THEOSISCyrill of Alexandria
The prophet was dispatched by God, yet when he first encountered Hezekiah, he feigned to speak from his own authority, asking, “What do these men say?” Such dialogue was quite frequent at that time. The Babylonians likely arrived because, as mentioned earlier, they were curious about the reason for the sun's backward movement and the discussions surrounding this sign. However, instead of revealing the divine might and the submission of creation to the Creator, he presented them with just the incense and vapors of the palace. Thus, the prophet inquired about the reason for their visit and their conversation, but he did not elaborate on that matter. He merely noted that they came from Babylon, a distant land.
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Perhaps he felt a sense of pride that individuals from such a faraway place sought his alliance. When the prophet asked what they had observed, the king replied that they had seen everything; the prophet then prophesied that the day would come when all that was stored in his treasuries, accumulated through the efforts and diligence of his forefathers, would be carried off by the Babylonians. Additionally, he foretold that some of the future children he would have would become eunuchs, specifically serving in the king of Babylon's court. This prophecy was later fulfilled, as the book of Kings confirms. During the reign of Jeconiah, when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah, burned Jerusalem, and also the divine temple, he captured the Israelites, including Daniel and his companions, who became eunuchs in the palace of Babylon’s king. What significance does this prophecy hold, and what purpose does it serve? Through this, God signals that it might have been wiser for the visitors from Babylon to articulate the accounts of the miraculous actions performed through divine power, or at the very least, to refrain from revealing the secrets hidden in the treasuries.