| |
History
Hezekiah was the 13th king of indepedent Judah and the son of King Ahaz and Abijah.The
account of this king in the Bible is contained in 2 Kings 18-20, Isaiah 36-39,
and 2 Chronicles 29-32. These sources portray him as a great and good king,
following the example of his great-grandfather Uzziah. He introduced religious
reform, reinstated religious traditions. He set himself to abolish idolatry
from his kingdom, and among other things which he did for this end, he destroyed
the "brazen serpent," which had been relocated at Jerusalem, and
had become an object of idolatrous worship. A great reformation was wrought
in the kingdom of Judah in his day. |
| |
 |
| |
LMLK
Seals. Seal of King Hezekiah
LMLK seals were stamped on the handles
of large storage jars mostly in and around Jerusalem
during the reign of King Hezekiah (circa 700
BC) based on several complete jars found in Situ
buried under a destruction layer caused by Sennacherib
at Lachish.
LMLK stands for the Hebrew letters Lamed Mem Lamed Kaf (L' Melech), which can
be translated from Hebrew as:
" belonging to the king" (of Judah)
" belonging to King" (name of a person or deity)
" belonging to the government" (of Judah)
Though most of these stamped jar handles have
been found in the southern kingdom (68 sites
in the ancient territory assigned to the tribes
of Judah, Benjamin, and Simeon), some have
also been found in the northern kingdom (4
sites in the northwest region). Some of the
sites include Lachish, Jerusalem, Gibeon, Hebron
and Beth Shemesh.
The inscription on the seal, written in the
kind of Hebrew letters used before the Babylonian
Exile, reads:
"Belonging to Hezekiah son of 'Ahaz, king of Judah"
Detailed Information Link on the Seal |
| |
|
| |
Hezekiah's
Tunnel
2 Kings 20:20 "As
for the other events of Hezekiah’s
reign, all his achievements and
how he made the pool and the tunnel by which
he brought water into the city"
2 Chronicles. 32:30 "It
was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of
the Gihon spring and channeled the water down
to the west side of the City of David."
Dating of King Hezekiah's
Tunnel Verified by Scientists
Modern radiometric dating of the Tunnel in Jerusalem shows that it was excavated
about 700 years before the Common Era, and can thus be safely attributed to
the Judean King Hezekiah. The research was conducted by Dr. Amos Frumkin of
the Geography Department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Dr. Aryeh Shimron
of the Israel Geological Survey, and Dr. Jeff Rosenbaum of Reading University
in England.
The presumption that King Hezekiah constructed the Tunnel was based until today
upon the Biblical text itself and the characteristics of the Siloam inscription
(located in a museum in Istanbul), although the inscription does not say who
constructed the tunnel. The new findings refute a recent claim that suggested
a much later date for the tunnel. The complicated tunneling project initiated
by King Hezekiah brought water into the city of Jerusalem, protecting this
valuable resource during the siege in 701 B.C.E. by the Assyrians, under their
King Sennacherib. |
| |
|
| |
Scriptures
2 Kings 18:9 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.
2 Kings 18:13 Now
in the fourteenth year of King
Hezekiah did Sennacherib king
of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities
of Judah,
and took them.
Isaiah 38:9 The writing
of Hezekiah
King of Judah,
when he had been sick, and was recovered of
his sickness.
|
