Son and successor of Ahaz. Hezekiah “did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did.” He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that there was none like him before or after. He reigned from B.C. 727 to 698.
Hezekiah began his reign by opening the doors of the house of the Lord, which was cleansed and repaired by the priests and Levites. Then he called the rulers, and sacrifices were offered as sin offerings for the kingdom and the sanctuary, and for Judah; songs were sung, and the king and all present bowed themselves and worshipped. He proposed to all Israel and Judah to come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to keep the Passover, and invitations were sent to all the tribes to turn to the Lord and to come and keep it. Though his messengers were in general mocked, there was a remnant that responded to the king’s invitation. Such was the joy that after the seven days of unleavened bread they kept another seven days with gladness.
What naturally followed this worship was the removal of all signs of idolatry. Because the people had burnt incense to the brazen serpent, he brake it in pieces calling it “a piece of brass.” He clave to the Lord, and the Lord was with him, and prospered him whithersoever he went.
The unfaithfulness of Ahaz had given the Assyrians a footing in Immanuel’s land, against which Hezekiah rebelled, but afterward submitted to pay tribute. Sennacherib required complete submission, and the Assyrians came with a great host against Jerusalem. Their general not only reviled Hezekiah, but spoke against God, comparing Him with the gods of the nations which the Assyrians had conquered. Hezekiah rent his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. God wrought deliverance. There was a rumor of opposition elsewhere, and the general departed. Of the Assyrians 185,000 were slain in one night: Sennacherib returned to Nineveh and was subsequently killed by two of his own sons.
We next read of Hezekiah’s sickness, when Isaiah was sent to tell him to set his house in order, for he should die. Hezekiah wept sore and prayed for his life, and it was prolonged fifteen years. Though he had witnessed a great deliverance of the Lord, his faith was weak and he asked for a sign. God made the shadow go back ten degrees on the dial of Ahaz. But Hezekiah rendered not to the Lord according to the benefit done to him, for his heart was lifted up, therefore there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem. Yet, on Hezekiah humbling himself with the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the wrath came not in his days.
Hezekiah had great riches; and when Berodach-baladan, king of Babylon, sent ambassadors to him with a present, for they heard that he had been sick, and to inquire of the wonder that had been done in the land (doubtless the shadow going back ten degrees), Hezekiah showed them all his riches; and then he had to hear the sorrowful tidings that all he had shown them should be carried into Babylon, and his sons should be made eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. Hezekiah piously resigned himself to the will of Jehovah. We read that God had “left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.” It was pride; but God was gracious, and Hezekiah seemed to have the consciousness that God would give him peace and truth in his days (2 Kings 18-20; 2 Chron. 29-32; Isa. 36-39; Jer. 26:18-19; Hos. 1:1; Mic. 1:1).