Malbim says, Yeshayahu comes and rebukes him on the two matters in which he sinned. First, for saying that the wonder was for me, not for Yisrael, I am beloved in Hashem's eyes, the Holy One performs miracles for me, for me the Holy One moved the sun 10 degrees backward. Second sin, why did you go and show them your treasures? Therefore he asks him first, what did these men say? The intent here is in fact to ask him first about the wonder. Tell me, what did they ask, what did you answer them? And another matter he asks him: did you show these men your treasures, your storehouses? For these men are dangerous, these men can develop an appetite, come with their army, and plunder. How did you go and show them such a thing? So the second question is in fact subordinate, for the first question is the graver one. How can it be that you went and boasted and were proud and said that all the miracle and wonder, that the Holy One moved the sun, was all for you? And this is truly a great and enormous question. An additional question is also, do you not think it unwise to do what you did, to go and tell them and show them your treasures? And in particular, if you noticed, we mentioned in the past as well, that in effect by mentioning that Hashem performed a miracle for me, what is he in fact saying? I am the great one here. So what they conclude from this is, we must wait for him to die, and when his son is here we will conquer the kingdom. For with him there is a problem, he is close to the Creator of the world. So fine, as long as you are here, naturally they will not come, they will not take a risk. But when you die they will come and conquer the kingdom. And thus it indeed happened in the end. Now, had you said it is because Yisrael is beloved in Hashem's eyes, then they would have said it is not worth dealing with this nation, and then they would not have come at all. But by appropriating the merit to yourself, we explained that you in effect caused them to come and conquer your sons, as he will soon state this matter in a more explicit fashion. And therefore he comes and asks him, the first question is what did they ask you and what did you answer them, for this is the matter of the wonder, which was the more critical matter here in the whole story, and the second question is the secondary question, from where did these men come to you, meaning, are you not concerned that they will come to provoke war against you? Chizkiyahu understood the questions very well. Chizkiyahu was a righteous king, Chizkiyahu was a wise king, he understood very, very well the questions of the prophet Yeshayahu and also understood the rebuke within them. And therefore, notice, he ignores the first question. The question that repeats and says, why did you go and tell that the wonder was on your merit, he has no answer to it. He has no answer to it, this truly caught him in his failing. And therefore he does not answer this. To the second question he responds, you say you took a risk, are there people here who will come to conquer the kingdom? He tells him no, no, no, they came to me from a far country, from Bavel. Now understand why he repeats. He tells him, they came to me from Bavel. From Bavel until today I have had no problem, since until today there was no threat to me from Bavel, it is to me like a far country. Like a land from which there is no risk. And if there is no risk from it, then there is no need to start raising concerns that tomorrow they will come to conquer you. Until today I had no problem, this is for me like a far country, so there is no room to be concerned, and therefore I showed them my treasures. On this point he had, as it were, some room for justification. "And he said, what did they see in your house? And Chizkiyahu said, they saw all that is in my house; there was nothing among my storehouses that I did not show them." Now he comes and asks a second time about this point, to which he did respond, on which he did answer him. He asks him, what did they see in your house? And then he tells him, listen, since according to my understanding they are from a far country, is there any impediment to showing them something? Is there any impediment to showing them my treasures? They will not come, they are from a far country. And therefore he tells him, there was nothing among my storehouses that I did not show them. I showed them everything for there is no room whatsoever to be concerned, for these men are from a far country.
"Then Yeshayahu said to Chizkiyahu, hear the word of Hashem of Hosts. Behold, days are coming when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up until this day, shall be carried off to Bavel; nothing shall be left, says Hashem. And of your sons who will issue from you, whom you will beget, they will take, and they will become officers in the palace of the king of Bavel." He tells him, know that although now it seems to you that these men come from a far country, they are not connected here at all, there is no need to be concerned about them. He tells him, see what you caused. Behold, days are coming when all that is in your house shall be carried off. They will lift up everything in your house. They saw your treasures, and through this they were aroused to come to conquer you. Until in the end they will take everything. They will take everything. Just as you said there was nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them, there will be nothing that they will not take from your storehouses. They will take everything. And not only everything, also your sons. And they will become officers in the palace of the king of Bavel. Who are these? Rashi says, Chananya, Mishael, and Azarya. These are descendants of the royal line, and they too will be taken.
Chizkiyahu's answer and response are astonishing. "And Chizkiyahu said to Yeshayahu, the word of Hashem that you have spoken is good. And he said, for there will be peace and truth in my days." First of all, what is so good? He just told him a curse. And the ending is far harder, it sounds very, very egotistical. That is to say, in my days it will be fine, let my children get into trouble, I am at ease. If you said it is only for me, then that is fine. And certainly, certainly, such a thing would not enter one's mind to say about an ordinary person, and all the more so about a righteous king like Chizkiyahu, and all the more so when he knows that the trouble to come upon his sons comes because of him. So how can he say, peace be upon my soul? So indeed, let us now understand what is written here. The Malbim says, Chizkiyahu recognized that he had acted foolishly. That he erred in what he did, and he acknowledged that what the Holy One says, the word of Hashem is very good. First, from the standpoint of the wisdom in the matter. The meaning is, as we said, the Holy One does not bring a punishment upon you; what you cooked, you will eat. What did you cook? An invitation to an attack, and you will receive this attack. Inevitably they will come and conquer you, and this is from your foolishness, you cannot complain about anyone else. This you did, in this you are guilty. And also from the standpoint of justice and punishment, from the standpoint of justice and fairness as a punishment. Since I was proud, and since I acted not according to Hashem's will, I also deserve punishment. So first, I brought this upon myself, I have nothing to complain about. Second, I am also worthy of punishment from Hashem. And if so, he says, the word of Hashem is good. The meaning is, he justifies the judgment of heaven upon himself. There is truth and justice in this judgment, I do not complain about this harsh decree. Now notice, the Malbim says, there is a difference between a decree for good and a decree for bad. This is something we have already learned several times in the past. A decree for good will inevitably be fulfilled. It does not depend on and is not conditioned upon good conduct, it is not conditioned upon a change of deeds. A decree for good will be fulfilled. In contrast, a decree for bad will not necessarily be fulfilled. A decree for bad, it may well be that in the end the people will repent and the decree will not be fulfilled. Such a thing we see many times in the prophets, and thus the Rambam also says, when one wishes to test a prophet, whether he is a true prophet, they tell him, prophesy about a good thing that will be fulfilled in a certain period of time. They do not tell him, prophesy about a bad thing, for if he says in another two weeks war will break out, and no war broke out, he can always say they repented and therefore no war broke out. But if he says that in another two weeks such and such will happen, some enormous abundance, and it does not come, what will he say? No, what will he say, that they changed their deeds? The Holy One does not relent, He does not go back on a good promise that He promises. Except for one case that occurred with Eli and the house of Eli, we once spoke about it, we will not enter into it. But ordinarily the Holy One does not go back on a promise for good. Now let us notice what is written here. There are two decrees here. One for good and one for bad. The decree for bad is that enemies will come upon your sons. Now tell me, will the decree for bad inevitably be fulfilled? No. For it may be that my sons will straighten their path, it may be that they will repent, perhaps I too will repent. The decree for bad will not necessarily be fulfilled. So the decree that enemies will come upon your sons, about this I am less troubled. It can be nullified. Afterward, "and he said, for there will be peace and truth in my days." There is a decree for good. What did the Holy One say? From within this statement that enemies will come upon your sons, in your days there will be no evil. Now is this a decree for good or for bad? Certainly for good, for He promises me that in my days there will be peace. From this will the Holy One go back or not? Certainly He will not go back. So notice how wonderful. Here I received a promise that all my days no evil will come, and from this the Holy One will certainly not go back. "And he said, for there will be peace and truth in my days," this is a very wonderful promise. This is a promise from which the Holy One will not go back, and for this I acknowledge and praise Hashem. Yes, but there is also an added tail that says that in the days of your sons there will be trouble. He says, ah, well, about this I am less troubled. Not because it does not concern me, but because it is a decree for bad, and a decree for bad the Holy One can go back on. And if my sons repent and mend their deeds, then indeed the decree will not be fulfilled. And therefore, in summary, what is promised here? The good. The bad is not entirely promised. So this is certainly a reason to rejoice. I once told you that someone was at the doctor, and afterward went to his Rebbe, his Admor, and began to weep. Weeping, weeping. The Admor asks him, why are you weeping? He tells him, I was just at the doctors, and he told me he has three months, that's it, three months he promises me, no more than that. He tells him, rejoice! Me, they did not promise me even one day. Who promises you one moment? He says, here they promised you three months to live, how wonderful, rejoice. This is what is called a decree for good. Can anyone promise you a minute? Can anyone promise you a moment? All credit to this doctor, being generous, he promised you three months. He says, a person who is given such a good promise, that there will be peace and truth in my days, if it comes from Hashem I am at ease. This is a very wonderful promise. And the bad decree, with Hashem's help, they will repent and change that decree only for good.