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Hezekiah (; ), or Ezekias (born , sole ruler ), was the son of Ahaz and the thirteenth king of Judah according to the Hebrew Bible.Harris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. "Glossary", pp. 367–432 He is described as "the best-attested figure in biblical history," (2026). 9780367744250, Routledge. ISBN 9780367744250 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.Encyclopædia Britannica (2009), Hezekiah, Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 12 November 2009.
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. He is considered a very righteous king in both the Second Book of Kings and the Second Book of Chronicles.; His efforts to consolidate worship around the God of Israel and his destruction of other cult objects, such as the Nehushtan made by Moses, are seen as his way of consolidating power and temple resources during a turbulent time. His reign was marked by prophetic activity, with prophets such as Isaiah and Micah delivering their messages during his time.
While Hezekiah's reign is well-documented, the historical accuracy of the events is debated by scholars. He is also one of the more prominent kings of Judah mentioned in the Bible and is one of the kings mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. He lived another fifteen years after the war and brought material prosperity to his kingdom before he died, and his son Manasseh succeeded him. The Bible praises Hezekiah's reliance on God during the Assyrian siege, claiming divine intervention in Jerusalem's survival; according to , "No king of Judah, among either his predecessors or his successors, could ... be compared to him".Jewish Encyclopaedia, Hezekiah, accessed 15 April 2012
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.2 Chronicles 30:11: Jerusalem Bible 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. The celebration took place during the second month, Iyar, because not enough priests had consecrated themselves in the first month.
Biblical studies writer H. P. Mathys suggests that Hezekiah, being unable to restore the United Monarchy by political means, used the invitation to the northern tribes as a final religious "attempt to restore the unity of the cult". He notes that this account "is often considered to contain historically reliable elements, especially since negative aspects are also reported on", although he questions the extent to which it may be considered historically reliable.Mathys, H. P., 1 and 2 Chronicles in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), The Oxford Bible Commentary , p. 302
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.Peter J. Leithart, "1 & 2 Kings," Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible, p. 255–256, Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, MI (2006)
Herodotus mentions the Assyrian army of Sennacherib being overrun by mice when attacking Egypt. The History Of Herodotus, Book 2, Verse 141 Josephus gives a quote from Berossus that is quite close to the Biblical account.Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 10, chapter 1, section 5
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.
According to Assyrian records, Sennacherib was assassinated in 681 BC, twenty years after the 701 BC invasion of Judah.J. D. Douglas, ed., New Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1965) 1160. A Neo-Babylonian letter corroborates with the Biblical account, a sentiment from Sennacherib's sons to assassinate him, an event Assyriology 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, The New Oxford Annotated Bible. 4th ed. New York: Oxford Press, 2010. and was most likely the Adrammelech in 2 Kings, though Sharezer is not known elsewhere. Archaeological Study Bible. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005. Print.
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.Georges Roux. Ancient Iraq.
There are some bullae from sealed documents that may have belonged to Hezekiah himself.Grena 2004, p. 26, Figs. 9 and 10. In 2015, Eilat Mazar discovered a bulla bearing an inscription in ancient Hebrew script that translates as: "Belonging to Hezekiah son 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.
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." He says the cause of this growth must be a large influx of Israelites fleeing from the Assyrian destruction of the Northern Kingdom. It is "the only reasonable way to explain this unprecedented demographic development." This, according to Finkelstein, set the stage for motivations to compile and reconcile Hebrew history into a text at that time. Mazar questions this explanation since, he argues, it is "no more than an educated guess."
The construction of the Broad Wall was traditionally attributed to Hezekiah, but has been found to have occurred decades earlier. New carbon-dating techniques enable 'absolute chronology' of First Temple-era Jerusalem, Gavriel Fiske for The Times of Israel, 30 April 2024.
The Siloam Inscription from the Siloam Tunnel is now in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. It "commemorates the dramatic moment when the two original teams of tunnelers, digging with picks from opposite ends of the tunnel, met each other". It is "one of the most important ancient Hebrew inscriptions ever discovered." Finkelstein and Mazar cite this tunnel as an example of Jerusalem's impressive state-level power at the time.
Archaeologists like William G. Dever have pointed at archaeological evidence for the iconoclasm during the period of Hezekiah's reign. The central cult room of the temple at Arad, a royal Judean fortress, was deliberately and carefully dismantled, "with the altars and massebot" concealed "beneath a Str. 8 plaster floor". This stratum correlates with the late 8th century; Dever concludes that "the deliberate dismantling of the temple and its replacement by another structure in the days of Hezekiah is an archeological fact. I see no reason for skepticism here."Dever, William G. (2005) Did God Have a Wife?: Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel (Eerdmans), pp. 174, 175.
As the Lachish relief attests, Sennacherib began his siege of the city of Lachish in 701 BC."Hezekiah." The Family Bible Encyclopedia. 1972. Print. 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". Visitors "would have been impressed not only by the magnitude of the artwork itself but also by the magnificent strength of the Assyrian war machine."
The Hebrew Bible states that during the night, the angel of Tetragrammaton (Hebrew: יהוה) brought death to 185,000 Assyrians troops, Hebrew-English Bible 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." Ancient Near Eastern Texts, p. 288
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.
One theory that takes the biblical view posits that a defeat was caused by "possibly an outbreak of the bubonic plague". Zondervan Handbook to the Bible. Grand Rapids: Lion Publishing, 1999, p. 303 Another that this is a composite text which makes use of a 'legendary motif' analogous to that of the Exodus story. Isaiah 1–39: With an Introduction to Prophetic Literature. Marvin Alan Sweeney. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1996, p. 476
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. Hezekiah
Likewise, the Archaeological Study Bible says, "The presence of these riches' that Hezekiah shows to the Babylonians "indicates that this event took place before Hezekiah's payment of tribute to Sennacherib in 701 BC". Again, "though the king's illness and the subsequent Babylonian mission are described at the end of the accounts of his reign, they must have occurred before the war with Assyria.
As an example of the reasoning that finds inconsistencies in calculations when co-regencies are a priori ruled out, 2 Kings 18:10 dates the fall of Samaria (the Northern Kingdom) to the 6th year of Hezekiah's reign. Albright has dated the fall of the Kingdom of Israel to 721 BC, while Thiele calculates the date as 723 BC.Edwin R. Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings (3rd ed.; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan/Kregel, 1983), pp. 134, 217. 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.Leslie McFall, "A Translation Guide to the Chronological Data in Kings and Chronicles," Bibliotheca Sacra 148 (1991) p. 33. ( Link)
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.William J. Murnane, Ancient Egyptian Coregencies (Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 1977).J. D. Douglas, ed., New Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1965) p. 1160. After noting that coregencies were only used sporadically in the northern kingdom (Israel), Nadav Na'aman writes,Nadav Na'aman, "Historical and Chronological Notes on the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah in the Eighth Century BC" Vetus Testamentum 36 (1986) p. 91.
Among the numerous scholars who have recognized the coregency between Ahaz and Hezekiah is Kenneth Kitchen in his various writings,See Kitchen's chronology in New Bible Dictionary p. 220. Leslie McFall,Leslie McFall, "Translation Guide" p. 42. and Jack Finegan.Jack Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology (rev. ed.; Peabody MA: Hendrickson, 1998) p. 246. 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.Leslie McFall, "Translation Guide" pp. 4–45 ( Link).
Scholars who accept the principle of coregencies note that abundant evidence for their use is found in the Biblical material itself.Thiele, Mysterious Numbers chapter 3, "Coregencies and Rival Reigns." 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.Jack Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology p. 246.
Attribution:
Siloam inscription
The Siloam Tunnel was chiseled through 533 meters (1,750 feet) of solid rock to provide Jerusalem underground access to the waters of the Gihon Spring or Siloam Pool, which lay outside the city.
Lachish relief
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).
Sennacherib's Prism of Nineveh
Sennacherib's Prism was found buried in the foundations of the Nineveh palace. It was written in cuneiform, the Mesopotamian form of writing of the day. The prism records the conquest of 46 strong townsJames B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Related to the Old Testament (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965) 287–288. and "uncountable smaller places," along with the siege of Jerusalem where Sennacherib says he just "shut him up ... like a bird in a cage," subsequently enforcing a larger tribute upon him.
Other records
The Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484 BC – c. 425 BC) wrote of the invasion and acknowledges many Assyrian deaths, which he claims were the result of a plague of mice. The Jewish historian Josephus followed the writings of Herodotus. These historians record Sennacherib's failure to take Jerusalem as "uncontested".
Historicity
While extrabiblical sources corroborate King Hezekiah's existence, the historicity of some biblical accounts of his reign is debated among scholars, particularly regarding his religious reforms and the Assyrian invasion. 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,Na’aman, Nadav. ‘The Debated Historicity of Hezekiah’s Reform in the Light of Historical and Archaeological Research’, ZAW 107: 179–95. 1995. or may have been more about consolidating royal power than religious overhaul.Swanson, Kristin A. 2002 ‘A Reassessment of Hezekiah’s Reform in Light of Jar Handles and Iconographic Evidence’, CBQ 64: 460–9 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. Disagreements over the chronology of Hezekiah’s reign and the timing of his death further complicate the understanding of his historical legacy, with inscriptions and biblical texts remaining key sources in these discussions.
Rabbinic literature
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). Jewish encyclopedia Abijah
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.Harris, Stephen L. Understanding the Bible. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 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." Consequently, "Hezekiah ends his long reign impoverished and ruling over only a tiny scrap of his former domain."
Academic debate
There has been considerable academic debate about the actual dates of the Israelite kings' reigns. Scholars have endeavored to synchronize the chronology of events in the Hebrew Bible with those derived from other external sources. In the case of Hezekiah, scholars have noted that the apparent inconsistencies are resolved by accepting the evidence that Hezekiah, like his predecessors for four generations in the kings of Judah, had a coregency with his father, and this coregency began in 729 BC.
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.
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