Hezekiah

Biblical Record

Hezekiah's life is recorded in 2 Kings 18–20, 2 Chronicles 29–32, and Isaiah 36–39. The son of Ahaz, he became king at the age of twenty-five and reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:2).

• Reforms: He removed the high places (local sites of sacrifice). He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, to which the people had been burning incense, and called it "Nehushtan" (2 Kings 18:4). Second Chronicles describes in detail how he cleansed the Temple in Jerusalem and restored the observance of the Passover (2 Chronicles 29–30).
• The Assyrian invasion: Sennacherib, king of Assyria, invaded Judah and sent his official, the Rabshakeh, to demand surrender. Hezekiah went up to the temple and prayed, and Isaiah prophesied deliverance. Scripture records that the angel of the LORD smote 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp (2 Kings 19:35).
• Illness and prayer: When he fell mortally ill, he turned his face to the wall and prayed. He received the answer that fifteen years would be added to his life, and as a sign the shadow of the sun went backward (2 Kings 20:1–11). Isaiah 38 contains a poem he composed after his recovery.
• The Babylonian envoys: He showed all his treasuries to envoys sent by the king of Babylon and was then rebuked with the warning that these treasures would one day be carried away to Babylon (2 Kings 20:12–19).

Significance within Scripture

Second Kings assesses him as a king who "did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did" (2 Kings 18:3; see also 18:5). Proverbs 25:1 refers to proverbs of Solomon "which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out." Jeremiah 26:18–19 likewise recalls how he heeded the warning of the prophet Micah and repented. In the New Testament, his name appears in the genealogy of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1:9–10.

Interpretation and Debated Points

• Prayer and the will of God: The scene in which a pronouncement of death was reversed after prayer is frequently cited in discussions of predestination and free will. The Reformed tradition often explains that prayer is itself a means ordained by God within his providence. The Wesleyan and Arminian traditions often emphasize the personal relationship of a God who genuinely responds to prayer.
• The fifteen added years: Because his successor Manasseh came to the throne at the age of twelve (2 Kings 21:1), Manasseh would have been born during the extended period. On this basis some sermons claim that "the extension of his life produced a wicked king," but the text itself makes no such judgment.
• Pride: Second Chronicles 32:25–26 records that after his recovery he became proud and then humbled himself. Interpretive emphasis therefore differs depending on whether he is presented solely as an exemplary figure or with his shortcomings also taken into account.
• Extrabiblical sources: The conduit mentioned in 2 Kings 20:20 and 2 Chronicles 32:30 is widely identified with the Siloam Tunnel in Jerusalem. Hezekiah's name is also reported to appear in records of Sennacherib's campaign. Interpreters differ, however, on how the miracle of the sun's shadow should be understood.

In Korean Churches

In Korean Protestant churches, his prayer after he "turned his face to the wall" is frequently cited in sermons urging earnest prayer and committed prayer (jakjeong gido). The scene in which he spread the Assyrian letter before the LORD in the temple and prayed (2 Kings 19:14) is commonly used in sermons and Sunday school lessons on faith in times of crisis. Around Reformation Sunday, he is also sometimes presented alongside Josiah as an example of a "reforming king."