Often our heroes have complicated legacies. No one is perfect, but finding out that someone we respected has made bad or evil choices is disappointing. In the Bible, Saul, David, Solomon each had complicated legacies. That pattern continues with one of David’s successors, Hezekiah (2 Kings 18–20).

We’ve seen that Hezekiah was a righteous king because he faithfully obeyed the commandments of the Lord (18:1–6). Yet he faced a significant crisis when Sennacherib, a new Assyrian invader, attacked Jerusalem in 701 BC. Sennacherib besieged the city and cut it off from the outside world. True to his convictions, Hezekiah turned to the Lord and was delivered by an angel (19:15, 35–37)! Later, facing a mortal illness, he asked God for mercy and was spared (20:1–10).

Therefore, it is difficult to discover that at the end of his life, Hezekiah did something to mar his legacy. He received visitors from Babylon, an up-and-coming power in the ancient Near East. But when he met the emissaries, instead of drawing their attention to Yahweh, he took the credit: “They saw everything in my palace…There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them” (v. 15). Here, Hezekiah takes full credit for his success. He chose to ignore the reality that he was saved only because God had delivered him!

God did not take kindly to this misrepresentation. “The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left,” God said (v. 17). By showing off his kingdom’s power, Hezekiah revealed that his confidence was misplaced. He began his reign trusting God, he ended by taking the glory for himself.

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