2 Kings 18:1-8

Hezekiah Destroys Idolatry in Judah

1 In the third year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah over Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz became king of Judah. ¹

2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abi, ^[a] the daughter of Zechariah.

3 And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done.

4 He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze snake called Nehushtan ^[b] that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had burned incense to it.

5 Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. No king of Judah was like him, either before him or after him.

6 He remained faithful to the LORD and did not turn from following Him; he kept the commandments that the LORD had given Moses.

7 And the LORD was with Hezekiah, and he prospered wherever he went. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to serve him.

8 He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its borders, from watchtower to fortified city.

2 Kings 18:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 18

This chapter begins with the good reign of Hezekiah king of Judah, the reformation he made in the kingdom, and the prosperity that attended him when Israel was carried captive, 2Ki 18:1-12 and gives an account of the siege of Jerusalem by the king of Assyria, and of the distress Hezekiah was in, and the hard measures he was obliged to submit unto, 2Ki 18:13-18 and of the reviling and blasphemous speech of Rabshakeh, one of the generals of the king of Assyria, urging the Jews to a revolt from their king, 2Ki 18:19-37.

Cross References

• 1. (2 Chronicles 29:1–2)

Footnotes

• [a]. Abi is a variant of Abijah; see 2 Chronicles 29:1.
• [b]. Nehushtan sounds like the Hebrew for bronze and also for snake.