i, the chief whom the
Assyrians had set over them, seized his person and sent him in chains to
Hezekiah.*

* The name of the city, written Amgarruna, is really
Akkaron-Ekron.

To accept the present was equivalent to open rebellion, and a
declaration of war against the power of the suzerain. Isaiah, as usual,
wished Judah to rely on Jahveh alone, and preached against alliance
with the Babylonians, for he foresaw that success would merely result in
substituting the Kalda for the Ninevite monarch, and in aggravating the
condition of Judah. "All that is in thine house," he said to Hezekiah,
"and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall
be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. And of thy
sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take
away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the King of Babylon."
Hezekiah did not pay much heed to the prediction, for, he reflected,
"peace and truth shall be in my days," and the future troubled him
little.* When the overthrow of Merodach-baladan had taken place, the
prophet still more earnestly urged the people not to incur the vengeance
of Assyria without other help than that of Tyre or Ethiopia, and
Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, spoke in the same strain; but Shebna, the
prefect of the palace, declaimed against this advice, and the latter's
counsel prevailed with his master.**

* 2 Kings xx. 16-19.

** This follows from the terms in which the prophet compares
the two men (Isa. xxii. 15-25).

Hezekiah agreed to accept the sovereignty over Ekron which its
inhabitants offered to him, but a remnant of prudence kept him from
putting Padi to death, and he contented himself with casting him into
prison. Isaiah, though temporarily out of favour with the king, ceased
not to proclaim aloud in all quarters the will of the Almighty. "Woe to
the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not
of Me; and that cover with a covering (form alliances), but not of My
spirit, that they may add sin to sin: that walk to go down into Egypt,
and have not asked at My mouth, to strengthen themselves in the strength
of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the
strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt
your confusion. When your princes shall be at Tanis, and your messengers
shall come to Heracleopolis,* [Heb. Hanes.--Tr.] you shall all be
ashamed