Hezekiah (; ), or Ezekias (born , sole ruler ), was the son of Ahaz and the thirteenth king of Judah according to the Hebrew Bible. He is described as "the best-attested figure in biblical history," due to the extensive documentation of his reign in biblical texts and external sources (notably Assyrian inscriptions). His reign was marked by his significant religious reforms and his revolt against the Assyrian Empire. He witnessed the destruction of the northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians under Sargon II in and later faced the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem by King Sennacherib in 701 BC.
Hezekiah's changes to the official Yahweh worship, especially his centralization of worship in Jerusalem and his efforts to rid Judah of the worship of other cult gods and goddesses, are a major focus of biblical accounts. His efforts to consolidate worship around the God of Israel and his destruction of other cult objects, such as the bronze serpent made by Moses, are seen as his way of consolidating power and temple resources during a turbulent time. He lived another fifteen years after the war and brought material prosperity to his kingdom before he died, and his son Manasseh succeeded him.
Etymology
The name Hezekiah means "Yahweh strengthens" in Hebrew. Alternately it may be translated as "Yahweh is my strength".
Biblical narrative
Dating of Biblical chronology
thumb|King Hezekiah, from the [[Stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral#Rose|north rose window of Chartres Cathedral]]
Based on Edwin R. Thiele's dating, Hezekiah was born in c. 741 BC and died in c. 687 BC at age 54. Thiele and William F. Albright calculated his regnal years, arriving at figures very close to each other, c. 715/16 and 686/87 BC. However, Robb Andrew Young dates his reign to 725–696 BC and Gershon Galil to 726–697/6. The Bible states that the fall of Samaria happened in Hezekiah's 6th year of reign, implying that he would have become king in c. 727 BC. Nadav Na'aman argues that several late 8th century BC seal impressions from the Kaufman collection, which mention some places later destroyed during Sennacherib's invasion and thus predate this event, corroborate this date as the inscriptions in the seal impressions include dates that go up to the 26th regnal year.
Family and life
According to the Bible, Hezekiah was the son of King Ahaz and Abijah (also called Abi), died from natural causes in c. 687 BC aged 54, and was succeeded by his son, Manasseh.
Reign over Judah
According to the Biblical narrative, Hezekiah assumed the throne of Judah at age 25 and reigned for 29 years. Edwin R. Thiele, Leslie McFall, and William F. Albright proposed that Hezekiah served as coregent with his father Ahaz for about 14 years. Albright dates his sole reign as 715–687 BC, and by Thiele as 716–687 BC (the last ten years being a co-regency with his son Manasseh). In an effort to abolish idolatry from his kingdom, he destroyed the high places (or bamot) and the "bronze serpent" (or Nehushtan), recorded as being made by Moses, which had become objects of idolatrous worship. In place of the idolatry, Hezekiah centralized the worship of the sole God at the Temple in Jerusalem. Hezekiah also defeated the Philistines, "as far as Gaza and its territory", and resumed the Passover pilgrimage and the tradition of inviting the scattered tribes of Israel to take part in a Passover festival.
According to 2 Chronicles 30 (but not the parallel account in 2 Kings), Hezekiah sent messengers to Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to Jerusalem for a Passover celebration. The messengers were scorned, but a few men of the tribes of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun "were humble enough to come" to the city. According to the Biblical account, the Passover was celebrated with great solemnity and such rejoicing as had not been seen in Jerusalem since the days of Solomon.
Assyrian invasion
thumb|[[Assyrian archers]]
In 701 BC, the recently anointed Assyrian king Sennacherib moved to quash a rebellion in the west of his empire, invading Judah and besieging Jerusalem.
The Assyrians recorded that Sennacherib lifted his siege of Jerusalem after Hezekiah paid Sennacherib tribute. The Bible narrates that Hezekiah paid him three hundred talents of silver and thirty of gold as tribute—even sending the doors of the Temple in Jerusalem to produce the promised amount—but, even after the payment was made, Sennacherib renewed his assault on Jerusalem.
Hezekiah's construction
Knowing that Jerusalem would eventually be subject to a siege, Hezekiah had been preparing for some time by fortifying the capital's walls, building towers, and constructing a tunnel to bring fresh water to the city from a spring outside its walls.
Battle with Sennacherib's army
thumb|[[The Defeat of Sennacherib, oil on panel by Peter Paul Rubens, seventeenth century]]
During the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem, the Bible claims that great losses were inflicted upon the Assyrian army, which Sennacherib's inscriptions do not mention. As Jack Finegan comments: "In view of the general note of boasting which pervades the inscriptions of the Assyrian kings... it is hardly to be expected that Sennacherib would record such a defeat." The version of the matter that Sennacherib presents, as found inscribed on what is known as the Sennacherib Prism preserved in the University of Chicago Oriental Institute, in part says: "As to Hezekiah, the Jew, he did not submit to my yoke... Hezekiah himself... did send me, later, to Nineveh, my lordly city, together with 30 talents of gold, 800 talents of silver".
Herodotus mentions the Assyrian army of Sennacherib being overrun by mice when attacking Egypt. Josephus gives a quote from Berossus that is quite close to the Biblical account.
Death of Sennacherib
Of Sennacherib's death, 2 Kings records:
thumb|170px|The Flight of Adrammelech, Biblical illustration by Arthur Murch
<blockquote>It came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him [Sennacherib] with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.</blockquote>
According to Assyrian records, Sennacherib was assassinated in 681 BC, twenty years after the 701 BC invasion of Judah. A Neo-Babylonian letter corroborates with the Biblical account, a sentiment from Sennacherib's sons to assassinate him, an event Assyriologists have reconstructed as historical. The son Arda-Mulissu, who is mentioned in the letter as killing anyone who would reveal his conspiracy, murdered his father in c. 681 BC, and was most likely the Adrammelech in 2 Kings, though Sharezer is not known elsewhere.
Assyriologists posit the murder was motivated by Esarhaddon being chosen as heir to the throne instead of Arda-Mulissu, the next eldest son. Assyrian and Hebrew Biblical history corroborate that Esarhaddon ultimately succeeded the throne. Other Assyriologists assert that Sennacherib was murdered in revenge for his destruction of Babylon, a city sacred to all Mesopotamians, including the Assyrians.
Later illness
thumb|Hezekiah showing off his wealth to envoys of the Babylonian king, oil on canvas by [[Vicente López Portaña, 1789]]
Later in his life, the Bible recounts that Hezekiah fell ill. According to the Aggadah in the Talmud, this illness arose from a disagreement between him and Isaiah over who should visit whom, as well as Hezekiah's initial reluctance to marry and have children. Ultimately, Hezekiah did marry Isaiah's daughter. Some Talmudists also considered that it might have come about as a way for Hezekiah to purge his sins or due to his arrogance in assuming his righteousness. Archaeologist Amihai Mazar calls the tensions between Assyria and Judah "one of the best-documented events of the Iron Age". Hezekiah's story is one of the best to cross-reference with the rest of the Near Eastern world's historical documents.
Archaeological record
thumb|A stamped bulla of King Hezekiah, "Of Hezekiah (son of) Ahaz King of Judah", [[Israel Museum]]
Storage jars with the so-called "LMLK seal" may "demonstrate careful preparations to counter Sennacherib's likely route of invasion" and show "a notable degree of royal control of towns and cities which would facilitate Hezekiah's destruction of rural sacrificial sites and his centralization of worship in Jerusalem". In 2015, Eilat Mazar discovered a bulla bearing an inscription in ancient Hebrew script that translates as: "Belonging to Hezekiah [son of] Ahaz king of Judah." This is the first seal impression of an Israelite or Judean king to come to light in a scientific archaeological excavation. While another, unprovenanced bulla of King Hezekiah was known, this was the first time a seal impression of Hezekiah had been discovered in situ in the course of actual excavations.
Archaeological findings like the Hezekiah seal led scholars to surmise that the ancient Judahite kingdom had a highly developed administrative system. In 2018, Mazar published a report discussing the discovery of a bulla which she says may have to have belonged to Isaiah. She believes the fragment to have been part of a seal whose complete text might have read "Belonging to Isaiah the prophet." Several other biblical archaeologists, including George Washington University's Christopher Rollston, have pointed to the bulla being incomplete and the present inscription not enough to necessarily refer to the Biblical figure.
Increase in the power of Judah
thumb|A [[cuneiform inscription mentioning in detail the tribute sent by Hezekiah, king of Judah, to Sennacherib. The British Museum]]
According to the work of archaeologists and philologists, the reign of Hezekiah saw a notable increase in the power of the Judean state. At this time, Judah was the strongest nation on the Assyrian–Egyptian frontier. There were increases in literacy and in the production of literary works. The city was enlarged to accommodate a large influx, and Jerusalem's population increased to an estimated 25,000, "five times the population under Solomon."
Archaeologist Israel Finkelstein says, "The key phenomenon—which cannot be explained solely against the background of economic prosperity—was the sudden growth of the population of Jerusalem in particular, and of Judah in general."
Siloam inscription
thumb|The [[Siloam pool]]
The Siloam Tunnel was chiseled through 533 meters (1,750 feet) of solid rock
Lachish relief
thumb|Part of the Lachish Relief, British Museum. Battle scene, showing Assyrian cavalry in action. Above, prisoners are led away.
Under Rehoboam, Lachish became the second-most important city of the kingdom of Judah. During King Hezekiah's revolt against Assyria, Sennacherib captured it despite determined resistance (see Siege of Lachish).
As the Lachish relief attests, Sennacherib began his siege of the city of Lachish in 701 BC. The Lachish Relief graphically depicts the battle and the city's defeat, including Assyrian archers marching up a ramp and Judahites pierced through on mounted stakes. "The reliefs on these slabs" discovered in the Assyrian palace at Nineveh "originally formed a single, continuous work, measuring 8 feet ... tall by 80 feet ... long, which wrapped around the room". and "uncountable smaller places," along with the siege of Jerusalem where Sennacherib says he just "shut him up ... like a bird in a cage," forcing the army to abandon the siege. Yet, it also records a tribute paid to Sennacherib of 300 silver talents following the siege. There is no account of the supernatural event in the prism. Sennacherib's account records his levying of a tribute from Hezekiah, a payment of 800 silver talents, which suggests a capitulation to end the siege. However, inscriptions describing Sennacherib's defeat of the Ethiopian forces have been discovered. These say: "As to Hezekiah, the Jew, he did not submit to my yoke, I laid siege to 46 of his strong cities ... and conquered (them). ... Himself I made a prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage."
He does not claim to have captured the city. This is consistent with the Bible account of Hezekiah's revolt against Assyria in that neither account indicates that Sennacherib ever entered or formally captured the city. In this inscription, Sennacherib claims that Hezekiah paid for tribute 800 talents of silver, in contrast with the Bible's 300. However, this could be due to boastful exaggeration, which was common among kings of the period. The annals record a list of booty sent from Jerusalem to Nineveh. In the inscription, Sennacherib claims that Hezekiah accepted servitude, and some theorize that Hezekiah remained on his throne as a vassal ruler. The campaign is recorded with differences in the Assyrian records and in the Biblical Books of Kings; there is agreement that the Assyrians have a propensity for exaggeration. Another that this is a composite text which makes use of a 'legendary motif' analogous to that of the Exodus story.
- Where the 2 Kings account explains giving 300 talents of silver, Sennacherib's prism records 800 talents. While Hezekiah is traditionally credited with centralizing worship in Jerusalem and removing cultic sites, some argue these reforms were influenced by his successor, King Josiah, or may have been more about consolidating royal power than religious overhaul. Other scholars argue that archaeological discoveries at Tel Arad, Beersheba, Tel Motza, Lachish and the City of David may provide evidence for the existence of Hezekiah's reforms. The biblical account of the Assyrian siege led by King Sennacherib is also contested, with some scholars suggesting exaggeration or blending of multiple events.
However, Hezekiah’s policy seemed to be more pragmatic than a sweeping religious purge. Sennacherib’s invasion left Judah ruined, with limited resources to maintain regional cult sites. Official state cult activity naturally concentrated in Jerusalem, the only major surviving center. This consolidation strengthened royal control, centralized economic resources (offerings and tithes), and supported state projects like fortifications. Popular or household religion likely continued, but official high-place worship was effectively curtailed by necessity rather than Deuteronomy-style ideology. The biblical authors later framed this practical outcome as pious reform.
The detailed account of Josiah’s reform described in 2 Kings, triggered by the discovery of the “book of the law,” likely amplifies or retrojects elements of Hezekiah’s achievements. After Manasseh’s long reign, which saw a resurgence of diverse practices according to the biblical narrative, Josiah may have enforced stricter adherence or purged foreign elements, but the core centralization had already occurred. But this may have been part of a post-exilic tradition, as there is no mention of Josiah’s reforms in the books of Jeremiah or Zephaniah, two prophets contemporary to the time of Josiah.
Rabbinic literature
thumb|[[Ahaz, Hezekiah, and Manasseh, by Lucas van Leyden]]
Abijah saved the life of her son Hezekiah, whom her husband, Ahaz, had designated as an offering to Moloch. By anointing him with the blood of the salamander, she enabled him to pass through the fire of Moloch unscathed (Sanhedrin 63b).
Hezekiah is considered the model of those who put their trust in the Lord. Only during his sickness did he waver in his hitherto unshaken trust and require a sign, for which he was blamed by Isaiah (Lamentations Rabbah 1). The Hebrew name Ḥizḳiyyah is considered by the Talmudists to be a surname, meaning either "strengthened by Yhwh" or "he who made a firm alliance between the Israelites and Yhwh"; his eight other names are enumerated in Isaiah 9:5, according to Sanhedrin 94a. He is called the "restorer of the study of Halakha" in the schools and is said to have planted a sword at the door of the beth midrash, declaring that he who would not study Halakha should be struck with the weapon. As a result, no boy or girl in the kingdom of Judah was unfamiliar with the laws of impurity and purity (Sanhedrin 94b).
Hezekiah's piety, which, according to the Talmudists, alone occasioned the destruction of the Assyrian army and the signal deliverance of the Israelites when Sennacherib attacked Jerusalem, caused him to be considered by some as the Messiah (Sanhedrin 99a). According to Bar Kappara, Hezekiah was destined to be the Messiah, but the attribute of justice (middat ha-din) protested against this, saying that as David, who sang so much of the glory of God, had not been made the Messiah, still less should Hezekiah, for whom so many miracles had been performed (and who did not sing the praise of God). It is also reported that Hezekiah missed this opportunity because he did not sing and give thanks for Sennacherib's downfall.
Menachot 109b tells of Hezekiah encouraging others to keep their faith:
The Talmudists attribute to Hezekiah the redaction of the books of Isaiah, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes in Bava Batra 15a.
Chronological interpretation
Understanding the biblically recorded sequence of events in Hezekiah's life as chronological or not is critical to the contextual interpretation of his reign. According to scholar Stephen L. Harris, chapter 20 of 2 Kings does not follow the events of chapters 18 and 19. Rather, the Babylonian envoys precede the Assyrian invasion and siege. Chapter 20 would have been added during the exile, and Harris says it "evidently took place before Sennacherib's invasion" when Hezekiah was "trying to recruit Babylon as an ally against Assyria." Albright has dated the fall of the Kingdom of Israel to 721 BC, while Thiele calculates the date as 723 BC. If Albright's or Thiele's dating is correct, Hezekiah's reign would begin in 729 or 727 BC. On the other hand, 2 Kings 18:13 states that Sennacherib invaded Judah in the 14th year of Hezekiah's reign. Dating based on Assyrian records date this invasion to 701 BC, and Hezekiah's reign would therefore begin in 716/715 BC.
thumb|A miniature from the [[Chludov Psalter]]
Since Albright and Friedman, several scholars have explained these dating problems based on a coregency between Hezekiah and his father Ahaz between 729 and 716/715 BC. Assyriologists and Egyptologists recognize that coregency was a practice both in Assyria and Egypt. After noting that coregencies were only used sporadically in the northern kingdom (Israel), Nadav Na'aman writes,
<blockquote>In the kingdom of Judah, on the other hand, the nomination of a co-regent was the common procedure, beginning from David who, before his death, elevated his son Solomon to the throne. When taking into account the permanent nature of the co-regency in Judah from the time of Joash, one may dare to conclude that dating the co-regencies accurately is indeed the key for solving the problems of biblical chronology in the eighth century BC.</blockquote>
Among the numerous scholars who have recognized the coregency between Ahaz and Hezekiah is Kenneth Kitchen in his various writings, Leslie McFall, and Jack Finegan. McFall, in his 1991 article, argues that if 729 BC—that is, the Judean regnal year beginning in Tishri of 729—is taken as the start of the Ahaz/Hezekiah coregency, and 716/715 BC as the date of the death of Ahaz, then all the extensive chronological data for Hezekiah and his contemporaries in the late eighth century BC are in harmony. Further, McFall found that no textual emendations are required among the numerous dates, reign lengths, and synchronisms given in the Hebrew Bible for this period.
Scholars who accept the principle of coregencies note that abundant evidence for their use is found in the Biblical material itself. The agreement of scholarship built on these principles with both Biblical and secular texts was such that the Thiele/McFall chronology was accepted as the best chronology for the kingdom period in Jack Finegan's encyclopedic Handbook of Biblical Chronology.
See also
- List of biblical figures identified in extra-biblical sources
Notes
References
Sources
Attribution:
External links
- "Hezekiah." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
- King Hezekiah from Jerusalem Mosaic
- Hezekiah See all Bible verses pertaining to King Hezekiah
- The Reign Of Hezekiah by John F. Brug
- Sennacherib's Invasion of Hezekiah's Judah in 701 BC – by Craig C. Broyles
- Interactive Map of Sennacherib's Invasion of Hezekiah's Judah, including the accounts of Sennacherib, Herodotus, 2 Kings, Isaiah and Micah