Hezekiah

3 definitions found

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  Hezekiah
       n : (Old Testament) king of Judah who abolished idolatry
           (715-687 BC) [syn: {Ezekias}]

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:



  Hezekiah
     whom Jehovah has strengthened. (1.) Son of Ahaz (2 Kings 18:1; 2
     Chr. 29:1), whom he succeeded on the throne of the kingdom of
     Judah. He reigned twenty-nine years (B.C. 726-697). The history
     of this king is contained in 2 Kings 18:20, Isa. 36-39, and 2
     Chr. 29-32. He is spoken of as a great and good king. In public
     life he followed the example of his great-granfather Uzziah. He
     set himself to abolish idolatry from his kingdom, and among
     other things which he did for this end, he destroyed the "brazen
     serpent," which had been removed to Jerusalem, and had become an
     object of idolatrous worship (Num. 21:9). A great reformation
     was wrought in the kingdom of Judah in his day (2 Kings 18:4; 2
     Chr. 29:3-36).
     
       On the death of Sargon and the accession of his son
     Sennacherib to the throne of Assyria, Hezekiah refused to pay
     the tribute which his father had paid, and "rebelled against the
     king of Assyria, and served him not," but entered into a league
     with Egypt (Isa. 30; 31; 36:6-9). This led to the invasion of
     Judah by Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:13-16), who took forty cities,
     and besieged Jerusalem with mounds. Hezekiah yielded to the
     demands of the Assyrian king, and agreed to pay him three
     hundred talents of silver and thirty of gold (18:14).
     
       But Sennacherib dealt treacherously with Hezekiah (Isa. 33:1),
     and a second time within two years invaded his kingdom (2 Kings
     18:17; 2 Chr. 32:9; Isa. 36). This invasion issued in the
     destruction of Sennacherib's army. Hezekiah prayed to God, and
     "that night the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the
     camp of the Assyrians 185,000 men." Sennacherib fled with the
     shattered remnant of his forces to Nineveh, where, seventeen
     years after, he was assassinated by his sons Adrammelech and
     Sharezer (2 Kings 19:37). (See {SENNACHERIB}.)
     
       The narrative of Hezekiah's sickness and miraculous recovery
     is found in 2 Kings 20:1, 2 Chr. 32:24, Isa. 38:1. Various
     ambassadors came to congratulate him on his recovery, and among
     them Merodach-baladan, the viceroy of Babylon (2 Chr. 32:23; 2
     Kings 20:12). He closed his days in peace and prosperity, and
     was succeeded by his son Manasseh. He was buried in the
     "chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of David" (2 Chr.
     32:27-33). He had "after him none like him among all the kings
     of Judah, nor any that were before him" (2 Kings 18:5). (See {ISAIAH}.)
     

From Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's) [hitchcock]:

  Hezekiah, strength of the Lord