Hezekiah (; ), or Ezekias (born , sole ruler ), was the son of

Ahaz Ahaz (; ''Akhaz''; ) an abbreviation of Jehoahaz II (of Judah), "Yahweh has held" (; ''Ya'úḫazi'' 'ia-ú-ḫa-zi'' Hayim Tadmor and Shigeo Yamada, ''The Royal Inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser III (744-727 BC) and Shalmaneser V (726-722 BC), ...

and the thirteenth king of Judah according to the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Harris, Stephen L., ''Understanding the Bible''. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. "Glossary", pp. 367–432 In the Biblical narrative, Hezekiah witnessed the destruction of the northern Kingdom of Israel by the

Neo-Assyrian Empire The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew to dominate the ancient Near East and parts of South Caucasus, Nort ...

under

Sargon II Sargon II (, meaning "the faithful king" or "the legitimate king") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 722 BC to his death in battle in 705. Probably the son of Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727), Sargon is generally believed to have be ...

in . He was king of Judah during the

Assyrian siege of Jerusalem The Assyrian siege of Jerusalem () was an aborted siege of Jerusalem, then capital of the Kingdom of Judah, carried out by Sennacherib, king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The siege concluded Sennacharib's campaign in the Levant, in which he att ...

Sennacherib Sennacherib ( or , meaning "Sin (mythology), Sîn has replaced the brothers") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 705BC until his assassination in 681BC. The second king of the Sargonid dynasty, Sennacherib is one of the most famous A ...

in 701 BC.Encyclopædia Britannica (2009)
Hezekiah
Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 12 November 2009. The

historical accuracy Historicity is the historical actuality of persons and events, meaning the quality of being part of history instead of being a historical myth, legend, or fiction. The historicity of a claim about the past is its factual status. Historicity denot ...

of King Hezekiah’s reign is a topic of academic discussion, with scholars debating the reforms and

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

n events based on textual,

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

, and external evidence. He is considered a very righteous king in both the

Second Book of Kings The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of ancient Israel also including t ...

and the

Second Book of Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( , "words of the days") is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third section of the Jewish Tan ...

. 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 The New Testament provides two accounts of the genealogy of Jesus, one in the Gospel of Matthew and another in the Gospel of Luke. Matthew starts with Abraham and works forwards, while Luke works back in time from Jesus to Adam. The lists of na ...

in the

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells the story of who the author believes is Israel's messiah (Christ (title), Christ), Jesus, resurrection of Jesus, his res ...

. "No king of Judah, among either his predecessors or his successors, could ..be compared to him", according to 2 Kings 18:5.

Jewish Encyclopaedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on the ...

,
Hezekiah
', accessed 15 April 2012

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "Yahweh is salvation"; also known as Isaias or Esaias from ) was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. The text of the Book of Isaiah refers to Isaiah as "the prophet" ...

and

Micah Micah (; ) is a given name. Micah is the name of several people in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), and means "He who is like God”. The name is sometimes found with theophoric extensions. Suffix theophory in '' Yah'' and in ''Yahweh'' result ...

prophesied during his reign.

Etymology

The name Hezekiah means "Yahweh strengthens" in Hebrew. Alternately it may be translated as "Yahweh is my strength".

Biblical narrative

Dating of Biblical chronology

Based on

Edwin R. Thiele Edwin Richard Thiele (10 September 1895 – 15 April 1986) was an American Seventh-day Adventist missionary in China, editor, archaeologist, writer, and scholar of the Old Testament. He is best known for his chronological studies of the kingdom ...

's dating, Hezekiah was born in c. 741 BC and died in c. 687 BC at age 54. Thiele and

William F. Albright William Foxwell Albright (May 24, 1891 – September 19, 1971) was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist, and expert on ceramics. He is considered "one of the twentieth century's most influential American biblical scholars ...

calculated his regnal years, arriving at figures very close to each other, c. 715/16 and 686/87 BC.See

for the former; for the latter, Edwin Thiele, ''

The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings ''The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings'' (1951) is a reconstruction of the chronology of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah by Edwin R. Thiele. The book was originally his doctoral dissertation and is widely regarded as the definitive work o ...

'', (1st ed.; New York: Macmillan, 1951; 2d ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965; 3rd ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan/Kregel, 1983). , p. 217. However, Robb Andrew Young dates his reign to 725–696 BC and

Gershon Galil Gershon Galil () is Professor of Biblical Studies and Ancient History and former chair of the Department of Jewish History at the University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel. Gershon Galil earned his doctorate from the Hebrew University in ...

to 726–697/6. The Bible states that the fall of

Samaria Samaria (), the Hellenized form of the Hebrew name Shomron (), is used as a historical and Hebrew Bible, biblical name for the central region of the Land of Israel. It is bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The region is ...

happened in Hezekiah's 6th year of reign, implying that he would have become king in ca. 727 BC.

Nadav Na'aman Nadav Na'aman (Hebrew language, Hebrew: נדב נעמן; born in 1939 in Jerusalem) is an Israeli archaeologist and historian. He specializes in the study of the Near East in the second and first millenniums Current Era , BCE. His research combin ...

argues that several late 8th century BCE seal impressions from the Kaufman collection, which mention some places later destroyed during Sennacherib's invasion and thus predate this event, corroborate this date as the inscriptions in the seal impressions include dates that go up to the 26th regnal year.

Family and life

According to the Bible, Hezekiah was the son of King Ahaz and

Abijah Abijah ( ') is a Biblical HebrewPetrovsky, p. 35 unisex nameSuperanskaya, p. 277 which means "my Father is Yah". The Hebrew form ' also occurs in the Bible. Old Testament characters Women * Abijah, who married King Ahaz of Judah. She is ...

(also called Abi), daughter of the high priest Zechariah. Hezekiah married

Hephzibah Hephzibah or Hepzibah ( or ; ) is a minor figure in the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible. She was the wife of Hezekiah, king of Judah (reigned 715 and 686 BCE), and the mother of Manasseh of Judah (reigned 687–643 BCE). Biblical ...

, died from natural causes in c. 687 BC aged 54, and was succeeded by his son,

Manasseh Manasseh () is both a given name and a surname. Its variants include Manasses and Manasse. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Ezekiel Saleh Manasseh (died 1944), Singaporean rice and opium merchant and hotelier * Jacob Manasseh ( ...

Reign over Judah

According to the Biblical narrative, Hezekiah assumed the throne of Judah at age 25 and reigned for 29 years. Some writers have proposed that Hezekiah served as

coregent A coregency is the situation where a monarchical position (such as prince, princess, king, queen, emperor or empress), normally held by only a single person, is held by two or more. It is to be distinguished from diarchies or duumvirates (su ...

with his father Ahaz for about 14 years. Albright dates his sole reign as 715–687 BC, and by Thiele as 716–687 BC (the last ten years being a co-regency with his son Manasseh).

Restoration of the Temple

According to the Bible, Hezekiah purified and repaired the

Solomon's Temple Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple (), was a biblical Temple in Jerusalem believed to have existed between the 10th and 6th centuries Common Era, BCE. Its description is largely based on narratives in the Hebrew Bible, in which it ...

, purged its idols, and reformed the priesthood. In an effort to abolish idolatry from his kingdom, he destroyed the

high place High places (, singular ''bamā'') are simple hilltop installations with instruments of religion: platforms, altars, standing stones, and cairns are common. Along with open courtyard shrines and sacred trees or groves, they were some of the mos ...

s (or ''bamot'') and the "bronze serpent" (or ''

Nehushtan In the biblical Books of Kings ( 2 Kings 18:4; written c. 550 BC), the Nehushtan (; ) is the bronze image of a serpent on a pole. The image is described in the Book of Numbers, where Yahweh instructed Moses to erect it so that the Israelites wh ...

''), recorded as being made by

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

, which had become objects of idolatrous worship. In place of the idolatry, Hezekiah centralized the worship of the sole God at the Temple in Jerusalem. Hezekiah also defeated the

Philistines Philistines (; LXX: ; ) were ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan during the Iron Age in a confederation of city-states generally referred to as Philistia. There is compelling evidence to suggest that the Philistines origi ...

, "as far as Gaza and its territory", and resumed the

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

pilgrimage and the tradition of inviting the scattered tribes of Israel to take part in a Passover festival. According to 2 Chronicles 30 (but not the parallel account in 2 Kings), Hezekiah sent messengers to

Ephraim Ephraim (; , in pausa: ''ʾEp̄rāyīm'') was, according to the Book of Genesis, the second son of Joseph ben Jacob and Asenath, as well as the adopted son of his biological grandfather Jacob, making him the progenitor of the Tribe of Ephrai ...

and

, inviting them to Jerusalem for a Passover celebration. The messengers were scorned, but a few men of the tribes of

Asher Asher ( ''’Āšēr''), in the Book of Genesis, was the younger of the two sons of Jacob and Zilpah, and Jacob's eighth son overall. He was the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Asher. Name The text of the Torah states that the name אָ� ...

, Manasseh, and

Zebulun Zebulun (; also ''Zebulon'', ''Zabulon'', or ''Zaboules'' in ''Antiquities of the Jews'' by Josephus) was, according to the Books of Genesis and Numbers,Genesis 46:14 the last of the six sons of Jacob and Leah (Jacob's tenth son), and the foun ...

"were humble enough to come" to the city. 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 Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...

. The celebration took place during the second month,

Iyar Iyar (Hebrew language, Hebrew: or , Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew, Standard ''ʾĪyyar'' Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ''ʾĪyyār''; from "Rosette (design), rosette; blossom") is the eighth month of the civil year (which starts on 1 Tishrei ...

, 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 The Kingdom of Israel (Hebrew: מַמְלֶכֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל‎, ''Mamleḵeṯ Yīśrāʾēl'') was an Israelite kingdom that may have existed in the Southern Levant. According to the Deuteronomistic history in the Hebrew Bible ...

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.

Assyrian invasion

In 701 BC, the recently anointed Assyrian king Sennacherib moved to quash a rebellion in the east of his empire, invading Judah and besieging Jerusalem. 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 Baker Publishing Group is a Christian book publisher that discusses historic Christian happenings for its evangelical readers. It is based in Ada, Michigan and has six subdivisions: Bethany House, Revell, Baker Books, Baker Academic, Chosen, and ...

Grand Rapids, MI Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the second-most populous city in Michigan. The Gran ...

(2006)

Hezekiah's construction

Knowing that Jerusalem would eventually be subject to a siege, Hezekiah had been preparing for some time by fortifying the capital's walls, building towers, and constructing a tunnel to bring fresh water to the city from a spring outside its walls. He made at least two major preparations that would help Jerusalem to resist conquest: the construction of the Siloam Tunnel and construction of the Broad Wall.

Battle with Sennacherib's army

During the

, the Bible claims that great losses were inflicted upon the Assyrian army, which Sennacherib's inscriptions do not mention. As Jack Finegan comments: "In view of the general note of boasting which pervades the inscriptions of the Assyrian kings, ... it is hardly to be expected that Sennacherib would record such a defeat." The version of the matter that Sennacherib presents, as found inscribed on what is known as the Sennacherib Prism preserved in the

University of Chicago Oriental Institute The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, West Asia & North Africa (ISAC), formerly known as the Oriental Institute, is the University of Chicago's interdisciplinary research center for ancient Near Eastern studies and archaeology museum. ...

, in part says: "As to Hezekiah, the Jew, he did not submit to my yoke ... Hezekiah himself ... did send me, later, to Nineveh, my lordly city, together with 30 talents of gold, 800 talents of silver, ..."

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

mentions the

Assyrian army The Neo-Assyrian Empire arose in the 10th century BC. Ashurnasirpal II is credited for utilizing sound strategy in his wars of conquest. While aiming to secure defensible frontiers, he would launch raids further inland against his opponents as a ...

of Sennacherib being overrun by mice when attacking Egypt.

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

gives a quote from

Berossus Berossus () or Berosus (; ; possibly derived from ) was an early-3rd-century BCE Hellenistic civilization, Hellenistic-era Babylonia, Babylonian writer, priest of Bel (mythology) , Bel Marduk, and Babylonian astronomy, astronomer who wrote i ...

that is quite close to the Biblical account.

Death of Sennacherib

Of Sennacherib's death, 2 Kings records:

"It came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him ennacheribwith 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. A Neo-Babylonian letter corroborates with the Biblical account, a sentiment from Sennacherib's sons to assassinate him, an event

Assyriologists Assyriology (from Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , ''-logia''), also known as Cuneiform studies or Ancient Near East studies, is the archaeological, anthropological, historical, and linguistic study of the cultures that used cuneiform writing. The fie ...

have reconstructed as historical. The son

Arda-Mulissu Arda-Mulissu or Arda-Mulissi (, ), also known as Urdu-Mullissi, Urad-Mullissu and Arad-Ninlil and known in Hebrew writings as Adrammelech ( ''ʾAḏrammeleḵ''), was an ancient Assyrian prince of the Sargonid dynasty, the son of Sennacherib, ki ...

, who is mentioned in the letter as killing anyone who would reveal his conspiracy, murdered his father in c. 681 BC, and was most likely the Adrammelech in

2 Kings The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of ancient Israel also including ...

, 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 Esarhaddon, also spelled Essarhaddon, Assarhaddon and Ashurhaddon (, also , meaning " Ashur has given me a brother"; Biblical Hebrew: ''ʾĒsar-Ḥaddōn'') was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 681 to 669 BC. The third king of the S ...

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.

Later illness

Later in his life, the Bible recounts that Hezekiah fell ill. According to the

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

, this illness arose from a disagreement between him and Isaiah over who should visit whom, as well as Hezekiah's initial reluctance to marry and have children. Ultimately, Hezekiah did marry Isaiah's daughter. Some

Talmudist The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

s also considered that it might have come about as a way for Hezekiah to purge his sins or due to his arrogance in assuming his righteousness.

Extra-biblical records

Extra-biblical sources specify Hezekiah by name, along with his reign and influence. "Historiographically, his reign is noteworthy for the convergence of a variety of biblical sources and diverse extrabiblical evidence often bearing on the same events. Significant data concerning Hezekiah appear in the

Deuteronomist The Deuteronomist, abbreviated as either Dtr or simply D, may refer either to the source document underlying the core chapters (12–26) of the Book of Deuteronomy, or to the broader "school" that produced all of Deuteronomy as well as the Deutero ...

ic History, the Chronicler, Isaiah, Assyrian annals and reliefs, Israelite epigraphy, and, increasingly, stratigraphy"."Hezekiah". ''The Anchor Bible Dictionary''. 1992. Print. Archaeologist

Amihai Mazar Amihai "Ami" Mazar (; born November 19, 1942) is an Israeli archaeologist. Born in Haifa, Israel (then the British Mandate of Palestine), he has been since 1994 a professor at the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, h ...

calls the tensions between Assyria and Judah "one of the best-documented events of the Iron Age". Hezekiah's story is one of the best to cross-reference with the rest of the Near Eastern world's historical documents.

Archaeological record

Storage jars with the so-called "

LMLK seal The LMLK seal appears on the handles of several large storage jars from the Kingdom of Judah, where it was first issued during the reign of Hezekiah around 700 BCE. Seals bearing these four Hebrew letters have been discovered primarily on uneart ...

" may "demonstrate careful preparations to counter Sennacherib's likely route of invasion" and show "a notable degree of royal control of towns and cities which would facilitate Hezekiah's destruction of rural sacrificial sites and his centralization of worship in Jerusalem". Evidence suggests they were used throughout his 29-year reign. There are some bullae from sealed documents that may have belonged to Hezekiah himself. In 2015,

Eilat Mazar Eilat Mazar (; 10 September 195625 May 2021) was an Israeli archaeologist. She specialized in Jerusalem and Phoenician archaeology. She was also a key person in Biblical archaeology noted for her discovery of the Large Stone Structure, which ...

discovered a bulla bearing an inscription in ancient Hebrew script that translates as: "Belonging to Hezekiah

on of On, on, or ON may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * On (band), a solo project of Ken Andrews * ''On'' (EP), a 1993 EP by Aphex Twin * ''On'' (Echobelly album), 1995 * ''On'' (Gary Glitter album), 2001 * ''On'' (Imperial Teen album), 200 ...

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 is a Latin phrase meaning 'in place' or 'on site', derived from ' ('in') and ' ( ablative of ''situs'', ). The term typically refers to the examination or occurrence of a process within its original context, without relocation. The term is use ...

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 Prof. Christopher A. Rollston (born in Michigan, United States) is a scholar of the ancient Near East, specializing in Hebrew Bible, Greek New Testament, Old Testament Apocrypha, Northwest Semitic literature, epigraphy and paleography. Biography ...

, have pointed to the bulla being incomplete and the present inscription not enough to necessarily refer to the Biblical figure.

Increase in the power of Judah

According to the work of archaeologists and philologists, the reign of Hezekiah saw a notable increase in the power of the Judean state. At this time, Judah was the strongest nation on the Assyrian–Egyptian frontier.Na'aman, Nadav
''Ancient Israel and Its Neighbors''
Eisenbrauns, 2005, There were increases in literacy and in the production of literary works. The massive construction of the Broad Wall was made during his reign, the city was enlarged to accommodate a large influx, and Jerusalem's population increased to an estimated 25,000, "five times the population under Solomon." Mazar explains, "Jerusalem was a virtual city-state where the majority of the state's population was concentrated," compared to the rest of Judah's cities.Finkelstein, Israel and Mazar, Amihai. ''The Quest for the Historical Israel: Debating Archaeology and the History of Early Israel''. Leiden: Brill, 2007 Archaeologist

Israel Finkelstein Israel Finkelstein (; born March 29, 1949) is an Israelis, Israeli archaeologist, professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University and the head of the School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures at the University of Haifa. Finkelstein is active in the a ...

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 state. It is " e 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, she argues, it is "no more than an educated guess."

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 Gihon Spring () or Fountain of the Virgin, also known as Saint Mary's Pool, A.H. Sayce, "The Inscription at the Pool of Siloam", ''Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement'' 13.2 (April 1881): (editio princeps), p72/ref> is a spring in the ...

or Siloam Pool, which lay outside the city. The Siloam Inscription from the Siloam Tunnel is now in the

Istanbul Archaeology Museum The Istanbul Archaeology Museums () are a group of three archaeological museums located in the Eminönü quarter of Istanbul, Turkey, near Gülhane Park and Topkapı Palace. These museums house over one million objects from nearly all periods an ...

. 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 " e 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 William Gwinn Dever (born November 27, 1933, Louisville, Kentucky) is an American archaeologist, Biblical scholar, historian, semiticist, and theologian. He is an active Biblical scholar, scholar of the Old Testament, and historian, specialized ...

have pointed at archaeological evidence for the

iconoclasm Iconoclasm ()From . ''Iconoclasm'' may also be considered as a back-formation from ''iconoclast'' (Greek: εἰκοκλάστης). The corresponding Greek word for iconoclasm is εἰκονοκλασία, ''eikonoklasia''. is the social belie ...

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 In geology and related fields, a stratum (: strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ...

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."

Lachish relief

Under

Rehoboam Rehoboam (; , , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the Kingdom of Judah after the split of the united Kingdom of Israel. He was a son of and the successor to Solomon and a grandson of David. In the account of I Ki ...

Lachish Lachish (; ; ) was an ancient Canaanite and later Israelite city in the Shephelah ("lowlands of Judea") region of Canaan on the south bank of the Lakhish River mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible. The current '' tell'' by that name, kn ...

became the second-most important city of the

kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah was an Israelites, Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Centered in the highlands to the west of the Dead Sea, the kingdom's capital was Jerusalem. It was ruled by the Davidic line for four centuries ...

. During King Hezekiah's revolt against

, Sennacherib captured it despite determined resistance (see

Siege of Lachish The siege of Lachish was the Neo-Assyrian Empire's siege and conquest of the town of Lachish in 701 BCE. The siege is documented in several sources including the Hebrew Bible, Assyrian documents and in the Lachish relief, a well-preserved serie ...

). As the

Lachish relief The Lachish reliefs are a set of Assyrian palace reliefs narrating the story of the Assyrian victory over the kingdom of Judah during the siege of Lachish in 701 BCE. Carved between 700 and 681 BCE, as a decoration of the South-West Palace of Se ...

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."

Sennacherib's Prism of Nineveh

Sennacherib's Prism Sennacherib's Annals are the annals of Sennacherib, emperor of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. They are found inscribed on several artifacts, and the final versions were found in three clay prisms inscribed with the same text: the Taylor Prism is in the ...

was found buried in the foundations of the Nineveh palace. It was written in

cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

, the Mesopotamian form of writing of the day. The prism records the conquest of 46 strong towns 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. The Hebrew Bible states that during the night, the angel of

YHWH The TetragrammatonPronounced ; ; also known as the Tetragram. is the four-letter Hebrew-language theonym (transliterated as YHWH or YHVH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four Hebrew letters, written and read from right to left, a ...

(Hebrew: יהוה) brought death to 185,000 Assyrians troops, 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." 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 The Book of Kings (, ''Sefer (Hebrew), Sēfer Malik, Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of ancient Is ...

; 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 The Exodus (Hebrew language, Hebrew: יציאת מצרים, ''Yəṣīʾat Mīṣrayīm'': ) is the Origin myth#Founding myth, founding myth of the Israelites whose narrative is spread over four of the five books of the Torah, Pentateuch (specif ...

story. * Where the 2 Kings account explains giving 300 talents of silver, Sennacherib's prism records 800 talents. "This discrepancy may be the result of differences in the weight of Assyrian and Israelite silver talents, or it may simply be due to the Assyrian propensity for exaggeration".

Other records

The Greek historian

(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

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 Josiah () or Yoshiyahu was the 16th king of Judah (–609 BCE). According to the Hebrew Bible, he instituted major religious reforms by removing official worship of gods other than Yahweh. Until the 1990s, the biblical description of Josiah’s ...

, or may have been more about consolidating royal power than religious overhaul. Other scholars argue that archaeological discoveries at

Tel Arad Tel Arad () or Tell 'Arad () is an archaeological site consisting of a lower section and a Tell (archaeology), tell or mound, located west of the Dead Sea, about west of the Israeli city of Arad, Israel, Arad in an area surrounded by mountain r ...

Beersheba Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most p ...

Tel Motza Tel Motza or Tel Moẓa is an archaeological site in Motza, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. It includes the remains of a large Neolithic settlement dated to around 8600–8200 BCE, and Iron Age Israelite settlement dating to around 1000 to 500 BCE ...

and the

City of David The City of David (Hebrew: עיר דוד, ''Ir David'') is the historic heart of Jerusalem and widely regarded as the original location of the ancient city established by King David over 3,000 years ago. Situated just south of the Temple Mount, the ...

may provide evidence for the existence of Hezekiah's reforms. The biblical account of the Assyrian siege led by King

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

n 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 Moloch, Molech, or Molek is a word which appears in the Hebrew Bible several times, primarily in the Book of Leviticus. The Greek Septuagint translates many of these instances as "their king", but maintains the word or name ''Moloch'' in others, ...

. By anointing him with the blood of the

salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All t ...

, she enabled him to pass through the fire of Moloch unscathed (

Sanhedrin The Sanhedrin (Hebrew and Middle Aramaic , a loanword from , 'assembly,' 'sitting together,' hence ' assembly' or 'council') was a Jewish legislative and judicial assembly of either 23 or 70 elders, existing at both a local and central level i ...

63b). Hezekiah is considered the model of those who put their trust in the

Lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the Peerage o ...

. 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 The Midrash on Lamentations () is a midrashic commentary to the Book of Lamentations. It is one of the oldest works of midrash, along with Genesis Rabbah and the '' Pesikta de-Rav Kahana''. Names The midrash is quoted, perhaps for the first ti ...

'' 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 ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Torah, Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is ...

''" in the schools and is said to have planted a sword at the door of the ''

beth midrash A ''beth midrash'' (, "house of learning"; : ''batei midrash''), also ''beis medrash'' or ''beit midrash'', is a hall dedicated for Torah study, often translated as a "study hall". It is distinct from a synagogue (''beth knesseth''), althoug ...

'', 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 In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

(Sanhedrin 99a). According to

Bar Kappara Bar Kappara () was a Jewish scholar of the late second and early third century CE (i.e., during the period between the tannaim and amoraim). He was active in Caesarea Maritima, the capital of the Roman province of Syria Palaestina, from around 18 ...

, 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 Tractate Menachot (; "Meal Offerings") is the second tractate of the Order of Kodashim. It has Gemara in the Babylonian Talmud and a Tosefta. Menachot deals with the rules regarding the preparation and presentation of grain-meal, oil, and drink o ...

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 Bava Batra (also Baba Batra; ) is the third of the three Talmudic tractates in the Talmud in the order Nezikin; it deals with a person's responsibilities and rights as the owner of property. It is part of Judaism's oral law. Originally it, to ...

15a.

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 Stephen L. Harris (February 5, 1937 - April 14, 2019) was Professor of Humanities and Religious Studies at California State University, Sacramento. He served there ten years as department chair and was named a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. He received ...

, chapter 20 of

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." 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.

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 The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Samaria Samaria (), the Hellenized form of the Hebrew name Shomron (), is used as a historical and Hebrew Bible, biblical name for the central region of the Land of Israel. It is bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The region is ...

(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 BCE. 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. Chludov proclamation

Since Albright and

Friedman Friedman, Friedmann, and Freedman are surnames of German origin, and from the 17th century were also adopted by Ashkenazi Jews. It is the 9th most common surname in Israel (8th among Jews) and most common exclusively Ashkenazi name. Notable people ...

, 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. After noting that coregencies were only used sporadically in the northern kingdom (Israel),

writes,

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."

Among the numerous scholars who have recognized the coregency between Ahaz and Hezekiah is Kenneth Kitchen in his various writings, Leslie McFall, and Jack Finegan. 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 BCE are in harmony. Further, McFall found that no

textual emendation In literary theory, textuality comprises all of the attributes that distinguish the communicative content under analysis as an object of study. It is associated with structuralism and post-structuralism. Explanation Textuality is not just abou ...

s are required among the numerous dates, reign lengths, and synchronisms given in the Hebrew Bible for this period. Scholars who accept the principle of coregencies note that abundant evidence for their use is found in the Biblical material itself. 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.

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * Attribution: *

External links

"Hezekiah."
Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.

from Jerusalem Mosaic

See all Bible verses pertaining to King Hezekiah
The Reign Of Hezekiah
by John F. Brug
Sennacherib's Invasion of Hezekiah's Judah in 701 BC
– by Craig C. Broyles
Interactive Map of Sennacherib's Invasion of Hezekiah's Judah, including the accounts of Sennacherib, Herodotus, 2 Kings, Isaiah and Micah
{{Authority control 730s BC births 680s BC deaths 8th-century BCE kings of Judah 7th-century BCE kings of Judah Eastern Orthodox royal saints Year of birth uncertain Jewish royalty Year of death uncertain