The best reign of all the kings was that of Hezekiah over Judah. In this message we will first consider the reign of Hezekiah and then speak further concerning the intrinsic connection between the books of history in the Old Testament and their fulfillment in the New Testament.
Hezekiah began to reign at the age of twenty-five, in the third year of Hoshea king of Israel, and reigned for twenty- nine years in Jerusalem (18:1-2).
Verses 3 through 6 show us that Hezekiah did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that David his father had done. Hezekiah removed the high places, broke down the pillars, and cut down the Asherah. Also, he broke in pieces the bronze serpent made by Moses which Hezekiah called Nehushtan (meaning "a piece of bronze") and to which the children of Israel burned incense. Moses, according to God's instructions, had made that bronze serpent in order to rescue the people from death. However, in their superstition they eventually regarded the bronze serpent as an idol, and for this reason Hezekiah broke it in pieces. Hezekiah clung to Jehovah and did not turn away from following Him but kept His commandments and trusted in Him, so that after him there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, nor anyone who was before him.
Jehovah was with Hezekiah, and everywhere he went, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and struck the Philistines (vv. 7-8).