Hezekiah: The Ideal Monarch?

The Biblical text characterizes Hezekiah as a righteous king who trusted the God of Israel. The author of 2 Kings 18:5 goes so far as to say Hezekiah was a cut above all the kings of Judah-both before and after. All the kings paled in comparison to him. Despite the perceived good things Hezekiah did, context and historical records paint him in a different light.

One issue consistently at odds in the scholarly realm is the authenticity of Biblical history and archaeology. While we could touch on a litany of Biblical stories that have problems associated with them, Hezekiah's actions serve our purposes for this issue.

First, let's establish a brief background for the rise of Hezekiah.

To begin, he inherited the throne from his father Ahaz who was stricken with a tumultuous reign. Rezin of the Arameans and Pekah of Israel attacked Jerusalem and took captives to Damascus. Edom also invaded Judah with the help of Rezin and together they stripped Eilat from Ahaz's hands. This was a massive economic blow. Eilat was a prime port for Judah that facilitated their trade. The Philistines also attempted to wield their power on the western and southern front by swarming the Shephelah and Negev regions.

Needless to say, Ahaz was hemed in on all sides, slowly asphyxiated by other regional powers.

As a result, Ahaz made a savvy political move (the opposite of what his son ends up doing). He bribed Tiglat-Pileser III (TP3) of Assyria for military assistance, gutting the silver and gold in the Temple and the palace treasury (by the way, Isaiah had some choice words for Ahaz because of this treaty). Now TP3 had Ahaz in his pocket. Judah was now officially submissive to Assyria. With Assyria now acting as the big brother in Judah, law and order was restored under Ahaz and political stability now took shape.

Enter Hezekiah.

He likely witnessed all the turmoil, bloodshed, and political intrigue surrounding his father's career. The treaty Ahaz made with Assyria now transferred to Hezekiah upon his father's death. By default, Hezekiah was a politically indebted subject of Assyrian control. And he played nice for about 14 years acting as a loyal vassal until he decided, per Anson Rainey, to make a "stupid maneuver." Before we tackle that escapade, let's highlight some beneficial moves Hezekiah made during the course of his reign. It's only fair to make positive remarks along with the negatives.

1. Conducted a national Passover celebration. He sent messengers to all of Israel and Judah, inviting them to participate. Some obliged and others declined. (2 Chronicles 30:1)

2. Restored temple worship. He cleansed the Temple of foreign idols. (2 Chronicles 29:15)

3. He obeyed Sargon II and reaped tremendous profits from the trade routes he governed. (2 Kings 20:13)

4. Shut down local cultic centers, tore down pillars, cut down Asherah poles, and removed the high places. Although this may be construed as an act worthy of replication and fidelity to God, its ensuing implications underscore the true motivation for why he did this.

Now for the bad news.

Hezekiah attempted to invoke a spiritual renaissance in Judah by centralizing worship. He mandated all worship of YHWH was to be performed in Jerusalem alone. Let's think about that for a moment. Imagine the Pope, out of the blue, says, "All Christians must now worship at the Vatican. All other religious centers are banned from worshiping God."

This is what Hezekiah did. He outlawed all other shrines outside of Jerusalem. If we read in between the lines, money was the motivating factor. Centralizing worship means more money for the priesthood and the administration.

Let's shift back to the "stupid maneuver" we alluded to earlier.

In 705 BC, Sargon II was killed in battle in Turkey. This initiated a changing of the guard and political unrest in the Assyrian kingdom (not unlike what has transpired in the US as of late). Hezekiah viewed this as a prime opportunity to break free from the Assyrian yoke. He spearheaded an anti-Assyrian coalition, aided by the political backing of Egypt, Babylon, Phoenicia, Edom, Moab, and Ammon.

Those who didn't comply, he had imprisoned. Hezekiah conspired with the local folk of Ekron to illegally imprison their ruler, Padi, because he didn't support the rebellion. Hezekiah also bullied the king of Gaza, Silli-Ba'al, by occupying Philistine strongholds in he Western Negev.

Sennacherib, the son of Sargon II, took note and was none too pleased with Hezekiah's political maneuvering and made preparations to invade Judah. Hezekiah caught wind of Sennacherib's intentions and he countered by making preparations of his own. He began to fortify towns on the western front (Gezer, Azekah, Lachish, Gath, and Libnah).

In Jerusalem, Hezekiah managed to reroute the Gihon spring by channeling the water inside the city in order to protect the vital source from the pending invasion.

See 2 Chronicles 32:30, 2 Kings 20:20

He built the "Broad Wall" (later discovered by Nachman Avigad) that was 8 meters thick-a piecemeal fortification that utilized stones from houses.

See Isaiah 22:8-11

In 701 BCE, Sennacherib came gallivanting through the land, leaving nothing in his wake. He destroyed 46 cities, completely decimating the kingdom of Judah. Lachish, the second most important city behind Jerusalem and Judah's breadbasket, was reduced to rubble.

A drawing of the relief of the Siege of Lachish found in Sennacherib's palace in Nineveh.

With the majority of the country in flames, Sennacherib set his sights on Judah's capital. While he barricaded Lachish, Sennacherib sent one of his officials to Jerusalem in order to implore Hezekiah to surrender. According to the Biblical text, an angel smote the Assyrian army causing them to retreat. Herodotus, a 5th BCE Greek historian, claims the army was attacked by mice and ate all their leather equipment.

Sennacherib did end up taking Jerusalem, just not by force. Hezekiah emptied out the Temple treasury to pay Sennacherib to go away. Sennacherib documented all his exploits on the prism pictured below. Despite his shortcoming in securing Jerusalem, he boasted how he "...made a prisoner (Hezekiah) in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage."

Sennacherib's Prism speaks of the 46 cities of Judah he destroyed and boasts of his Jerusalem siege. 

From this point, Judah once again is the puppet of a larger imperial outfit and Hezekiah spends the rest of his days bearing the fiscal weight of his colossal indiscretion.

Thus is the story of the illustrious career of Hezekiah and his revolt. Yes, Jerusalem was spared, but the rest of the county laid bare in ruins and he ostensibly had no country left to govern. Heavy taxes were levied against the kingdom for Hezekiah's disobedience. And guess who inherited the chaos and disarray of  Hezekiah's decision?

Manasseh.

Given all this, can we really blame Manasseh, Hezekiah's son, for the things he did? The Bible portrays him as the worst king who ever lived-the complete antithesis of his father. However, he inherited a political and economic maelstrom Hezekiah left behind.

The irony in all of this hinges on Hezekiah's faithfulness to God, yet his kingdom was destroyed. Perhaps we can understand Manasseh's reluctance to follow in his father steps and serve YHWH. Look at what YHWH allowed to happen to Judah despite his father's faithfulness to Him! After all the religious reforms and adherence to YHWH, Judah still suffered immensely. The psychosocial dimension of Manasseh was to revert back to other gods who would protect and bless the country once gain because YHWH had not.

We do discover later Manasseh repented and led the people back to God.

The question concerning all of this, especially Hezekiah, is how we balance the authenticity of the Biblical text, the veracity of extra-Biblical sources, and the integration of context to help expound what has truly transpired behind the scenes. Only so much can be gleaned reading the Bible superficially. Peripheral factors must also be taken into account, giving us a more panoramic view of the story behind the story.