2 Kings 18:1-7

Hezekiah King of Judah

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

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

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

4 He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.^[b] )

5 Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.

6 He held fast to the LORD and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses.

7 And the LORD was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.

2 Kings 18:1-7 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. Isaiah 1:1; Hosea 1:1; Micah 1:1; 2 Chronicles 28:27
• 2. ver 13; Isaiah 38:5
• 3. S 1 Kings 14:8
• 4. Isaiah 38:5
• 5. 2 Chronicles 31:1; Isaiah 36:7
• 6. 2 Kings 12:3; 2 Kings 21:3
• 7. S Exodus 23:24
• 8. Numbers 21:9
• 9. ver 19; S 1 Samuel 7:3; 2 Kings 19:10; 2 Kings 23:25; Psalms 21:7; Psalms 125:1; Proverbs 3:26
• 10. Deuteronomy 10:20; Joshua 23:8; S Deuteronomy 6:18
• 11. S Genesis 39:3; 1 Samuel 18:14; S Job 22:25
• 12. 2 Kings 24:1; Ezra 4:19; Isaiah 36:5; 2 Kings 16:7

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew "Abi," a variant of "Abijah"
• [b]. "Nehushtan" sounds like the Hebrew for both "bronze" and "snake" .