2 KINGS
Chapters: 18,19,20
HEZEKIAH
By: Zoe
INTRODUCTION
Hezekiah was the king of Judah and the son of Ahaz. He began his reign in
the third year of Hoshea king of Israel. He was twenty-five years old when he
became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His
mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. He did what was right in
the eyes of the Lord, just as his fore-father David.
2
CHAPTER 18
During his reign he removed the high places,
smashed the sacred stones and cut down the
Asherah poles. (These were for the worship
foreign gods). He broke into pieces the bronze
snake Moses had made, for up to that time the
Israelites had been burning incense to it.
Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel.
There was no one like him among all the kings of
Judah, either before him or after him. He held
fast to the Lord and did not stop following him;
he kept the commands the Lord had given
Moses. And the Lord was with him; he was
successful in whatever he undertook.
3
The assyrians were overthrowing many kingdoms.
The king of Assyria eventually also deported Israel. This happened
because they had not obeyed the Lord their God, but had violated his
covenant—all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. They
neither listened to the commands nor carried them out.
In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria
attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. So Hezekiah
raided the temple of the Lord and gave the king of Assyria all the silver that
was found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace.
He also stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors and
doorposts of the temple of the Lord, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
4
Hezekiah's allegiance was divided.
Sennacherib then sent a delegation of councillors to force the
kingdom of Judah to surrender.
Sennacherib's field commander addressed the Israelites and told
them things like how they are depending on the king of Egypt, and
how they will not get the help they need. He says "The Lord
himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.’” The
field commander then promises them a land of grain and new
wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and
honey. He tells them to not trust in Hezekiah as none of the God's
of the other kingdoms had save them, so why would the Lord be
any different.
The people did not respond, upon Hezekiah's orders.
Then Hezekiah's officials went to him, and told him what the
field commander had said.
5
CHAPTER 19
When Hezekiah heard this he he tore his clothes, put on a
sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. He then
sent his officials to prophet Isaiah and they told him about
how the King of Assyria ridiculed their God.
Isaiah says to them, "Do not be afraid of what you have
heard—those words with which the underlings of the king
of Assyria have blasphemed me."
Sennacherib still threatens them to surrender telling them
that their God will not protect them.
Hezekiah prays to the Lord, "Now, Lord our God, deliver
us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth
may know that you alone, Lord, are God.”
6
“Isaiah gives Hezekiah a message from God.
‘He will not enter this city
or shoot an arrow here.
He will not come before it with shield
or build a siege ramp against it.
By the way that he came he will return;
he will not enter this city,
declares the Lord.
I will defend this city and save it,
for my sake and for the sake of David my
servant.’”the Lord says.
That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred
and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got
up the next morning—they saw all the people dead. So Sennacherib
king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh
and stayed there.
One day, while he was worshiping in the temple, two of his sons
killed him with a sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And
Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.
7
CHAPTER 20
Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death.
The prophet Isaiah went to him and said, “This is what
the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you
are going to die; you will not recover.”
Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the
Lord, he wept bitterly and begged the Lord.
Before Isaiah had left, the word of the Lord came to
him: "I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I
will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up
to the temple of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to
your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the
hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for
my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”
8
Hezekiah wanted a sign to show that God would really heal him, and Isaiah
assured him. Isaiah called on the Lord, and he was cured, the lord had made
the shadow go back the ten steps on the stairway of Ahaz.
During this time the son of the king of Babylon, Marduk-Baladan had heard of
Hezekiah's illness and sent him a letter and a gift. Travelers from Babylon
visited him, and he showed them the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine
olive oil—his armory and everything found among his treasures. There was
nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.
When Isaiah heard this, he warned Hezekiah. “Hear the word of the Lord: The
time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your
predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon.
Nothing will be left, says the Lord. And some of your descendants, your own
flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will
become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
9
“The word of the Lord you have spoken is good,”
Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “Will there not be
peace and security in my lifetime?”
Hezekiah rested with his ancestors. He died of
natural causes at age 54. And Manasseh his son
succeeded him as king.
10
THANK YOU