General Notes

Hezekiah (Hebrew Hizqiyah,”Yahweh strengthens”; Greek Ezekias), king of Judah (715?-687 bc), son and successor of Ahaz. The most important event of his reign was the Assyrian invasion of Judah in 701 bc. Four years before the invasion, when Sennacherib acceded to the Assyrian throne, Hezekiah had joined an Egyptian coalition formed to defy the power of Assyria. The coalition was defeated, however, in 701 bc by Sennacherib, who reestablished Assyrian authority and forced Hezekiah to pay a heavy tribute (see 2 Kings 18:13-16). The Assyrians made a second expedition against Judah about 690 bc but, before they could attack, were routed by a disaster, described in the Old Testament as a visitation of an angel that destroyed 185,000 men (see 2 Kings 19:35); this disaster was pictured by the Greek historian Herodotus as a plague of field mice. Modern scholars believe it to have been plague. Hezekiah is noted as a great religious reformer; he was probably influenced by the prophet Isaiah, who lived during his reign.

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