Hezekiah

Life and work

Hezekiah became king of Judah around 715 BC (dates vary somewhat among chronologies), son of the notoriously wicked Ahaz, whom he succeeded at about age 25. From the outset he set himself apart from his father's policies, immediately beginning a sweeping religious reform (2 Kings 18:1-6; 2 Chronicles 29).

In the first month of his reign he reopened and repaired the doors of the Jerusalem temple, which Ahaz had shut, and directed the Levites to cleanse it of the accumulated filth and idolatrous furnishings of previous reigns (2 Chronicles 29:3-19). He then reinstituted temple worship with a formal rededication ceremony, sin offerings, and the restoration of Levitical music and singing (2 Chronicles 29:20-36).

Hezekiah reached out to the remnant of the northern kingdom, which had already been shattered by Assyria, inviting them to a national Passover celebration in Jerusalem — an unprecedented act of religious reunification (2 Chronicles 30). He also destroyed the high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles throughout Judah, and famously broke into pieces the bronze serpent Moses had made in the wilderness, because the people had begun burning incense to it (2 Kings 18:4).

Scripture gives Hezekiah an extraordinary commendation: 'He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him' (2 Kings 18:5). He rebelled against Assyrian vassalage and struck out against the Philistines, and the text notes 'the Lord was with him; wherever he went out he prospered' (2 Kings 18:6-8).

Hezekiah's central crisis came in 701 BC, when the Assyrian king Sennacherib invaded Judah, captured its fortified cities, and besieged Jerusalem itself, demanding surrender through his field commander (the Rabshakeh), who taunted the city's defenders in Hebrew within earshot of the walls (2 Kings 18:13-37; Isaiah 36). In preparation, Hezekiah had already undertaken a major engineering feat: cutting a roughly 1,750-foot tunnel through solid bedrock to channel the Gihon Spring's water inside the city walls, denying any besieging army an outside water source (2 Kings 20:20; 2 Chronicles 32:2-4, 30).

Facing the Assyrian threat, Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the temple, then sent to the prophet Isaiah for word from the Lord. Isaiah delivered assurance that Sennacherib would not take the city (2 Kings 19:1-7). When a further threatening letter arrived, Hezekiah spread it out before the Lord in the temple and prayed; Isaiah again promised deliverance, and the narrative reports that the angel of the Lord struck down a massive number of Assyrian troops in the night, forcing Sennacherib to withdraw to Nineveh (2 Kings 19:14-37; Isaiah 37).

Hezekiah fell mortally ill and was told by Isaiah to set his house in order, for he would die. He wept and prayed, and the Lord granted him fifteen additional years of life, confirmed by the sign of the sun's shadow retreating on the stairway of Ahaz (2 Kings 20:1-11; Isaiah 38). In gratitude, but also in a moment of pride, he later showed off all his treasures and armory to envoys from Babylon, prompting Isaiah to warn that everything Hezekiah possessed — and some of his own descendants — would one day be carried off to Babylon (2 Kings 20:12-19; Isaiah 39).

Hezekiah reigned twenty-nine years and died having accumulated great wealth and honor, buried among the tombs of David's descendants with the highest honors given by all Judah and Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 32:27-33). His son Manasseh succeeded him and, in a stark reversal, became one of Judah's most idolatrous kings.

Dating

Became king at 25 and reigned 29 years (2 Kings 18:2). His reign is well anchored by Assyrian records: Sennacherib's own annals (the Taylor Prism) describe his 701 BC siege of Jerusalem, matching 2 Kings 18-19 and Isaiah 36-37 in remarkable detail, down to shutting Hezekiah up 'like a bird in a cage.'

Extra-biblical evidence

Scripture references

• 2 Kings 18-20 — Full narrative of his reign, reform, the Assyrian siege, and his illness
• 2 Chronicles 29-32 — Chronicler's account of his temple reforms and the Assyrian crisis
• Isaiah 36-39 — Parallel account, including his prayer and Isaiah's oracles
• Matthew 1:9-10 — Listed in the genealogy of Jesus

Further reading

• Encyclopaedia Britannica: Hezekiah
• The Israel Museum: The Siloam Inscription

Reflect

When the threatening letter came, Hezekiah spread it out before God — what worry could you literally lay out in prayer today?