Isaiah 39:6
Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD. Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD.
The days were coming when everything in the royal house at Jerusalem, including all Hezekiah had displayed and all former generations had stored, would be carried away to Babylon with nothing left behind, yet not until after Hezekiah's own lifetime.
The loss would follow Hezekiah's prideful display of his treasures to Babylon's ambassadors and his failure to use their visit to honor God, in a moment when God left him to test him and reveal what was in his heart.
Their report of what they had seen exposed Jerusalem's wealth to covetous eyes, so Babylon's rulers learned of its riches and planned to seek and seize them for themselves.
The verse therefore warns of the danger of opening one's prosperity and advantages to an enemy of God and to outside strangers, for Hezekiah showed his treasures hoping to gain influence, but his visitors left planning to take what they had seen.
So institutions must not expose their affairs, resources, books, and plans to outsiders and unbelievers for inspection or support, as in showing strangers the riches of a health institution or opening its books for a promised contribution whose harm outweighs the gain, since betraying sacred trust by joining with unbelievers and revealing sacred things and the weakness of God's people dishonors God and brings weakness and ruin.
Hezekiah's Failure and Foretold Loss
The days were coming when everything in the royal house at Jerusalem would be carried to Babylon, both what Hezekiah had shown and what his fathers had laid up in store until that day, with nothing left behind. That removal was the future consequence of his revealing Judah's wealth, and the judgment would not fall in his own lifetime but afterward. What had been displayed and stored would eventually be taken away to Babylon.
The loss followed Hezekiah's prideful display of all his treasures to Babylon's ambassadors and his failure to use their visit to honor God. Instead of magnifying God before them, he opened his house and its riches to their eyes. His pride in showing Judah's treasures thus connected personal unfaithfulness with coming national disaster.
What the envoys saw they reported, and that report exposed the wealth to covetous eyes. Babylon's king and counselors learned of Jerusalem's riches from what the ambassadors had seen. Having seen his possessions and advantages, the visitors left planning to take them for themselves, to seek and seize that wealth. In this setting God left Hezekiah to test him, that what was in his heart might be revealed.
Warning Against Exposing Resources
The verse stands as a warning against opening one's prosperity and advantages to an enemy of God and to outside strangers. What Hezekiah exposed to the Babylonian envoys, including what his fathers had laid up in store, would be carried to Babylon with nothing left behind. Applied to institutions, the same lesson warns against unwisely exposing their resources and affairs to outsiders, and against exposing sacred or confidential things to the wicked, since revealing the weakness of God's people dishonors God and can bring serious consequences.
Hezekiah displayed his treasures believing the display would gain him influence, but the visitors left planning to take for themselves the possessions and advantages they had seen. The warning therefore extends to foreign visitors who may use what they learn to plan how to acquire what has been shown to them. In the same way institutions are warned not to expose their affairs, resources, books, and plans to outsiders and unbelievers for inspection or support, and not to rely on such support without recognizing the danger of that association.
Showing strangers the riches of a health institution, the Sanitarium, is the same as Hezekiah's display of the riches of the Lord's house and his own possessions. That includes opening its books for public inspection for a promised financial contribution, an unwise course whose harm outweighed the gain, illustrated in Dr. Kellogg's display of the Sanitarium's riches. The episode also teaches that God left Hezekiah to test him and reveal what was in his heart. Those who betray sacred trust by joining with unbelievers and relying on them instead of God bring weakness and ruin upon themselves and those in their care.