Who was King Hezekiah, and what made his reign stand out?

Hezekiah became king of Judah at twenty-five and ruled for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. Unlike his father Ahaz, he is described as doing what was right in the Lord’s sight, following the pattern of David. He removed high places, smashed idols, cut down pagan groves, and even broke the bronze serpent from Moses’ time because people were burning incense to it. He trusted the Lord, clung to Him, and kept His commands. Because of this, the Lord was with him, and there was no king of Judah like him before or after in that same steady trust.

Why did Hezekiah destroy the bronze serpent and call it Nehushtan?

The bronze serpent had first been made by Moses as a means for Israel to look in faith to God for healing. Over time, people began to burn incense to it, turning it into an object of worship instead of a reminder to trust God. Hezekiah broke it into pieces and called it “Nehushtan,” meaning just a piece of brass, to show that even something with a good history must not replace God in people’s hearts. This act shows his zeal to clear away every form of idolatry and keep worship focused on the Lord alone.

What does this passage show about trusting God versus trusting Egypt or money?

In this chapter, Judah stands between dangerous choices. Hezekiah is praised for trusting the Lord instead of idols, and he even throws off Assyrian control. But when Sennacherib attacks, Hezekiah tries to buy peace by sending silver and gold, even stripping the temple. The Assyrian spokesman then mocks any trust in Egypt as leaning on a broken reed that pierces the hand. He also mocks trust in the Lord. The story shows how human deals, foreign help, and money all fall short, while the real issue is whether God Himself will protect those who cling to Him.

Why did God allow Israel to be taken into exile by Assyria?

The text clearly says Israel was carried away to Assyria “because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God.” They broke His covenant, ignored what He commanded through Moses, and refused to hear or do His words. So Shalmaneser besieged Samaria, and after three years the city fell. The people were relocated to places like Halah, Habor, and the cities of the Medes. This exile stands as a warning beside Hezekiah’s faithfulness, showing that long-term disobedience leads to judgment, even while God still works with those who turn back to Him.

What is the significance of Rabshakeh’s speech to the people of Jerusalem?

Rabshakeh’s speech is meant to scare and break the faith of Jerusalem. He questions what they are trusting in and calls their words empty. He mocks Egypt as a weak helper, twists Hezekiah’s removal of high places as if it offended God, and even claims the Lord sent Assyria to destroy the land. Speaking loudly in the people’s own language, he urges them not to listen to Hezekiah or trust the Lord, but to surrender in hope of comfort in another land. His words picture how unbelief talks: it belittles trust in God and makes present strength and comfort seem more real than God’s promises.

Why did Hezekiah pay tribute and strip gold from the temple if he trusted God?

This passage shows that even a faithful leader can struggle under pressure. When Sennacherib takes the fortified cities of Judah, Hezekiah sends a message saying, “I have offended,” and offers to bear whatever tribute is demanded. He then gives all the silver from the Lord’s house and the king’s treasures and even cuts off the gold he himself had put on the temple doors. This looks like a fearful, desperate move. It shows the tension a believer can feel between trusting God and grabbing at human ways to survive, and it sets the stage for later prayer and deeper reliance on the Lord.

What does this chapter teach about idolatry and true worship?

The chapter shows idolatry in several forms. In Israel, disobedience to God’s covenant leads to exile. In Judah, even a good object like the bronze serpent has become an idol, so it must be destroyed. The Assyrians trust in their own power and many conquered gods, and they speak as if the Lord is just one more local god who will fall. In contrast, Hezekiah removes high places and images and insists on worship in Jerusalem as God commanded. True worship means obeying God’s word, clearing out anything that competes with Him, and trusting Him alone instead of human strength or religious objects.

How can Hezekiah’s example help believers facing fear and pressure today?

Hezekiah’s life in this chapter is not neat or easy. He trusts God, cleans up worship, and sees God’s help in battle, yet he also faces a strong empire, sees nearby Israel fall, and feels fear strong enough that he sends huge tribute. He shows that faith is not the absence of pressure but clinging to God in the middle of it. For believers today, his example invites honest dependence on God, courage to remove modern “idols” that pull the heart away, and a reminder that loud voices of doubt and threat do not define reality. God’s faithfulness matters more than human odds.

2Kgs.18.1

2 Kings 18:1

KJV

Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.

Hezekiah Destroys Idolatry in Judah

Hezekiah Reigns over Judah

1 Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.

2 Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.

3 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did.

4 ¶ He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.

5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.

6 For he clave to the Lord, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses.

Hezekiah Victorious

7 And the Lord was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.

8 He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

9 ¶ And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it.

10 And at the end of three years they took it: even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.

11 And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes:

12 Because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them.

Sennacherib Invades Judah

Invasion of Judah

13 ¶ Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.

14 And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

15 And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king’s house.

16 At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem

17 ¶ And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller’s field.

18 And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.

19 And Rabshakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?

20 Thou sayest, (but they are but vain words,) I have counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?

21 Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him.

22 But if ye say unto me, We trust in the Lord our God: is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?

23 Now therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.

24 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

25 Am I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.

26 Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews’ language in the ears of the people that are on the wall.

27 But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?

28 Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and spake, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria:

29 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand:

30 Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

31 Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern:

32 Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive and of honey, that ye may live, and not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, The Lord will deliver us.

33 Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

34 Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand?

35 Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?

36 But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not.

37 Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

Cross References

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