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.
The Lord was with him; and he prospered wheresoever he went forth. Since the inglorious reign of Ahaz, Judah had continued to groan under the Assyrian yoke, when, consequent upon the religious reformation Hezekiah inaugurated, the physical as well as the moral energies of the people were roused, and in particular the agricultural prosperity of the country returned (see the notes at 2 Chronicles 30:12; 31:511), which was only interrupted for a brief space in the 14th year of his reign. His subjects enjoyed undisturbed, the fruit of the vine only excepted (Isaiah 5:11-12), the abundant produce of the country (Isaiah 7:15; Isaiah 7:21-25).
He rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not - i:e., the yearly tribute his father had stipulated to pay, he, with imprudent haste withheld. Pursuing the policy of a truly theocratic sovereign, he was, through the divine blessing which rested on his government, raised to a position of great public and national strength. Shalmaneser had withdrawn from Palestine, being engaged in a war with Tyre, or probably was dead; and assuming, consequently, that full independent sovereignty which God had settled on the house of David, he both shook off the Assyrian yoke, and, by an energetic movement against the Philistines, recovered from that people the territory which they had taken from his father Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28:18). Besides the revived activity and moral vigour of the people of Judah, connected with the material prosperity of the country, and the religious reforms carried on by Hezekiah, and which, doubtless, was the primary motive that encouraged him to shake off the Assyrian yoke, it is necessary to take into account the secret influence of Egypt upon the councils of that king. It must have appeared an object of the greatest importance to the Egyptian monarchs to fortify their country against the encroachments of Assyria, by securing the aid of an allied power on their Asiatic frontier; and it must have pressed itself on the mind of the Hebrew ruler as no less desirable for his interests to be supported on the south by the friendly co-operation of so potent and so contiguous a kingdom as Egypt. Since such an alliance seemed, in a political view, subservient to their mutual advantage, there is abundant evidence that the idea was earnestly and repeatedly advocated by the emissaries of Egypt in the court of Hezekiah, and so favourably entertained by a large and influential party of his councillors, that at length the policy was adopted at Jerusalem.
Hezekiah, from the intermediate position of his small kingdom, could not hope, humanly speaking, to maintain an absolute independence; but he resolved to change his master, and on a comparative estimate of the benefits derivable from a connection with one of the great rival powers, expediency dictated a preference of Egypt. It was a hazardous step-one sure to be resented by the haughty despot of Assyria as an insult as well as rebellion, and to be followed by an invasion of Judah, which, as the debatable land between the antagonistic kingdoms of the north and the south would henceforth be the continual scene of war and calamitous desolation. The time appeared favourable, for Sargon, the conqueror of Samaria, was dead, and his son, Sennacherib, a young untried prince, had recently ascended the throne of Assyria. Against this resolution of the king and court of Judah, Isaiah all along raised a decided and earnest protest (Isaiah 30:1-5; Isaiah 31:1-3).
Whether he doubted that Egypt was capable, in her then distracted state, so soon after the usurpation of the Ethiopian So, or Shebek, to be a useful ally to his country, and was inclined therefore to prefer a continued submission to Assyria, cannot be gathered from his writings. In counseling Hezekiah, he did not advocate either revolt or submission; he proceeded upon a principle entirely different from that of ordinary politics-that of urging an unwavering faith in the protection of the Divine King and Head of the nation, by an immediate and universal reestablishment of the worship and law of God. This step he recommended to the king as in the first instance the most becoming as theocratic ruler, and the most certain of realizing the fulfillment of the promises made to his people. Acting in this way, the prophet assured him he would find that, with the divine favour, "one would chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight;" whereas, without help from above, all his military preparations and strategic manoeuvres would not secure the deliverance of his kingdom. The remonstrances of Isaiah were unavailing; for though Hezekiah was a good and pious, he was a weak man, liable to be swayed by powerful councils, and through their ascendant influence he not only revolted from Assyria, but formed a defensive league with Egypt. All the consequences, which Isaiah had predicted followed, when "he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not."