1 Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah. 2 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.
24 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death, and he prayed to the Lord, and he answered him and gave him a sign. 25 But Hezekiah did not make return according to the benefit done to him, for his heart was proud. Therefore wrath came upon him and Judah and Jerusalem. 26 But Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.
The people of Judah and all those who lived around them worshiped idols before Hezekiah became King of Judah. King Hezekiah was a good king because he had a heart for God, and he did good things for the people of Judah.
In his first year, King Hezekiah had the temple cleaned and reopened for the people to worship God again. He prayed about difficult situations, and God helped him. God made Hezekiah rich with many possessions.
King Hezekiah became proud of all his nice things.
Some people from Babylon came to see Hezekiah. While they were there, Hezekiah showed all of his many beautiful possessions to them, because he was very proud of all of them.
He did not tell them about God and all that he had done.
King Hezekiah felt bad for doing wrong and asked God to forgive him. Did God forgive King Hezekiah? He did!
Hezekiah loved the Lord and worshiped him, but he thought all his beautiful things that he had made him really cool. He wanted to claim the glory for himself instead of giving it to God. Do we ever do that? YES, we do! Was King Hezekiah someone you’d expect to be in Jesus’ family? Jesus is coming!
