Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work.

I'm Jensen Holt McNair.

I don't know about you, but 2nd Kings 18 felt like a breath of fresh air.

I got so excited as I began reading about the new king over Judah,

Hezekiah. You may have already guessed or read why, but Hezekiah, unlike most of the

kings we've read about, was a faithful king. Verse three tells us, he did what was right in the eyes of the

Lord just as his father David had done.

He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones, and cut down the Asherapoles.

He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had

been burning incense to it.

Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the

kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the Lord and did not stop

following him. He kept the commandments the Lord had given Moses, and the Lord was

with him. He was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not

serve him. From watchtower to fortified city, he defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory.

I mean, this is huge. It makes me excited after all the evil and failure. Hezekiah did what was right. He tore down the high places

that even faithful kings had failed to tear down. He broke the snake that Moses had made,

that the people had been falsely worshipping. He opposed Assyria. He kept the commands of Moses.

It is so encouraging and exciting to read about a king who's actually faithful, who's compared

to David more than anyone else before him or after him. This guy seems to be like

really legit. And we learn in verse 7 that God was with him and made him successful like in the days

of David. Judah's military action succeeded. He prospered. Now the verse right before this tells us why this is true of Hezekiah's reign.

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