Ezechias
Ezechias (Hebrew = "The Lord strengtheneth"; Septuagint Ezekias;
in the cuneiform inscriptions Ha-za-qi-ya-hu).
King of Juda, son and successor of Achaz. We learn from Second
Kings, Chapter 18, that he began his reign in the third year of
Osee, King of Israel, that he was then twenty-five years of age,
that his reign lasted twenty-nine years, and that his mother was
Abi, daughter of Zecharias. The account of his reign is beset with
unsolved chronological difficulties, and there exists a difference
of opinion among scholars as to the year in which he ascended the
throne. The commonly received computation reckons his reign from
726 to 697 B.C. In character and policy, Ezechias was pious and
agreeable to God. He was a strenuous civil and religious reformer,
and on this account the sacred writer compares him to King David.
The events of his reign are related in the Fourth Book of Kings,
and also in the parallel account in the Second Book of Chronicles,
but in the latter, as might be expected, stress is laid chiefly on
the religious reforms which he carried out, whereas the earlier
account mentions these briefly, and dwells at greater length on
the civil and political aspects of his reign.
Among the religious reforms are mentioned the purification of the
Temple, which had been closed by Achaz, the irreligious
predecessor of Ezechias (II Chronicles 28-29), the resumption and
proper celebration of the feast of the Passover which had been
neglected (II Chronicles 30), and in general the extirpation of
idolatry, and the reorganization of the Hebrew worship (II Kings
18, II Chronicles 31). In a title prefixed to the twenty-fifth
chapter of Proverbs, it is stated that the sayings contained in
the following collection (25-29) were copied out by the "men of
Ezechias." This would seem to indicate, on the part of the king,
some literary interest and activity, and in the Talmudic tradition
these "men of Ezechias" are credited with the composition of
several books of the Old Testament. Soon after his accession to
the throne Ezechias threw off the yoke of the Assyrians, to whom
his father had become a vassal (II Kings 18). Other notable events
of his reign are his sickness and miraculous cure, the embassy of
Berodach Baladan, and the invasion of Sennacherib. The story of
the sickness of Ezechias is narrated in II Kings 20, and in Isaiah
28.
The king having been stricken with some mortal disease, the
prophet Isaiah comes in the name of Yahweh to warn him to put his
affairs in order, for he is about to die. But Ezechias prays to
the Lord, Who sends the prophet back to announce to him that he
will recover, and that fifteen years are to be added to his life.
As a sign of the fulfilment of this promise, Isaiah causes the
shadow to recede a distance of ten lines on the sundial. Connected
with this event is the sending of an embassy by Berodach Baladan,
King of Babylon, who having heard of the illness of Ezechias, sent
messengers to him with presents. The motive of this action on the
part of the Babylonian king was probably to enlist the services of
Ezechias in a league against Sennacherib, King of Assyria.
Ezechias received the envoys with great honour, and exhibited to
them his various treasures and armaments of war. This spirit of
ostentation was displeasing to the Lord, and Isaiah was sent to
announce that the treasures, in which the king seemed to place his
confidence, would be all carried off as plunder to Babylon. Not
long after (according to the cuneiform inscriptions, in the year
701), Sennacherib undertook a great campaign against Syria and
Egypt. The story of this expedition is told, from the Assyrian
standpoint, in the official cuneiform inscription known as the
Taylor prism. The plan of Sennacherib was, first, to vanquish the
kings of Ascalon, Sidon and Juda who had formed a coalition
against him, and then to turn his attention to the land of the
Pharaohs.
After subduing Ascalon and Accaron, the Assyrian invader captured
and plundered all the fortified towns of Juda, and carried their
inhabitants into exile. Then he besieged Jerusalem, and Ezechias,
finding himself shut up "like a bird in a cage," resolved to come
to terms with his enemy. Sennacherib demanded thirty talents of
gold and three hundred talents of silver, and, in order to supply
it, Ezechias was obliged to yield up not only the contents of the
royal treasury, but also the silver belonging to th e Temple, and
the plates of gold which were on the doors thereof (II Kings 18).
But when in addition to this, the Assyrian demanded the surrender
of Jerusalem with a view to carrying its inhabitants into exile,
the courage of Ezechias was revived, and he prepared himself for a
vigorous resistance. Haughty demands of surrender were repulsed,
and the king taking counsel with the prophet Isaiah turned in
supplication to Yahweh; he received the assurance that the enemy
would soon abandon the siege without doing any harm to the city.
This prophecy was shortly verified when the angel of the Lord
having slain in the night 185,000 of the besieging forces, the
remainder fled with Sennacherib, and returned to Assyria. Echezias
survived this deliverance only a few years, and he was buried with
great pomp in the tomb of the sons of David (II Kings 20:21; II
Chronicles 32:33).
JAMES F. DRISCOLL
Transcribed by Sean Hyland
http://www.knight.org/advent
From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright � 1913 by the
Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version copyright � 1996 by
New Advent, Inc.
Taken from the New Advent Web Page (www.knight.org/advent).
This article is part of the Catholic Encyclopedia Project, an
effort aimed at placing the entire Catholic Encyclopedia 1913
edition on the World Wide Web. The coordinator is Kevin Knight,
editor of the New Advent Catholic Website. If you would like to
contribute to this worthwhile project, you can contact him by e-
mail at (knight.org/advent). For more information please download
the file cathen.txt/.zip.
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