Hezekiah, << `hehz` uh KY uh, >> was the king of Judah from about 727 to 698 B.C. His name means “God strengthens” in Hebrew. During Hezekiah’s reign, Judah was caught between the two major powers of Assyria and Egypt. Encouraged by the prophet Isaiah, Hezekiah resisted the mighty Assyrian army led by Sennacherib (see Isaiah, Book of ). As a result, the Assyrians besieged Jerusalem in 701 B.C., but a plague struck them and forced them to withdraw. This story is told in the Bible in II Kings 18-19 and Isaiah 36-37.
Hezekiah is said to have “trusted in the Lord the God of Israel; so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah…” (II Kings 18:5). This passage praised Hezekiah’s attempts to reform religion in Jerusalem, and to rid Judah of idolatry. In the New Testament, Hezekiah is listed in the genealogy of Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:9-10).
