Part 1


Hezekiah 


(חזקיּה, ḥizḳı̄yāh, “Yahweh has strengthened”; also written חזקיּהוּ, ḥı̄zḳı̄yāhū, “Yah has strengthened him”; Ἑζεκίας, Hezekı́as): One of the greatest of the kings of Judah; reigned (according to the most self-consistent chronology) from circa 715 to circa 690 bc.

Old Testament Estimate
On the Old Testament standard of loyalty to Yahweh he is eulogized by Jesus Sirach
(This Jesus was the son of Sirach, and grandchild to Jesus of the same name with him: this man therefore lived in the latter times, after the people had been led away captive, and called home a again, and almost after all the prophets. Now his grandfather Jesus, as he himself witnesseth, was a man of great diligence and wisdom among the Hebrews, who did not only gather the grave and short sentences of wise men, that had been before him, but himself also uttered some of his own, full of much understanding and wisdom. When as therefore the first Jesus died, leaving this book almost perfected, Sirach his son receiving it after him left it to his own son Jesus, who, having gotten it into his hands, compiled it all orderly into one volume, and called it Wisdom, intituling it both by his own name, his father’s name, and his grandfather’s; alluring the hearer by the very name of Wisdom to have a greater love to the study of this book. It containeth therefore wise sayings, dark sentences, and parables, and certain particular ancient godly stories of men that pleased God; also his prayer and song; moreover, what benefits God had vouchsafed his people, and what plagues he had heaped upon their enemies. This Jesus did imitate Solomon, and was no less famous for wisdom and learning, both being indeed a man of great learning, and so reputed also.


The Prologue of the Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach.


Whereas many and great things have been delivered unto us by the law and the prophets, and by others that have followed their steps, for the which things Israel ought to be commended for learning and wisdom; and whereof not only the readers must needs become skilful themselves, but also they that desire to learn be able to profit them which are without, both by speaking and writing: my grandfather Jesus, when he had much given himself to the reading of the law, and the prophets, and other books of our fathers, and had gotten therein good judgment, was drawn on also himself to write something pertaining to learning and wisdom; to the intent that those which are desirous to learn, and are addicted to these things, might profit much more in living according to the law. Wherefore let me intreat you to read it with favour and attention, and to pardon us, wherein we may seem to come short of some words, which we have laboured to interpret. For the same things uttered in Hebrew, and translated into another tongue, have not the same force in them: and not only these things, but the law itself, and the prophets, and the rest of the books, have no small difference, when they are spoken in their own language. For in the eight and thirtieth year coming into Egypt, when Euergetes was king, and continuing there some time, I found a book of no small learning: therefore I thought it most necessary for me to bestow some diligence and travail to interpret it; using great watchfulness and skill in that space to bring the book to an end, and set it forth for them also, which in a strange country are willing to learn, being prepared before in manners to live after the law)
 as one of the three kings who alone did not “commit trespass” (Sirach 49:4
Sir.49

[1] The memory of Josiah is like a blending of incense
prepared by the art of the perfumer;
it is sweet as honey to every mouth,
and like music at a banquet of wine.
[2] He was led aright in converting the people,
and took away the abominations of iniquity.
[3] He set his heart upon the Lord;
in the days of wicked men he strengthened godliness.

[4] Except David and Hezekiah and Josiah
they all sinned greatly,
for they forsook the law of the Most High;
the kings of Judah came to an end;
[5] for they gave their power to others,
and their glory to a foreign nation,
[6] who set fire to the chosen city of the sanctuary,
and made her streets desolate,
according to the word of Jeremiah.
[7] For they had afflicted him;
yet he had been consecrated in the womb as prophet,
to pluck up and afflict and destroy,
and likewise to build and to plant.

[8] It was Ezekiel who saw the vision of glory
which God showed him above the chariot of the cherubim.
[9] For God remembered his enemies with storm,
and did good to those who directed their ways aright.

[10] May the bones of the twelve prophets
revive from where they lie,
for they comforted the people of Jacob
and delivered them with confident hope.

[11] How shall we magnify Zerubbabel?
He was like a signet on the right hand,
[12] and so was Jeshua the son of Jozadak;
in their days they built the house
and raised a temple holy to the Lord,
prepared for everlasting glory.
[13] The memory of Nehemiah also is lasting;
he raised for us the walls that had fallen,
and set up the gates and bars
and rebuilt our ruined houses.

[14] No one like Enoch has been created on earth,
for he was taken up from the earth.
[15] And no man like Joseph has been born,
and his bones are cared for.
[16] Shem and Seth were honored among men,
and Adam above every living being in the creation.

 the other two being David and Josiah. The Chronicler represents him (2Ch_32:31
Later on, envoys came from the princes of Babylon to inquire about the miracle that had happened in the land. God left Hezekiah to himself, so that he might make known what was really in Hezekiah's heart. 
) as lapsing from the wisdom of piety only by his vainglory in revealing the resources of his realm to the envoys of Merodach-baladan. Merodach-Baladan
mḗ-rō´dak-bal´a-dan, mer´ṓ-dak-b. (בּלאדן מראדך, mero'dhakh bal'ădhān; Μαρωδὰχ Βαλαδάν, Marōdách Baladán): The son of Baladan, is mentioned in Isa_39:1, as a king of Babylon who sent an embassy to Hezekiah, king of Judah, apparently shortly after the latter's illness, in order to congratulate him on his recovery of health, and to make with him an offensive and defensive alliance. This Merodach-baladan was a king of the Chaldeans of the house of Yakin, and was the most dangerous and inveterate foe of Sargon and his son Sennacherib, kings of Assyria, with whom he long and bitterly contested the possession of Babylon and the surrounding provinces. Merodach-Baladan seems to have seized Babylon immediately after the death of Shalmaneser in 721 BC; and it was not till the 12th year of his reign that Sargon succeeded in ousting him. From that time down to the 8th campaign of Sennacherib, Sargon and his son pursued with relentless animosity Merodach-Baladan and his family until at last his son Nabushumishkun was captured and the whole family of Merodach-Baladan was apparently destroyed. According to the monuments, therefore, it was from a worldly point of view good politics for Hezekiah and his western allies to come to an understanding with Merodach-Baladan and the Arameans, Elamites, and others, who were confederated with him. From a strategical point of view, the weakness of the allied powers consisted in the fact that the Arabian desert lay between the eastern and western members of the confederacy, so that the Assyrian kings were able to attack their enemies when they pleased and to defeat them in detail.
In 2Ki_18: He trusted the LORD God of Israel, and after him there were none like him among all the kings of Judah 5, the earliest estimate, his special distinction, beyond all other Judean kings, before or after, was that he “trusted in Yahweh, the God of Israel.” It is as the king who “clave to Yahweh” (2Ki_18:6  because he depended on the LORD, not abandoning pursuit of him, and keeping the LORD's commands that he had commanded Moses.) that the Hebrew mind sums up his royal and personal character.