SECOND BLOW: The Destruction Of Yerusalem
Hezekiah worked with all his strength for the recovery of the kingdom by a strong attitude of non-intervention, but when pressed, he resorted to arms.
1. The Great Reign Of Hezekiah (716-687)
The outstanding reforms by Hezekiah
In 716 Ahaz, the unbelieving king, died. His son Hezekiah (he was twenty-five years old and was to reign thirty years) succeeded to the throne of Yahudah. In Yerusalem people began to realize how great had been the blunders of the late king.
Hezekiah immediately reversed the distressing policies of his father; he made ready to work with all his strength for the recovery of the kingdom.
The chapters devoted to him in the Scripture (2 Melechim 18-20; 2 Divre Hayamim 29-32) might well give the impression that Hezekiah was a man of rather changeable character. Sometimes, under the influence of YeshaYahu, a declared supporter of a policy of peace at any price, he adopted a strong attitude of non-intervention; sometimes when pressed by the military party, he decided to resort to arms.
In addition we observe Hezekiah carrying out far reaching structural reforms in the principal social institutions of the country.
At first sight all this appears piecemeal, disorganized and even contradictory. Hezekiah seems to be a baffling personality by reason of his sudden changes of foreign policy. In reality he was psychologically a resister. At the beginning of his reign, because he felt that he was still too weak to attack the Assyrians, he was scrupulous in following YeshaYahu's directions. Just then the whole kingdom of Yahudah was in need of reconstruction in every way. Determined one day to confront the Assyrian colossus, Hezekiah endeavoured to gather all the living strength of the State under his command. Once he had attained his objective, and only then, he would launch an attack on the occupying power to try to free Judaean territory from the enemy.
The outstanding reforms by Hezekiah, a king who appeared to belong to the partisans of peace, were aimed at the patient renewal of the spirit of Yahudah to enable Hezekiah to throw himself one day on his hated enemy.
The work of renewal which formed part of the secret royal policy was many-sided; spiritual reform of the ke hunnah,- (priesthood) moral reform of the people, historical reconstruction of the national past, the drawing up of a legislative code which was necessary to establish society on a firm basis; and, of course, the organization of the army which, when the time came, would give the signal for war.
Hezekiah's Spiritual Reform (First Years Of The Reign)
YAHWEH's Tabernacle put in order
Right at the beginning of his reign Hezekiah was very energetic in the restoration of the authentic worship of YAHWEH; this involved at the same time a reform of the ke hunnah- (priesthood).
In the first place YAHWEH's Tabernacle had to be put in order; it had been publicly profaned by the intrusion of Assyrian idols whose presence constituted an enduring insult to YAHWEH. Within the tabernacle there stood the bronze serpent called Nehushtan 1 (2 Melechim 18:4). A questionable tradition ascribed its origin to the time of Mosheh Bimidbar- (Numbers) 21:9-9; according to this the leader of the Chosen People had agreed (unwillingly, it appears from the text) that the wandering tribes crossing the desert on their way to the Promised Land, should make this figure; and the Scripture tells us that it was enough for any man bitten by a snake2 to look on this metal idol to be miraculously cured. Since time immemorial Nehushtan had been enthroned in the tabernacle and the kohen's of YAHWEH paid honour to it by burning incense before it.3
On the orders of the young king the kohens brought out everything unclean they found in the tabernacle of YAHWEH, out into the court of the Tabernacle of YAHWEH, and the Levites collected it and carried it outside into Wadi Kidron (2 Divre Hayamim 29:16).
These revolutionary actions already enable us to perceive the new king's anti -Assyrian attitude.
Hezekiah continued his campaign of purification by demolishing the altars of bamoth (high places), by throwing down the raised stones (beth- 'EI, house of the Almighty One), by ordering the cutting down of the asheras (sacred poles), the phallic symbols stuck in the ground, and by starting a campaign of systematic destruction of idols. But it must be pointed out that except for the Tabernacle, where the purification was carried out with meticulous care, the purification of the places of sacrifice was effected very imperfectly.
At the same time it was necessary to reform the kohens who in the general national disorder had forgotten their most elementary duties.
In the name of the ke hunnah Hezekiah made public apology in the presence of the kohens and levites who had gathered in the eastern square of the Tabernacle court. And then he made a public confession which was very moving indeed: 'Listen to me, Levites!' he exclaimed. 'Sanctify yourselves now and consecrate the Tabernacle of YAHWEH, the Mighty One of our fathers, and eject what is impure from the tabernacle. Your ancestors have been unfaithful and done what is displeasing to YAHWEH our Sovereign Ruler. They have deserted him; they have turned their faces away from the place YAHWEH has made his home, they have turned their backs on him. They have even closed the doors of the Vestibule (a measure due to Ahaz, probably on Sargon's orders), they have put out the lamps and offered no incense, no holocaust to YAHWEH of Yisrael in the set apart place. So the anger of YAHWEH has fallen on Yahudah and Yerusalem...I am now determined to make a covenant with YAHWEH, the Mighty One of Yisrael so that his fierce anger may be turned away from us My sons, be negligent no longer, for YAHWEH has chosen you to stand in his presence and serve him, to conduct his worship, and offer him incense' (2 Divre Hayamim 29:5-11).
Eight days of ceremonies followed. And a further eight days were necessary to prepare the fresh purification of the Tabernacle. All the ritual objects cast out by Ahaz to comply with the demands of his Assyrian masters were brought back and the kohens could thus take their places again before the altar.
Hezekiah's spiritual plan, coupled with certain political implications, was to centralize the worship of YAHWEH in the Tabernacle of Yerusalem by attributing to Solomon's tabernacle an important national function.
For this purpose it was decided to summon the people to the sacred rock for the celebration of the Passover. This plan took into account the possibilities for travel of those who were furthest away (the few survivors of the former kingdom of Samaria had scarcely twenty-five miles to walk to reach Yerusalem). Ever since the time of Ahaz the passover festival had been greatly neglected. It was fitting therefore in the circumstances to perform it with special magnificence and increased devotion in the Tabernacle court.
Now the right date for the festival was already a few days past. According to the rule laid down by Mosheh the Passover ought to have been celebrated on the fourteenth day of Nisan (March-April). Fortunately it was allowed in case of necessity to postpone the festival to the following month Bimidbar- (Numbers) 9:6-13). The king decided to summon all the descendants of Yacob, including the survivors of the northern kingdom, to come to Yerusalem to celebrate the great spiritual festival of Yisrael in which the dramatic events of the flight from Egypt were relived.4
Messengers were sent to all Yisrael and Yahudah from Dan to Beersheba, that is, from the extreme north of the country (where the Yarden (Jordan) rises) to Beersheba in the southern wiIderness, to exhort the faithfuI to come on that day to the tabernacle of Yerusalem which YAHWEH has consecrated for ever. The conclusion of the appeal was pressing: 'If you come back sincerely to YAHWEH, your brothers and your sons (the deported Yisraelites) will win favour with their conquerors and return to this land, for YAHWEH your Sovereign Ruler is gracious and merciful' (2 Divre Hayamim 30). Hezekiah's messengers thus went to the land of Ephraim and Manasseh and Zebulun (the former territory of Samaria) but in some places the people laughed and scoffed at them. Nevertheless, a good proportion of those in the former kingdom of Yisrael accepted the invitation in the end. Thus was effected the first step towards reunification; the principle of the reconstitution of the State of David was admitted. It seems that by mutual agreement all were endeavouring to forget the painful events which accompanied and followed the schism of Rehoboam.
From the spiritual as from the national viewpoint it was a shrewd policy.
1 There is a play on words here of the kind favoured in the east: the word nahash (serpent) is combined with nehosheth (bronze)
2 These were, very probably, horned vipers or cerastes; these snakes lie almost completely buried in the sand, and it is only with difficulty that their eyes can be made out at ground level. These snakes are still numerous today on the plains of Edom which were crossed by the nomad tribes under Mosheh.
3 Archaeological excavations carried out in various places have brought to light several votive offerings in the form of a snake; at Gezer, particularly, a fine specimen some six and a half inches long dating from about 1000 B.C. In addition, at Suza. the former capital of Elam, a bronze serpent nearly ten inches long has been discovered.
4 In Mosheh and Yahshua Ben Nun in this series will be found details of this nocturnal vigil which according to the Law of Mosheh the Jews must commemorate even today.
The Destruction of the Kingdom by YAHWEH Destruction Sitemap Scripture History Through the Ages