The Really Bad King the 12th, Ahaz Who Broke All The Rules of the House of David and the Good king, His Son

 Nadene Goldfoot                                             

12. King Ahaz (735-720 BCE  12th king of the House of David .  Reign & Timeline: He  ruled for 16 years starting at age 20 (approx. 732–716 BC or 735–715 BC) from Jerusalem. Lineage: Son of King Jotham and father of the righteous King Hezekiah. 
                                Isaiah talks to King Ahaz

Syro-Ephraimite War:  Ahaz faced a joint siege on Jerusalem by King Rezin of Aram (Syria) and King Pekah of Israel. His kingdom was attacked by Israel and Syria, while the Edomites and Philistines harried his southern territory.  Despite the opposition of the prophet, Isaiah, Ahaz sought the aid of Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria, who then invaded Syria and Israel in 733 BCE.  
Assyrian Alliance: Instead of listening to the Prophet Isaiah's call to faith, Ahaz bribed King Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria with gold and silver from the Temple and royal treasury. Assyria defeated Syria and Israel, making Judah an Assyrian vassal state.

Religious Idolatry: Noted in biblical texts for extreme apostasy, including burning his son(s) in fire, promoting Baal worship, building a pagan altar modeled after one he saw in Damascus, and altering or shutting parts of the Temple. He was also subjected by the Assyrians to Assyrian idolatry.
Legacy: He  died unhonored and was excluded from burial in the royal tombs of the Davidic kings, though he was buried in the City of David. 

13. King Hezekiah (720-692 BCE, 13th king of the House of David.  He was just the opposite of his father, King Ahaz.  He aimed at breaking the country's dependence of Assyria.  To this end  He freed religious worship from Assyrian influence, purged the palace and Temple of images and pagan altars, and renewed the pure monotheistic religion. 

These reforms were supported by by the prophets, especially Isaiah who wielded great influence in affairs of state.  

Hezekiah allied himself with neighboring rulers, fortified Jerusalem, and constructed the SILOAM tunnel to improve its water-supply.  

In 712 BCE, he joined the neighboring states in their uprising against Assyria.                                         

Sargon II then sent a punitive expedition which captured the Philistine cities but, for some unknown reason, did not enter Judah, Edom or Moab.                          

After Sargon's death in 705 BCE, Hezekiah led a league of states (including Edom, Moab, Sidon, and the Philistine cities), supported  by Egypt and Babylon, to cast off the Assyrian yoke. 

Lachish (modern-day Tell ed-Duweir, Israel), lies about 800 kilometres south-west of the Assyrian heartland, but only 40 kilometres south-west of Jerusalem. It was a critical point, linking Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean and the immense wealth of Egypt. By 701 BCE, Lachish was a heavily fortified city, located on a hill. 

                         King Sennacherib of Assyria

It was the 2nd city, after Jerusalem (within the Kingdom of Judah), which had just managed to stay independent of the Assyrians. At the end of the 8th century BCE, King Hezekiah of Judah made a fatal mistake; he rebelled, supported by the Egyptians, against Sennacherib, King of Assyria,  and declined to pay tribute. 

In 701 BCE, Sennacherib and his army invaded Judah, calling on Hezekiah to surrender. After beating off an Egyptian challenge to his rear, Sennacherib looked but that's all, did not occupy Jerusalem.   Sennacherib mobilized his massive, professional, well-trained, and well-equipped imperial army and seized several Judaean cities. He destroyed Lachish and crushed Hezekiah by executing his soldiers and officials and sending his people into exile. Hezekiah finally paid the tribute and was subjugated. It should be noted that the military forces of Lachish were composed mostly of local militias and mercenaries and therefore was very insignificant when compared with the Assyrian army.  In addition, the Lachish’s infantry of spearmen and archers were much less organised.

Nevertheless, Hezekiah was forced to pay a large indemnity and cede 43 of his cities.  But, after Sennacherib returned home, Hezekiah recaptured these towns from the  Philistines to whom they had been consigned.  

There are several contradictions in the reports of the events as transmitted in the Bible and in Assyrian sources, and some scholars believed that Sennacherib attacked Judah a 2nd time, but then had to desist on account of a plague in his camp, as recounted in II Kings 19:35-37).  Talmudical legend exalts Hezekiah  whom it praises for his fostering of religion and study.  

So far, we have read about Rehoboam reigning from 933 BCE to Hezekiah ending his reign in 692 covering  14 kings over 241 years.  

The USA is celebrating its 250th birthday covering from 1776 to 2026.  The United States has had 45 different individuals serve across 47 total presidencies since George Washington took office in 1789.

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

The Stone Edition, Torah/Writings

https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/hezekiah-assyrians/