King of Judah
c. 740 BCE–c. 687 BCE · Biblical era · Jerusalem
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Chizkiyahu son of Achaz became king of Judah at twenty-five and reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:2). The book of Kings ranks him among the most faithful kings. He removed the local shrines, and he even broke up the bronze serpent made by Moshe, which people had begun to worship (18:3-5). Chronicles says he invited the north as well as Judah to a great Passover in Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 30:1). In his fourteenth year the Assyrian king Sennacherib took the fortified towns of Judah, and Chizkiyahu paid heavy tribute (2 Kings 18:13-14). When Jerusalem itself was threatened, the text reports that an angel struck the Assyrian camp and Sennacherib withdrew (19:35-36). Sennacherib's own annals also describe the campaign. The prophet Yeshayahu was the king's counsellor. When Chizkiyahu fell gravely ill, Yeshayahu brought word that fifteen years would be added to his life (20:1-6). He cut a channel to bring water into the city (20:20; 2 Chronicles 32:30). The Talmud credits 'Chizkiyahu and his colleagues' with writing down the books of Isaiah, Proverbs, Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes (Bava Batra 15a; compare Proverbs 25:1).
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JerusalemירושליםJudea
What they did here
He reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:2). He held the Assyrians off from its walls (19:35-36) and brought water into the city through a conduit (20:20; 2 Chronicles 32:30).
Jerusalem in this era
In the Hebrew Bible, David takes Jerusalem from the Jebusites and makes it his capital, Solomon builds the First Temple there, and Nehemiah rebuilds its walls after the return from Babylon; in 164 BCE Judah Maccabee rededicated the Temple, the origin of Hanukkah. Archaeologists debate how large the city was in the 10th century BCE; it is well attested as the capital of Judah by the 8th century BCE, and Babylon destroyed it in 586 BCE.
About Jerusalem
Jerusalem, in the Judean hills, is a sacred city for Jews, Christians and Muslims. In the Hebrew Bible it is King David's capital and the site of Solomon's Temple; the First Temple was destroyed by Babylon in 586 BCE and the Second Temple, rebuilt from about 516 BCE, by Rome in 70 CE. Christians revere it as the place of Jesus's crucifixion and, in their faith, his resurrection; in Islamic tradition it is the destination of the Prophet Muhammad's Night Journey and the first direction of prayer, marked by the Dome of the Rock (691-92) and al-Aqsa Mosque. It was ruled in turn by Rome and Byzantium, by Muslim dynasties from 638, by Crusaders (1099-1187), Ayyubids, Mamluks and Ottomans (1517-1917), and by Britain. Divided between Israel and Jordan from 1948 to 1967, it has since been under Israeli control. Israel regards the city as its capital; Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state; most countries do not recognize sovereignty over the whole city.
In Jerusalem at the same time
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Sages whose lives overlapped with King of Judah’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
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The world in their lifetime
Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with King of Judah’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn from recorded birth and death years (reign years for rulers whose lives are undated); where only one end of a life is known, a span of about 70 years is assumed.
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Works
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