The kings of Israel and Judah

King Hezekiah

The kingdom of Judah (the south) · Reigned twenty-nine years (2 Kings 18:2) · Right before God · 2 Kings 18 to 20; 2 Chronicles 29 to 32; Isaiah 36 to 39

Hezekiah, the son of the wicked Ahaz, was one of the greatest kings of Judah. He trusted in the LORD as no king before or after him, reopened and cleansed the temple his father had shut, destroyed the high places and idols, and kept a great Passover. When the mighty Assyrian army besieged Jerusalem and mocked the living God, Hezekiah spread the enemy's letter before the LORD and prayed, and the angel of the LORD struck down the Assyrian host in a single night.

He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.2 Kings 18:5 (KJV)

The great reformer

Hezekiah did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did. In the first month of his reign he opened the doors of the house of the LORD that his father Ahaz had shut, and had the priests cleanse and reconsecrate the temple. He removed the high places, broke the images, cut down the groves, and even broke in pieces the bronze serpent Moses had made, because the people had turned it into an idol, and he called it Nehushtan, a mere piece of bronze.

He restored the worship of God with joy, and kept a Passover so great that nothing like it had been seen since the days of Solomon, inviting even the remnant of the northern tribes to come. Kings gives him a verdict given to no other: he trusted in the LORD God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him, for he clave to the LORD and departed not from following him.

The great Passover and the healing of a nation's worship

Chronicles dwells on Hezekiah's restoration of worship more than any other part of his reign. He gathered the priests and Levites, reopened and cleansed the temple, restored the offerings and the music of David, and then sent letters throughout Judah and even into the fallen northern kingdom, inviting the scattered remnant of Israel to come to Jerusalem and keep the Passover to the LORD God of Israel. Some in the north mocked the messengers, but others humbled themselves and came.

So a great Passover was kept with gladness such as had not been seen since the days of Solomon, and the assembly kept a further seven days of joy. Hezekiah prayed for those who came unprepared, that the good LORD would pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God, and the LORD hearkened and healed the people. He also showed practical wisdom, cutting a tunnel through solid rock to bring the waters of Gihon inside the city walls, so that Jerusalem would have water in the coming siege, a work still visible today.

The Assyrian crisis and the prayer that saved a city

In Hezekiah's day the Assyrian empire, which had already destroyed the northern kingdom, came against Judah. Sennacherib's commander stood before Jerusalem and mocked, telling the people that no god of any nation had saved his people from Assyria, and that the LORD would be no different. Hezekiah received a threatening letter, went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before God, praying, Now therefore, O LORD our God, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only.

Isaiah brought God's answer: the Assyrian would not shoot an arrow into the city, for God would defend it for his own sake and for David's. That night the angel of the LORD went out and struck a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp, and Sennacherib withdrew and was later killed by his own sons. It was one of the great deliverances in all of Scripture.

Sickness, pride, and a merciful reprieve

Hezekiah fell mortally ill, and Isaiah told him to set his house in order, for he would die. Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and wept and prayed, and God heard him and added fifteen years to his life, giving him a sign, the shadow going backward on the sundial. But those added years also held his failure: when envoys came from Babylon, Hezekiah proudly showed them all his treasures, and Isaiah warned that one day all of it, and his descendants, would be carried to Babylon.

Chronicles adds that Hezekiah's heart was lifted up, and that God left him to test him, to know what was in his heart. He humbled himself, and the wrath was delayed. Even the best of kings needed mercy for his pride.

The biblical verdict and where it points

Hezekiah stands with Josiah among the very best kings of Judah, singled out for a trust in God unmatched by any other. He tore down idolatry, restored true worship, and in the darkest hour leaned wholly on the LORD and saw a nation saved. His failures, his pride in sickness and before Babylon, are recorded honestly, but the summary is glowing: none like him for trust in God.

His prayer, that all the kingdoms of the earth might know that the LORD is God alone, is the heartbeat of the whole Bible. The deliverance of Jerusalem for David's sake shows God guarding the city and the line from which the true King would come. Hezekiah is a bright picture of the trusting King, and yet even he needed grace, pointing on to the Son of David whose trust in the Father never wavered and who saves not one city but the world.

A note on the record: everything here is drawn from the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. Kings and Chronicles sometimes tell a reign differently, Chronicles often adding a king's repentance or building works, and where they differ this is said plainly rather than smoothed over. The exact lengths and overlaps of the reigns are genuinely complex, because kings often shared the throne with a son for a time, so the totals in Scripture do not always add up in a simple line. The verdict good or evil is the Bible's own assessment, whether a king did right or evil in the sight of the LORD.

Related: Ahaz · Manasseh · All the kings of Israel and Judah