Merodach-baladan (Berodach-baladan in 2 Kings 20:12) was a Chaldean prince who seized Babylon and fought Assyria for thirty years before Nabopolassar's dynasty (ISBE, "Merodach-baladan"; "Babylonia"). He sent envoys to Hezekiah of Judah after the king's illness, ostensibly to congratulate him on his recovery (2 Kings 20:12–13; Isaiah 39:1). The ISBE reads the visit politically: a Chaldean rebel against Assyria courting a western king who might revolt at the same time. Hezekiah showed the envoys his whole treasury, and Isaiah rebuked him, foretelling that all of it would one day be carried to Babylon (Isaiah 39:5–7), a pointer, the narrative suggests, to the exile still to come. (Source: ISBE 1915, "Merodach-baladan.")
Empires and rulers of the Old Testament world
Merodach-baladan: the embassy to Hezekiah
RulerBabylon
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- 2 Kings 20:12bsb
At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard about Hezekiah’s illness.
- Isaiah 39:1bsb
At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard about Hezekiah’s illness and recovery.
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