2 Kings 18:1-12 - Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

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a Resolute Religious Reformer

2 Kings 18:1-12

It is wonderful that such a man as Ahaz should have had so good a son, but it is likely that Hezekiah had a good mother. See 2 Chronicles 29:1; 2 Chronicles 26:5. No doubt the fall of Samaria was a great incentive with the king and his advisers to root out idolatry. There is no better way of neutralizing evil than by accentuating good, and Hezekiah was wise to reopen and purify the Temple at the very beginning of his reign. See 2 Chronicles 29:3; 2 Chronicles 29:19; 2 Chronicles 29:21-35. It has been supposed that the prophecy of Micah 3:12 and Jeremiah 26:18 was made effective by the power of the Holy Spirit.

When a soul is all for God, God is all to it. “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.” See 2 Kings 18:7. Let us see to it that we follow the suggestion of Psalms 1:1-6, and strike our roots deep into the Word of God, pondering it carefully and obeying it reverently; then our leaf shall not fade, and whatsoever we do shall prosper. It is a good thing to cleave to God and keep His commandments. Compare 2 Kings 18:6 with Deuteronomy 10:20.

Related Commentaries of 2 Kings 18:1

2 Kings 18:1-12

1 Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiaha the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.

2 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,b the daughter of Zachariah.

3 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did.

4 He removed the high places, and brake the images,c 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.

5 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.

6 For he clave to the LORD, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses.

7 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.

8 He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza,d and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

9 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it.

10 And at the end of three years they took it: even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.

11 And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes:

12 Because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them.