Background
HEZEKIAH was born in 739B.C. probably in Jerusalem.
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HEZEKIAH (King)
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The kingdom had been through a difficult period during Ahaz’s reign when the northern kingdom of Israel had rebelled against Assyria as a result of which its territory had been truncated and an Assyrian province established in part of the kingdom. Judah itself was firmly under Assyrian hegemony.
In the first years of his reign, Hezckiah was careful not to be drawn into revolts against Assyria and so did not suffer when the northern kingdom was completely conquered by Assyria and its inhabitants exiled (722-721 BCE). He also kept out of a subsequent rebellion led by the king of Hamath against the Assyrian ruler, Sargon, preferring to pay tribute to Assyria.
With the strengthening of the power of Egypt, elements arose in Judah advocating an alliance with Egypt in order to throw off the Assyrian yoke. Nevertheless Hezekiah refrained from joining the revolt of the Philistine cities, which was put down by Sargon in 711. Ashdod was made an Assyrian city and Hezekiah continued to pay tribute. One of his chief advisers was the prophet Isaiah, who warned him against relying on Egypt. By now Judah was the only kingdom in the region that had not been conquered by Assyria and Hezekiah was able to strengthen the kingdom.
In 705 Sargon died and was succeeded by Sennacherib. This was the signal for the revolt of many provinces in the Assyrian Empire, supported by the Egyptians, and this time Hezekiah participated, apparently conquering the Gaza area. He was encouraged by the Babylonian king, Merodach- Baladan, who was challenging Assyria, but again Isaiah opposed the revolt.
Achievements
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In 703 Sennacherib began to take action to put down the rebellion and started by ejecting Merodach-Baladan from Babylon. He then turned his attention to the Mediterranean area, subduing the Phoenician cities, defeating an Egyptian army, and advancing down to defeat the Philistine cities. He then entered Judah, conquering forty-six cities from Hezekiah (701). His siege and conquest of Lachish is graphically documented on his monuments (now in the British Museum). He then laid siege to Jerusalem, where Isaiah encouraged Hezekiah not to surrender. Just when the fate of the city seemed desperate, a calamity befell the Assyrian camp (apparently a plague) and Sennacherib abandoned the siege and hurried back to Assyria. However, Judah did not regain its independence and Hezekiah continued to pay tribute.
He repaired the walls of Jerusalem and organized a professional army. In order to enable Jerusalem to withstand a siege he built a tunnel from the Gihon spring outside the walls that brought water to the pool of Siloam in the city (the tunnel still exists).
He developed the country’s economy and agriculture and the initial long, quiet period of his reign provided the atmosphere for fruitful literary activity. The sources emphasize his righteousness and he remained close to Isaiah throughout. Indeed during the Sennacherib campaign, when he fell ill, Isaiah worked miracles, and prophesied his recovery and his deliverance from the Assyrians (Is. 38).
Religion
Internally, Hezekiah is praised in the Bible for his devotion to God. He purified the cult of idolatrous elements, smashing idols and destroying high places, and upgraded the status of the Temple. He conducted an outstanding Passover celebration (probably after 721) to stress the role of Jerusalem as the ritual center for those remaining in the former northern kingdom of Israel.
He took a number of steps to try to induce these survivors to acknowledge that he was the rightful heir to the kingdom of Israel.
