General Notes

BIOGRAPHY:  (chizqiyah, "Yahweh has strengthened"; also written chizqiyahu, "Yah has strengthened him"; H ezekias):   One of the greatest of the kings of Judah; reigned (according to the most self-consistent chr onology) from circa 715 to circa 690 BC.   Old Testament Estimate:   On the Old Testament standard of loyalty to Yahweh he is eulogized by Jesus Sirach as one o f the three kings who alone did not "commit trespass" (Sirach 49:4), the other two being Davi d and Josiah. The Chronicler represents him (2 Chronicles 32:31) as lapsing from the wisdom o f piety only by his vainglory in revealing the resources of his realm to the envoys of Meroda ch-baladan. In 2 Kings 18:5, the earliest estimate, his special distinction, beyond all othe r Judean kings, before or after, was that he "trusted in Yahweh, the God of Israel." It is a s the king who "clave to Yahweh" (2 Kings 18:6) that the Hebrew mind sums up his royal and pe rsonal character.   I. Sources for His Life and Times.   1. Scripture Annals:   The historical accounts in 2 Kings 18,20 and 2 Chronicles 29,32 are derived in the main fro m the same state annals, though the latter seems also to have had the Temple archives to dra w upon. For "the rest of his acts" 2Ki refers to a source then still in existence but now los t, "the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah" (2 Kings 20:20), and 2 Chronicles to "t he vision of Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel " (2 Chronicles 32:32). In this last-named source (if this is the original of our Book of Isa .), besides the warnings and directions called out by the course of the history, there is a n arrative section (Isa 36,39) recounting the Sennacherib crisis much as do the other histories , but incorporating also a passage of Isaianic prophecy (Isaiah 37:22-32) and a "writing of H ezekiah king of Judah" (Isaiah 38:10-20). Lastly, in Sirach 48:17-25, there is a summary of t he good and wise deeds of Hezekiah, drawn from the accounts that we already have.   2. View-point and Colouring:   Of these sources the account in 2 Kings is most purely historianic, originating at a time whe n religious and political values, in the Hebrew mind, were inseparable. In 2Ch the religiou s point and coloring, especially in its later developed ritual and legal aspects, has the dec ided predominance. Sirach, with the mind of a man of letters, is concerned mainly with eulogi zing Hezekiah. in his "praise of famous men" (compare Sirach 44-50), of course from the devou t Hebrew point of view. In the vision of Isaiah (Isa 1,39), we have the reflection of the mor al and spiritual situation in Jerusalem, as realized in the fervid prophetic consciousness; a nd in the prophecy of his younger contemporary Micah, the state of things in the outlying cou ntry districts nearest the path of invasion, where both the iniquities of the ruling classe s and the horrors of war were felt most keenly. Doubtless also many devotional echoes of thes e times of stress are deducible from the Psalms, so far as we can fairly identify them.   3. Side-Lights:   It is in Hezekiah's times especially that the Assyrian inscriptions become illuminating for t he history of Israel; for one important thing they furnish certain fixed dates to which the c hronology of the times can be adjusted. Of Sennacherib's campaign of 701, for instance, no fe wer than six accounts are at present known (see G.A. Smith, Jerusalem, II, 154, note), the mo st detailed being the "Taylor Cylinder," now in the British Museum, which in the main agrees , or at least is not inconsistent, with the Scripture history.   II. Events of His Reign.   1. His Heritage:   From his weak and unprincipled father Ahaz (compare 2 Chronicles 28:16-25), Hezekiah inherite d not only a disorganized realm but a grievous burden of Assyrian dominance and tribute, an d the constant peril and suspense of greater encroachments from that arrogant and arbitrary p ower:   the state of things foretold in Isaiah 7:20; 8:7 f. The situation was aggravated by the fac t that not only the nation's weakness but its spiritual propensities had incurred it: the dom inant classes were aping the sentiments, fashions and cult of the East (compare Isaiah 2:6-8) , while the neglected common people were exposed to the corruptions of the still surviving he athenism of the land. The realm, in short, was at the spiritual nadir-point from which prophe ts like Isaiah and Micah were laboring to bring about the birth of a true Hebrew conscience a nd faith. Their task was a hard one: with a nation smear-eyed, dull-cared, fat-hearted (Isaia h 6:10), whose religion was a precept of men learned by rote (Isaiah 29:13). Clearly, from th is point of view, a most difficult career was before him.   2. Religious Reform:   The sense of this unspiritual state of things furnishes the best keynote of Hezekiah's reform s in religion, which according to the Chronicler he set about as soon as he came to the thron e (2 Chronicles 29:3). It is the Chronicler who gives the fullest account of these reforms (2 Ch 29-31); naturally, from his priestly point of view and access to ecclesiastical archives . Hezekiah began with the most pressing constructive need, the opening and cleansing of the T emple, which his father Ahaz had left closed and desecrated (2 Chronicles 28:24), and went o n to the reorganization of its liturgical and choral service. In connection with this work h e appointed a Passover observance, which, on a scale and spirit unknown since Solomon (2 Chro nicles 30:26), he designed as a religious reunion of the devout-minded in all Israel, open no t only to Jerusalem and Judah, but to all who would accept his invitation from Samaria, Galil ee, and beyond the Jordan (2 Chronicles 30:5-12,18). The immediate result of the enthusiasm e ngendered by this Old Home Week was a vigorous popular movement of iconoclasm against the ido latrous high places of the land. That this was no weak fanatical impulse to break something , but a touch of real spiritual quickening, seems evidenced by one incident of it:   the breaking up of Moses' old brazen serpent and calling it what it had come to mean, nechush tan, "a piece of brass" (2 Kings 18:4); the movement seems in fact to have had in it the sens e, however crude, that old religious forms had become hurtful and effete superstitions, hinde ring spirituality. Nor could the movement stop with the old fetish. With it went the demoliti on of the high places themselves and the breaking down of the pillars (matstsebhoth) and fell ing of the sacred groves ('asherah), main symbols these of a debasing naturecult. This reform , on account of later reactions (see under MANASSEH), has been deemed ineffective; rather, it s effects were inward and germinal; nor were they less outwardly than could reasonably be exp ected, before its meanings were more deepened and centralized.   3. Internal Improvements:   All this, on the king's part, was his response to the spiritual influence of Isaiah, with who se mind his own was sincerely at one. As a devout disciple in the school of prophetic ideas , he earnestly desired to maintain the prophet's insistent attitude of "quietness and confide nce" (compare Isaiah 30:15), that is, of stedfast trust in Yahweh alone, and of abstinence fr om revolt and entangling alliances with foreign powers. This, however, in the stress and susp ense of the times, did not preclude a quiet preparation for emergencies; and doubtless the ea rly years of his reign were notable, not only for mild and just administration throughout hi s realm, but for measures looking to the fortifying and defense of the capital. His work of r epairing and extending the walls and of strengthening the citadel (Millo), as mentioned i n 2 Chronicles 32:5, had probably been in progress long before the Assyrian crisis was immine nt. Nor was he backward in coming to an understanding with other nations, as to the outlook f or revolt against Assyria. He could not learn his lesson of faith all at once, especially wit h a factious court pulling the other way. He did not escape the suspicion of Sargon (died 705 ), who for his Egyptian leanings counted him among the "plotters of sedition" (compare COT, 1 00); while the increasing prosperity and strength of his realm marked him for a leading rol e in an eventual uprising. He weathered at least one chance of rebellion, however, in 711, pr obably through the strenuous exertions of Isaiah (see Isaiah 20:1).   4. The Assyrian Crisis:   Hezekiah's opportunity to rise against Assyrian domination seems to have been taken about 704 . How so pious a king came to do it in spite of Isaiah's strenuous warnings, both against opp osition to Assyria and alliance with other powers, is not very clear. The present writer vent ures to suggest the view that the beginning was forced or perhaps sprung upon him by his prin ces and nobles. In the year before, Sargon, dying, had left his throne to Sennacherib, and, a s at all ancient changes of sovereignty, this was the signal for a general effort for indepen dence on the part of subject provinces. That was also the year of Hezekiah's deadly illness ( 2 Kings 20; Isaiah 38), when for a time we know not how long he would be incapacitated for ac tive administration of affairs. Not unlikely on his recovery he found his realm committed bey ond withdrawal to an alliance with Egypt and perhaps the leadership of a coalition with Phili stia; in which case personally he could only make the best of the situation. There was nothin g for it but to confirm this coalition by force, which he did in his Philistine campaign ment ioned in 2 Kings 18:8. Meanwhile, in the same general uprising, the Chaldean Merodach-baladan , who had already been expelled from Babylon after an 11-year reign (721-710), again seized t hat throne; and in due time envoys from him appeared in Jerusalem, ostensibly to congratulat e the king on his recovery from his illness, but really to secure his aid and alliance agains t Assyria (2 Kings 20:12-15; Isaiah 39:1-4). Hezekiah, flattered by such distinguished attent ion from so distant and powerful a source, by revealing his resources committed what the Chro nicler calls the one impious indiscretion of his life (2 Chronicles 32:31), incurring also Is aiah's reproof and adverse prediction (2 Kings 20:17; Isaiah 39:6). The conflict with Sennach erib was now inevitable; and Hezekiah, by turning the water supply of Jerusalem from the Giho n spring to a pool within the walls and closing it from without, put the capital in readines s to stand a siege. The faith evoked by this wise work, confirmed by the subsequent deliveran ce, is reflected in Psalms 46. That this incurring of a hazardous war, however, with its turm oils and treacheries, and the presence of uncouth Arab mercenaries, was little to the king' s desire or disposition, seems indicated in Psalms 120, which with the other Songs of Degree s (Pss 120-134) may well reflect the religious faith of this period of Hezekiah's life.   5. Invasion and Deliverance:   The critical moment came in 701, when Sennacherib, who the year before had reconquered Babylo n and expelled Merodach-baladan (perhaps Isaiah 21:1-9 refers to and this), was free to invad e his rebellious provinces in the West. It was a vigorous and sweeping campaign; in which, be ginning with Sidon and advancing down   through the coast lands, he speedily subdued the Philistine cities, defeating them and thei r southern allies (whether these were from Egypt proper or from its extension across the Sina i peninsula and Northern Arabia, Mutsri, is not quite clear) at Eltekeh; in which campaign, a ccording to his inscription, he took 46 walled towns belonging to Judah with their spoil an d deported over 200,000 of their inhabitants. This, which left Jerusalem a blockaded town (i n fact he says of Hezekiah:   "Himself I shut up like a bird in a cage in Jerusalem his royal city"), seems referred to i n Isaiah 1:7-9 and predicted in Isaiah 6:11 f. Its immediate effect was to bring Hezekiah t o terms and extort an enormous tribute (2 Kings 18:14-16). When later, however, he was treach erous enough to disregard the compact thus implied (perhaps Isaiah 33 refers to this), and de manded the surrender of the city (2 Kings 18:17-19:7; Isaiah 36:2-37:7), Hezekiah besought th e counsel of Isaiah, who bade him refuse the demand, and predicted that Sennacherib would "he ar tidings" and return to his own land; which prediction actually came to pass, and suddenl y Hezekiah found himself free. A deliverance so great, and so signally vindicating the settin g forth of faith, could not but produce a momentous revulsion in the nation's mind, like a ne w spiritual birth in which the faith of the "remnant" became a vital power in Israel; its imm ediate effect seems portrayed in Psalms 124 and perhaps Psalms 126, and its deep significanc e as the birth of a nation in a day seems summarized long afterward in Isaiah 66:7-9; compar e 37:3; 2 Kings 19:3.   6. The Second Summons:   A second summons to surrender, sent from Libnah by letter (2 Kings 19:1; Isaiah 37:8), is tre ated by the Scripture historians as a later feature of the same campaign; but recent research es seem to make it possible, nay probable, that this belonged to another campaign of Sennache rib, when Taharka of Ethiopia (Tirhakah, 2 Kings 19:9; Isaiah 37:9) came to power in Egypt, i n 691. If this was so, there is room in Hezekiah's latter years for a decade of peace and pro sperity (compare Ch 32:22,23,27-30), and in Isaiah's old age for a collection and revision o f his so wonderfully vindicated prophecies. The historians' evident union of two stories in o ne makes the new attitude with which this crisis was met, obscure; but the tone of confirme d confidence and courage seems decidedly higher. The discomfiture of Sennacherib in this cas e was brought about, not by a rumor of rebellions at home, but by an outbreak of plague (2 Ki ngs 19:35; Isaiah 37:36), which event the Scripture writers interpreted as a miracle. The pro phetic sign of deliverance (2 Kings 19:29; Isaiah 37:30) may be referred to the recovery of t he devastated lands from the ravage inflicted by Sennacherib in his first campaign (compare a lso Psalms 126:5 f).   III. His Character.   Our estimate of Hezekiah's character is most consistently made by regarding him as a discipl e of Isaiah, who was earnestly minded to carry out his prophetic ideas. As, however, these we re to begin with only the initial ideas of a spiritual "remnant," the king's sympathies mus t needs be identified at heart, not with his imperious nobles and princes, but with a minorit y of the common people, whose religious faith did not become a recognizable influence in th e state until after 701. In the meantime his zeal for purer worship and more just domestic ad ministration, which made him virtually king of the remnant, made him a wise and sagacious pri nce over the whole realm. Isaiah's glowing prophecy (32:1-8) seems to be a Messianic projecti on of the saner and clearer-seeing era that his domestic policy adumbrated--a time when kin g and nobles rule in righteousness, when man can lean on man, when things good and evil are s een as they are and called by their right names. When it came to dealing with the foreign sit uation, however, especially according to the Isaianic program, his task was exceedingly diffi cult, as it were a pioneer venture in faith. His effort to maintain an attitude of steadfas t trust in Yahweh, with the devout quietism which, though really its consistency and strengt h looked like a supine passivity, would lead his restlessly scheming nobles to regard him a s a pious weakling; and not improbably they came to deem him almost a negligible quantity, an d forced his hand into diplomacies and coalitions that were not to his mind. Some such insole nt attitude of theirs seems to be portrayed in Isaiah 28:14-22. This was rendered all the mor e feasible, perhaps, by the period of incapacitation that must have attended his illness, i n the very midst of the nation's critical affairs. Isaiah's words (33:17) may be an allusio n at once to his essential kingliness, to the abeyance of its manifestation due to his diseas e, and to the constricted condition into which, meanwhile, the realm had fallen. This exceedi ngly critical episode of Hezekiah's career does not seem to have had its rights with student s of the era. Considering the trials that his patient faith must have had, always at cross-pu rposes with his nobles (compare Psalms 120:6 f); that now by reason of his sickness they ha d the whip hand; that his disease cut him off not only from hope of life, but from associatio n with men and access to the sanctuary (compare Isaiah 38:10,11,12); that, as his son Manasse h was not born till three years within the fifteen now graciously added to his life (compar e 2 Kings 21:1), his illness seemed to endanger the very perpetuity of the Davidic dynasty, w e have reason for regarding him as well-nigh a martyr to the new spiritual uprising of fait h which Isaiah was laboring to bring about. In the Messianic ideal which, in Isaiah's sublim e conception, was rising into personal form, it fell to his lot to adumbrate the first kingl y stage, the stage of committal to Yahweh's word and will and abiding the event. It was a car dinal element in that composite ideal which the Second Isaiah pushes to its ultimate in his p ortrayal of the servant of Yahweh; another element, the element of sacrifice, has yet to be a dded. Meanwhile, as with the king so with his remnant-realm, the venture of faith is like a p recipitation of spiritual vitality, or, as the prophet puts it, a new birth (compare Isaiah 2 6:17; 37:3; 66:7, for the stages of it). The event of deliverance, not by men's policies bu t by Yahweh's miraculous hand, was the speedy vindication of such trust; and the revulsion o f the next decade witnessed a confirming and solidifying of spiritual integrity in the remnan t which made it a factor to be reckoned with in the trying times that succeeded (see under MA NASSEH). The date of Hezekiah's death (probably not long after 690) is not certainly known; n or of the death of his mentor Isaiah (tradition puts this by martyrdom under Manasseh); but i f our view of his closing years is correct, the king's death crowned a consistent character o f strength and spiritual steadfastness; while the unapproachable greatness of Isaiah speaks f or itself.   IV. Reflection of His Age in Literature.   1. Complication and Revival:   The sublime and mature utterances of Isaiah alone, falling in this time, are sufficient evide nce that in Hezekiah's age, Israel reached its golden literary prime. Among the idealists an d thinkers throughout the nation a new spiritual vigor and insight were awake. Of their fello wship was the king himself, who emulated the activity of his predecessor Solomon as patron o f piety and letters. The compilation of the later Solomonic section of the Proverbs (Proverb s 25-29), attributed to the "men of Hezekiah," indicates the value attached to the accumulati ons of the so-called Wisdom literature; and it is fair to assume that these men of Hezekiah d id not stop with compiling, but stamped upon the body of Proverbs as a whole that sense of i t as a philosophy of life which it henceforth bears, and perhaps added the introductory secti on, Proverbs 1-9. Nor would a king so zealous for the organization and enrichment of the temp le-worship (compare Isaiah 38:20) be indifferent to its body of sacred song. It seems certai n that his was, in all the nation's history, the greatest single agency in compiling and adap ting the older Davidic Psalms, and in the composition of new ones. Perhaps this union of coll ecting and creative work in psalmody is referred to in the mention of "the words of David, an d of Asaph the seer" (2 Chronicles 29:30). To Hezekiah himself is attributed one "writing" wh ich is virtually a psalm, Isaiah 38:20. The custom through all the history of hymnology (in o ur own day also) of adapting older compositions to new liturgical uses makes uncertain the id entification of psalms belonging specifically to this period; still, many psalms of books i i and iii, and especially those ascribed to Asaph and the sons of Korah, seem a close reflect ion of the spirit of the times. An interesting theory recently advanced (see THIRTLE, Old Tes tament Problems) that the fifteen Songs of the Steps ("Degrees" or "Ascents," Psalms 120-134 ) are a memorial of Hezekiah's fifteen added years, when as a sign the shadow went backward o n the steps of Ahaz (2 Kings 20:8-11), seems to reveal many remarkable echoes of that eventfu l time. Nor does it seem unlikely that with this first extensive collection of psalms the tit les began to be added.   2. Of More Creative Strain:   This literary activity of Hezekiah's time, though concerned largely with collecting and reviv ing the treasures of older literature, was pursued not in the cold scribal spirit, but in a f ervid creative way. This may be realized in two of the psalms which the present writer ascrib es to this period. Psalms 49, a psalm of the sons of Korah, is concerned to make an essentia l tenet of Wisdom viable in song (compare Psalms 49:3,4), as if one of the "men of Hezekiah " who is busy with the Solomonic counsels would popularize the spirit of his findings. Psalm s 78 in like manner, a Maschil of Asaph, is concerned to make the noble histories of old viab le in song (78:2), especially the wilderness history when Israel received the law and behel d Yahweh's wonders, and down to the time when Ephraim was rejected and Judah, in the person o f David, was chosen to the leadership in Israel.   Such a didactic poem would not stand solitary in a period so instructed. As in Wisdom and psa lmody, so in the domain of law and its attendant history, the literary activity was vigorous . This age of Hezekiah seems the likeliest time for putting into literary idiom that "book o f the law" found later in the Temple (2 Kings 22); which book Josiah's reforms, carried out a ccording to its commands, prove to have been our Book of Deuteronomy. This is not the place t o discuss the Deuteronomic problem (see under JOSIAH); it is fair to note here, however, tha t as compared with the austere statement of the Mosaic statutes elsewhere, this book has a li terary art and coloring which seem to stamp its style as that of a later age than Moses', tho ugh its substance is Mosaic; and this age of Hezekiah seems the likeliest time to put its rew riting and adaptation. Nor did the new spirit of literary creation feed itself entirely on th e past. The king's chastening experience of illness and trial, with the steadfast faith tha t upbore and survived it, must have been fruitful of new ideas, especially of that tremendou s conception, now just entering into thought, of the ministry of suffering. Time, of course , must be allowed for the ripening of an idea so full of involvement; and it is long before i ts sacrificial and atoning values come to light in such utterances as Isaiah 53. But such psa lms as Psalms 49 and Psalms 73, not to mention Hezekiah's own psalm (Isaiah 38), show that th e problem was a living one; it was working, moreover, in connection with the growing Wisdom p hilosophy, toward the composition of the Book of Job, which in a masterly way both subjects t he current Wisdom motives to a searching test and vindicates the intrinsic integrity of the p atriarch in a discipline of most extreme trial. The life of a king whose experience had som e share in clarifying the ideas of such a book was not lived in vain.   John Franklin Genung    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright Statement These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that is available from Crosswire Software.  Bibliography Information Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Entry for 'HEZEKIAH (2)'". "International Standard Bi ble Encyclopedia". <http://www.studylight.org/enc/isb/view.cgi?number=T4321>. 1915.   <http://www.studylight.org/enc/isb/view.cgi?number=T4321>