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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
2 Kings 18:1–8, “Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did. He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. For he clave to the LORD, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses. And the LORD was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not. He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.”
After Ahaz finished his rebellious life, Hezekiah, his son, came onto the throne in Judah. He came from a wicked reign where the Temple had been vandalised with the foreign altar but he also came from a godly grandfather. He was twenty five when he began to reign and he chose to follow the Lord all the days of his life.
Only Asa, the third king of the divided kingdom in the south was said to have done right like his father David until Hezekiah came to the throne. (1 Kings 15:11) Hezekiah was determined to root out all the sinful practices that were being conducted in the kingdom of Judah. Not only did he restore worship in the Temple but he sent his men though the Land and destroyed all the other evil practices that had been carried out in other place as well. He removed all traces of the fertility religion that the Amorites had practiced before he came to power. Even the brass serpent that Moses had made in the desert when Israel sinned and were attacked by snakes had been kept and worshipped. (see Num 21:8) Hezekiah ordered this to be destroyed as well, even though it was a precious relic and treated with awe and respect. It was said of Hezekiah that there was no other of Judah like him, in his desire to serve the Lord. He refused to pay and tribute the king of Assyria even though his father had established that practice and, like David, he defeated the Philistines.
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