Lesson 38: The Greatest King of Judah-Part 1

A prominent hallmark of Hezekiah’s life is survival.

John G. Butler

He was a man that survived some amazing and insurmountable obstacles in his life. There are many really good lessons we can learn from his life.

Hezekiah lived at a time when destruction was imminent. He lived at a time when it could come at any time.

Israel had just fallen a few years before the start of his reign — at the hands of the most powerful kingdom on earth at the time. This same kingdom was marching on Judah, a small insignificant kingdom in comparison.

There were only two other kings in the Bible that had more written about them that Hezekiah - they were David and Solomon. they were both kings of all of Israel combined and have much of the poetry sections of the Bible with their writings.

2 Kings 18:1-6.

I. Introduction of Hezekiah

A. His statistics

He was 25 years old when he began and he reigned for 29 years.

Dates 716–687Duration 29 years

He started his reign a few years after the fall of Israel and Samaria and their complete exile.

B. His family

1. His mother’s name was Abi - fatherly

v.2

Abi means father or fatherly, certainly that is a strange name - but Abi is a name that is short for Abijah - now what the does the name mean

- My father father is Jehovah.

- Abi is short for Abijah - My father is Jehovah

2. His father was Ahaz - to grasp

Just a reminder that his father was a good king - like his father but not like David.

This reminds us that it doesn’t matter who your parents were - though good parents and even more so - godly parents do contribute to you following Christ more - it is not a necessity. God take anyone and save them and use them.

3. His grandfather was Zechariah

This is probably one of the most common names in the Bible, 28 men were named Zechariah.

Abi was a daughter of Zechariah, who was most likely one of the last kings of Israel and was the last of Jehu’s descendants on the throne, and evil king as well who only last 6 months.

C. He was not just a good king he was a great king

1. He was good like his father David

v.3

We have often mentioned that there were two standards of good.

There was a generally good king of Judah which would be compared to their fathers such as Ahaz was compared to his father in goodness.

The other standard was good or righteous as that of David.

2. He removed the high places

v.3

Remember, it wasn’t false worship necessarily, but it was self-willed worship - I’ll worship God MY WAY!

Most of the other good kings were good kings the Bible says, except they did not remove the high places. Well Hezekiah did. He jumped on that and took out of the nation while he was king.

3. He ended false worship

v.3

Now one of the thing we have looked at throughout these studies is the groves and what did they have to do with anything.

He brake images of Baal and Asherah.

The Canaanite storm- and fertility-god. As an epithet for various West Semitic deities, especially Hadad, the name means “lord,” designating a legal state of ownership or social superiority. With the obvious exception of Yahweh, Baal is the most significant deity in the OT.

In a land dependent upon rain-fed agriculture, the storm-god is the most significant deity in the culture. Baal does serve as the most powerful god of the Canaanite pantheon, though his progenitor El is its head. Further, the cult plays a major role in the daily and ritual lives of societal members, given the paramount need for rain and its continuous impact upon the population.

Mark Anthony Phelps, “Baal,” ed. David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers, and Astrid B. Beck, Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 134.

Asherah was the mother goddess, mother of Baal. Centers of worship were located throughout the ancient Near East, particularly Phoenicia. Manifestations of Asherah worship have been identified in Egyptian, Hittite, Philistine, and Arabic texts.

Heb. ʾăšērâ refers not only to the goddess but also to the consecrated poles, called either Asherah (e.g., Deut. 16:21; Judg. 6:25, 28) or Asherim (e.g., Exod. 34:13; Deut. 7:5; 12:3), which represented the deity. At first they may have been living trees (cf. Deut. 16:21; possibly a sacred grove), but in later usage were wooden poles, perhaps stylized to represent a tree (cf. 2 Kgs. 17:10)

Allen C. Myers, “Asherah,” ed. David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers, and Astrid B. Beck, Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 113.He destroyed the brasen serpent

v.4

D. Why Hezekiah was such a great king

1. He trusted in God like no other king of Judah

v.5

a. He trusted God against the odds

We are going to see Hezekiah trusting God in the face of insurmountable odds by man’s standards.

b. He trusted God in the dark

Even when he could not see God or understand what God was doing - Hezekiah still trusted the Lord.

c. He trusted God in the face of disappointing news

God told Hezekiah to get his affairs in order and that he was going to die - but Hezekiah with that news continued to trust the Lord.

2. He cleaved to the Lord

The Bible said this in v.6 that he clave to the Lord. That was one of the things that made him special.

To cleave one must know whom he is trusting

To cleave one must hang on through good as well as the bad times

To cleave one must not believe, but know that he will be successful.

We do not cleave to prayer, we do not cleave to the church, we do not cleave to what we hope will happen, we cleave to God who can make all things happen.

Don’t cleave to your heart’s desire, cleave to God.

3. He did not depart from following God

He followed God all of his life.

He trusted God like not other, he clave to God like no other, and he spend his life staying on track and following God.

a. Can’t let jobs or money get you off from following God

b. Don’t allow surprise opportunities keep you of God’s will

b. Don’t allow surprise opportunities keep you of God’s willing God

4. He kept God’s commandments

Whether he had a list or a he was conscious of these things, either way he sought to keep them.

He decided what was important to God it was going to be important to him as well, and he was going to keep them.

E. As a result, God prospered him

v.7

Now I think it is important here to notice what verse seven says about how God prospered him.

“…he prospered him withersoever he went...”

Genesis 24:27b (KJV)

... I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren.

This is where we want to be. We want God to bless our way. But we don’t always notice is that God blesses our way when we are in his way.

So, Abraham’s servant, and Hezekiah in our study, his way was blessed, God prospered his way and where he went, because he was walking with God already and walking in God’s way and walking in God’s will.

He was trusting God completely for all things even in the hard times.

He was cleaving to God and staying close to Him at all times.

He was not departing from the way of God, staying on the right path of God.

He kept God’s commands as well.

He was going to go in a way that was blessed of God because it was God’s way in the first place because of the convictions and standards of his life already.

It doesn’t mean we are going to be rich, but we will be rich in the sense of blessing. It doesn’t mean we are going to be popular, but we are going to be influential. God is going to make us prosper necessarily in the temporal, but in those things that are eternal.

There is a lopsided notion that if you are a faithful Christian, God will prosper you in temporal things. My friend, that is not true. God promised to prosper Israel in the land. He does not promise to prosper the Christian in the things of this world.

J. Vernon McGee