Hezekiah

The thirteenth king of Judah. He came to the throne when he was twenty-five and ruled for twenty-nine years. Hezekiah was a good ruler who tried to restore proper worship of God. Later in his life, pride was his downfall.

When Hezekiah came to power, many of the people in Judah had stopped worshipping God. There were also political problems, with Egypt and Assyria wanting to conquer Judah. Hezekiah reopened the temple, destroyed altars to idols, and led a Passover celebration. But he had a hard time. The Assyrians captured many of the cities of Judah and threatened to take Jerusalem. Hezekiah offered to pay them not to attack Jerusalem. The Assyrians, under King Sennacherib, decided to attack anyway. But God saved the people in an amazing way.

Later, Hezekiah became sick. He prayed, and God gave him another fifteen years of life. But as Hezekiah got older, he became proud. When ambassadors came from Babylon to see him, he showed off his great wealth. Isaiah the prophet scolded him for his foolish pride and predicted that this nation would later carry away these treasures. And that is exactly what happened, but not during Hezekiah’s life.