Hezekiah

Hezekiah (flourished late 8th and early 7th centuries bc) was the son of Ahaz, and the 13th successor of David as king of Judah at Jerusalem. The dates of his reign are often given as about 715 to about 686 bc, but inconsistencies in biblical and Assyrian cuneiform records have yielded a wide range of possible dates.

Hezekiah reigned at a time when the Assyrian empire was consolidating its control of Palestine and Syria. His father had placed Judah under Assyrian suzerainty in 735 bc. Hezekiah may have taken part in a rebellion against King Sargon II of Assyria (reigned 721–705 bc), which the Assyrians apparently crushed in the year 710. At the accession of Sennacherib (705–681 bc), further rebellions broke out all over the Assyrian empire. Hezekiah may have been the leader of the rebellion in Palestine, which included the city-states of Ascalon and Ekron and gained the support of Egypt. In preparing for the inevitable Assyrian campaign to retake Palestine, Hezekiah strengthened the defenses of his capital, Jerusalem, and dug out the famous Siloam tunnel (2 Kings 20:20, 2 Chronicles 32:30), which brought the water of the Gihon springs to a reservoir inside the city wall.

Sennacherib finally put down the rebellion in 701 bc, overrunning Judah, taking 46 of its walled cities, and placing much conquered Judaean territory under the control of neighbouring states. While Sennacherib was besieging the city of Lachish, Hezekiah sought to spare Jerusalem itself from capture by paying a heavy tribute of gold and silver to the Assyrian king, who nevertheless demanded the city’s unconditional surrender. At this point Jerusalem was saved by a miraculous plague that decimated the Assyrian army. This event gave rise to the belief in Judah that Jerusalem was inviolable, a belief that lasted until the city fell to the Babylonians a century later. Contradictory dates for Sennacherib’s invasion are given in the Book of Kings, and he may possibly have invaded Judah a second time near the close of Hezekiah’s reign.

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In his religious reforms, Hezekiah asserted Judah’s inherited Hebrew traditions and practices against imported cults of the Assyrian gods. He thus tried to achieve both political and religious independence for Judah, but the catastrophe of 701 bc left among his people an unmistakable yearning for an ideal king who would restore the golden age of David.