This week we learned all about a new, better king of יהודה. His name was חזקיהו. We learned about what the book of מלכים ב says about him, and what the דברי הימים says about him. All together we learn that he was a pretty good king for 14 years, and then somethings went downhill from there.
In the book of דברי הימים we learn about somethings that he accomplished during his reign. It tells us that he refurbished the בית המקדש by purifying it and rededicating it. Because of this, many more people of יהודה started to sacrifice to Hashem again. חזקיהו also invited everyone in the kingdom to come and do a קרבן פסח in the בית המקדש. Then we are told that he destroyed and removed the במות. All of these actions show us that he חזקיהו acted in service to G-d and that he was a successful king geopolitically. He made an alliance with Assyria, and expected to get wealth, borders, and military success out of that alliance. Though the דברי הימים does tell us about חזקיהו's geopolitical success, I think it is more pointed towards his religious success and his interaction with Hashem. He is addressing ישעיהו's first mission, which was to clear out all elements of עבודה זרה. From what we hear in דברי הימים is all good, but when we get to מלכים ב, things might start to turn around.
The next book we learned about חזקיהו in, was מלכים ב. In מלכים ב it says that he did good in the eyes of Hashem, which right there, is a change from the kings before him. It also talks about how חזקיהו destroyed the במות. One thing that we hear in מלכים ב that we don't necessarily hear in דברי הימים is that he was know for his בתחון, or trust. He clung to Hashem, and that led Hashem to "cling" to him. He is also said to have followed the מצות like משה. Geopolitically, חזקיהו rebelled against Assyria. He stopped paying them taxes, and provoked the wrath of Assyria, which allowed him to expand his borders. Religiously, this rebellion showed us that he knew that Hashem was always with him. This point marks the end of the GREAT king חזקיהו as we know him.
In חזקיהו's 14th year, things took a weird and confusing turn. Assyria attacks יהודה very abruptly. Of course חזקיהו is confused because he did so much right before this point. חזקיהו then sends a letter to the king of Assyria admitting that he sinned, and he got taxed once again. חזקיהו used the golden doors and the money from the בית המקדש to pay the taxes. I think that he was so confused at that point, that he just decided to give up. We later learn that Hashem sent Assyria into attack because the people weren't acting with צדק ומשפט. This shows us again, that it wasn't really the kings fault, but the actions of the people. Even though חזקיהו did all of the things that he did to get the people back on a right religious track, he didn't influence them enough to act morally. I think that his situation shows us what Hashem cares about more. He wants his people to act in a religiously moral way, but He also seems to care how that act morally, in general, more.
I totally agree with Sophie. Everything that happened after the 14th year of Chizkiyahu's reign confused me too. I just have a hard time believing that he would turn his back on Hashem and use the gold from the Beit Hamikdash to pay taxes to Assyria. Honestly, I can see no reason why he would take such a steep fall from grace and do it so suddenly. (I guess the answers to all of our questions will come this coming week in class.) However, in your last paragraph, you said that it was purely the actions of the people that caused Assyria to attack Yisrael. I don't think this is the case. If Chizkiyahu had enough chutzpah to send the doors of the Beit Hamikdash to the king of Assyria, then I believe that he deserves some of the blame as well. One mistake that we bloggers keep making is that we try to idealize one king or another when it is clear that they all have flaws. In truth, we are all human and we all make mistakes. That is just a part of life and all we can do is strive to be better people, not perfect people.
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