716BC-686BC – King Hezekiah was the 13th King of Judah

King Hezekiah was the 13th King of Judah, and in God’s eyes was a good king. Read 2 Kings 18:1-20:21 and 2 Chronicles 29:1-32:33.

He reigned for 29 years – 716/15BC-687/86BC.

Hezekiah in Hebrew means: Jah is strength.

King Hezekiah’s prophet was Isaiah, the son of Amoz, who guided the king to what God wanted the king to do.

Background Reading:

Hezekiah Becomes 13th King of Judah

18:1 Now it happened that during the third year of the reign of Elah’s son Hoshea, king of Israel, that Ahaz’ son Hezekiah became king. 2 He was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother was Zechariah’s daughter Abi. 3 He did what the LORD considered to be right, according to everything that his ancestor David had done.

Hezekiah’s Reforms

4 He removed the high places, demolished the sacred pillars, and tore down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had crafted, because the Israelis had been burning incense to it right up until that time. Hezekiah called it a piece of brass. 5 He trusted the LORD God of Israel, and after him there were none like him among all the kings of Judah, 6 because he depended on the LORD, not abandoning pursuit of him, and keeping the LORD’s commands that he had commanded Moses. 7 So the LORD was with him, and Hezekiah prospered wherever he went, even when he rebelled against the king of Assyria, refusing to serve him. 8 He attacked the Philistines, invading Gaza and its borders from watchtower to fortified garrison.

Shalmaneser Attacks Samaria

9 In the fourth year of King Hezekiah’s reign (that is, during the seventh year of Elah’s son Hoshea’s reign as king of Israel), King Shalmaneser from Assyria invaded Samaria and besieged it. 10 Three years later, they captured Samaria during the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign, which was the ninth year of Hoshea’s reign as king of Israel. 11 After this, the king of Assyria carried Israel off into exile in Assyria, settling them in Halah, on the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities controlled by the Medes, 12 because they would not obey the voice of the LORD their God. Instead, they transgressed his covenant, including everything that Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded, by neither listening nor putting what he had commanded into practice.
2 Kings 18:1-12
Continued in 2 Kings 18:13-20:21.

Also read: 2 Chronicles 29:1-3; 31:1.


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