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Hezekiah
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Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, king of Judah, was
twenty-five years old when he becomes king,
and he reigns twenty-nine years in Jerusalem.
His mother's name is Abi, daughter of
Zechariah.
He pleases the LORD, just as his forefather
David had done.
Hezekiah removes the high places, shatters the
pillars, and cuts down the sacred poles. He
smashs the bronze serpent called Nehushtan
which Moses had made, because up to that time
the Israelites are burning incense to it.
He puts his
trust in the LORD, the God of Israel; and
there is no one like before his time, or will
there ever be among all the kings of Judah.
Loyal to the LORD,
Hezekiah does not away from |
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him, but observes the
commandments which the LORD had given Moses. The
LORD is with him, and he prospers in all that he
set out to do. He rebels against the king of
Assyria and does not serve him.
He also subjugates the watchtowers and walled
cities of the Philistines, all the way to Gaza and
its territory. |
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The Fall of
Samaria
In the fourth year of King Hezekiah,
Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, attacks Samaria,
lays siege to it, and after three years
captures it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah,
the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel,
Samaria falls.
The king of Assyria then deports the
Israelites to Assyria and settles them in
Halah, at the Habor, a river of Gozan, and in
the cities of the Medes.
This comes about because they did not heed the
warning of the LORD, they violated his
covenant and did not fulfill the commandments
given through Moses.
Sennacherib, King of Assyria
In the
fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib,
king of Assyria, goes on an expedition against
all the fortified cities of Judah and captures
them.
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Hezekiah, king of Judah, sends a message to
the king of Assyria at Lachish to leave Judah
in return for paying whatever tribute he
imposes. The king of Assyria demands three
hundred talents of silver and thirty talents
of gold from Hezekiah, king of Judah.
Hezekiah pays him from the funds that are in
the temple of the LORD and in the palace
treasuries. He breaks up the door panels and
the uprights of the temple of the LORD which
he himself had ordered to be overlaid with
gold, and gives the gold to the king of
Assyria.
The king of
Assyria sends the general, the lord
chamberlain, and the commander from Lachish
with a great army to King Hezekiah at
Jerusalem. On their arrival in Jerusalem, they stop at the
conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the
fuller's field.
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They call for the
king, who sends out to them Eliakim, son of
Hilkiah, the master of the palace; Shebnah the
scribe; and the herald Joah, son of Asaph.
The Assyrians deliver a warning to the people of
Judah to not let Hezekiah deceive them, since he
will not be able to protect them from the
Assyrians. The Assyrians then promise the people
of Judah that if they surrender the king will
provide for them their own vine and of their own
fig-tree, and drink the water of their own
cistern. They also say that the king will deliver
them to a land like their own, a land of grain and
wine, of bread and orchards, of olives, oil and
fruit syrup.
But even with
these promises the people remain silent and do not
answer him one word, for the king had ordered them
not to answer him. Then the master of the palace,
Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, Shebnah the scribe,
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and the herald Joah, son of Asaph, come to Hezekiah
with their garments torn, and report to him what
the commander had said. When King Hezekiah hears this, in his despair he
goes into the temple of the LORD. Then he sends
Eliakim, the master of the palace, Shebnah the
scribe, and the elders of the priests, to tell the
prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, about what the king
of Assyrian had said. |
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| After hearing the messengers of the king, Isaiah
tells them that the LORD says not to be frightened
by the words they have heard, with which the
servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed
Him. Isaiah tells the messengers that the LORD has
said that He will put in the king of Assyria such
a spirit that, when he hears a certain report, he
will return to his own land, and there He will
cause him to fall by the sword. When the commander, on his return, hears that the
king of Assyria had withdrawn from Lachish, he
finds him besieging Libnah. The king of Assyria
hears a report that Tirhakah, king of
Ethiopia, had come out to fight
against him. So he sends envoys to
Hezekiah with this message to threaten
him once more.
Hezekiah takes the letter from the hand of the
messengers and reads it. Then he goes up to the
temple of the LORD, and prays before the LORD for
help against Sennacherib. |
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The Angel of the
LORD |
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Then Isaiah
sends a message to Hezekiah saying that the
LORD, the God of Israel, in answer to his
prayer for help against Sennacherib, king of
Assyria, has listened. Isaiah said that
because the king of Assyria insulted and
blasphemed against the LORD in three years
the remaining survivors of the house of
Judah shall again strike root below and bear
fruit above. For out of Jerusalem shall come
a remnant, and from Mount Zion, survivors.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this. |
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Therefore,
Isaiah tells Hezekiah that the king of
Assyria shall not reach the city of Judah or
conquer it, for the LORD will shield and
save the city.
That night the angel of the LORD strikes
down one hundred and eighty-five thousand
men in the Assyrian camp. That morning
Sennacherib breaks camp, and goes back home
to Nineveh. While worshiping in the temple
of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and
Sharezer slay him with the sword. They flee
into the land of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon
reigns in his stead.
When Hezekiah becomes mortally ill, the
prophet Isaiah brings him a message from the
LORD to put his house in order, for he is
about to die. Hezekiah turns his face to the
wall and prays to the LORD telling Him how
faithfully and wholeheartedly he conducted
himself in His presence, doing what is
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pleasing to him.
Hezekiah weeps bitterly. |
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The Shadow
Before Isaiah leaves, the word of the LORD comes
to him and tells him to go back and deliver a
message to Hezekiah. Isaiah tells Hezekiah that
the LORD has heard his prayer and seen his
tears, and that the LORD will heal him and will
rescue him and this city from the hand of the
king of Assyria. He tells Hezekiah to go the
LORD'S temple in three days. There he will add
fifteen years to his life.
Isaiah then orders a poultice of figs to be
brought and applies it to the boil on Hezekiah
so that he might recover. Isaiah then invokes
the LORD, who makes the shadow retreat the ten
steps it had descended on the staircase to the
terrace of Ahaz.
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Hezekiah,
however, does not discharge his debt of
gratitude, for he has become proud.
Therefore anger descends upon him and upon
Judah and Jerusalem. But then Hezekiah
humbles himself and therefore the LORD does
not vent his anger on them during his time.
Foretelling the Fall of Judah
Because his blessing from the LORD, Hezekiah
now possesses great wealth and glory. He has
treasuries made for his silver, gold,
precious stones, spices, jewels, and other
precious things of all kinds. He also has
also storehouses for the harvest of
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grain, for wine
and oil, and barns for the various kinds of
cattle and for the flocks.
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He builds
cities for himself, and he acquires sheep
and oxen in great numbers, for God gives him
very great riches.
Hezekiah also stops the upper outflow of
water from Gihon and leads it underground
westward to the City of David. Hezekiah
prospers in all his undertakings.
When
Merodachbaladan, son of Baladan, king of
Babylon, hears that Hezekiah is ill, he
sends letters and gifts to him. This pleases
Hezekiah that he shows the messengers his
whole treasury, his silver, gold, spices and
fine oil, his armory - everything that his
kingdom owns.
Then Isaiah
the prophet comes to King Hezekiah and asks
what the messengers say to him, from where
they came, and what they had seen in his
house. Hezekiah tells Isaiah what happened
and adds that there is nothing in my
storerooms that he did not show them. |
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Then Isaiah says
to Hezekiah to hear the word of the LORD. Isaiah
tells Hezekiah that the time is coming when all
that is in his house, and everything that his
fathers have stored up until this day, shall be
carried off to Babylon; nothing shall be left,
says the LORD.
Isaiah adds that some of his own bodily
descendants shall be taken and made servants in
the palace of the king of Babylon.
Hezekiah replies to Isaiah that the word of the
LORD which he has spoken is favorable for he
thinks there will be peace and security in his
lifetime.
Hezekiah dies and is buried at the approach to
the tombs of the descendants of David. All Judah
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem pay him honor
at his death. His son Manasseh succeeds him as
king.
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The Chariot of Israel: Exploits of the Prophet of Elijah
THE CHARIOT OF ISRAEL: When Elijah was caught up
to heaven, his disciple Elisha cried out, "the
chariot of Israel, and its horsemen." Elisha was
referring not to the chariot but to the prophet.
This study of Elijah’s life will captivate you
as it walks you through a pivotal period in
Israel’s history, and illustrative maps will
give you a better picture of the physical
geography of this ancient land. |
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The First Book of Kings (Cambridge Bible Commentaries on the Old Testament) This
volume of commentary on the New English Bible text of the First Book of Kings
follows the pattern of the now well-established series on the Old and New
Testaments. The main divisions of the text are those provided by the New English
Bible itself, but these are further subdivided for the purposes of the
commentary, which is printed in short sections following the relevant portion of
the text. |
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Canon Robinson suggests that the editors of I
Kings compiled their history in order to teach
the Hebrews that their existence as Israel, the
covenant people of God, depended upon their
continuing loyalty to their own religious
traditions, and their refusal to exchange them
for the very different traditions of the
Canaanites among whom they lived.
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I & II Samuel: A Commentary (Old Testament Library)
First sentence in
the book:
""THE BOOKS OF SAMUEL contain that
part of the history of Israel which describes
the foundation of the State, running from the
close of the period of the Judges to the
establishment of the united kingdom." |
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Samson and Delilah and Other Old Testament
Stories (Discovering the Bible)
(Hardcover) by Victoria Parker (Author), Retold
by Victoria Parker (Author)
This book provides known Bible stories from
Israel in the Promised land to the Story of
Ruth. It has the stories we grew up with but it
adds historical and religious facts to each
story. It tells the stories gearing them toward
elementary school children. |
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Moses Great Lives Series: Volume 4 ,
by Charles R. Swindoll. This book presents the
Bible's real Moses-the Moses who tried to
decline his assignment from God; the Moses who
dazzled Pharoh; the Moses who received the Ten
Commandments; the Moses who was disobedient and
weak; the Moses who was the greatest leader of
God's people in all of history. Through his
faith and selfless dedication, Moses continually
chose to follow God's will through difficult and
seemingly impossible situations.
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Jacob and Esau
by Harriette Augusta Curtiss and F. Homer
Curtiss (Paperback - Dec 30, 2005) |
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The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction &
Commentary
by J. A. Motyer
Recipient of a Christianity Today 1994 Critics
Choice Award! Among Old Testament prophetic
books no other equals Isaiah's brilliance of
style and metaphor, its arresting vision of the
Holy One of Israel and its kaleidoscopic vision
of God's future restoration of Israel and the
world. Now, after over three decades of studying
and teaching Isaiah, Alec Motyer presents a
wealth of commentary and perspective on this
book. |
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Saint of the Day: Lives, Lessons, and Feasts
(Paperback)
by Leonard Foley (Editor), Pat McCloskey
(Editor) |
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Lives of the
Saints You Should Know by Margaret R. Bunson,
Matthew E. Bunson |
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New Illustrated Book of Saints
Author: Catholic Book Publishing Company |
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One Hundred Saints: Their Lives and Likenesses
Drawn from Butler's
This is a coffee-table collection of 100 popular
saints illustrated with art works taken from
international galleries. The saints are listed
alphabetically in a valuable table of contents,
with a larger list of patron saints following
the text. Inclusion is based on popularity
within the Christian world and the
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availability of
atypical art works. Entries are generally based
on the 1926-38 edition of Butler's Lives of the
Saints, with the length of each entry varying
from one-half page to several pages. Short
entries giving written insight into the lives of
pious individuals are combined with depictions
rendered by artists such as Raphael and El
Greco. An inexpensive tribute to art and faith
more appropriate for gift-giving than for
libraries. |
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