181 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz began his rule over Judah. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king and he ruled for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. 3 In God's opinion he was a good king; he kept to the standards of his ancestor David. 4 He got rid of the local fertility shrines, smashed the phallic stone monuments, and cut down the sex-and-religion Asherah groves. As a final stroke he pulverized the ancient bronze serpent that Moses had made; at that time the Israelites had taken up the practice of sacrificing to it - they had even dignified it with a name, Nehushtan (The Old Serpent). 5 Hezekiah put his whole trust in the God of Israel. There was no king quite like him, either before or after. 6 He held fast to God - never loosened his grip - and obeyed to the letter everything God had commanded Moses. 7 And God, for his part, held fast to him through all his adventures. 8 And he drove back the Philistines, whether in sentry outposts or fortress cities, all the way to Gaza and its borders.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 2 Kings 18:1-8
Commentary on 2 Kings 18:1-8
(Read 2 Kings 18:1-8)
Hezekiah was a true son of David. Some others did that which was right, but not like David. Let us not suppose that when times and men are bad, they must needs grow worse and worse; that does not follow: after many bad kings, God raised one up like David himself. The brazen serpent had been carefully preserved, as a memorial of God's goodness to their fathers in the wilderness; but it was idle and wicked to burn incense to it. All helps to devotion, not warranted by the word of God, interrupt the exercise of faith; they always lead to superstition and other dangerous evils. Human nature perverts every thing of this kind. True faith needs not such aids; the word of God, daily thought upon and prayed over, is all the outward help we need.