EZECHIA. – 1. King of Judah (Heb. Ḥizqijjāh [6], Gk. 'Eẕnīz, Akkadian Ḥazaqijau) from ca. 718 to 689 B.C. Succeeding his father Achaz at the age of twenty-five, he initially conformed to the policy of subjection to Assyria that his father had followed, while nevertheless taking care secretly to provide every support for the prophetic circles, represented by Isaia, who were at once defenders of nationalist and monotheistic ideals. As soon as it became possible, he implemented the religious reform intended to lead the people back to pure Yahwism, for which he is praised in biblical history as the most upright of the Davidic monarchs (II Reg. 18, 3.5).
He abolished the idolatrous cults erected even in the Temple, and sought, with some success, to restore the surviving Samaritans to nationalism and Yahwism. He arranged for the collection of Israel’s spiritual and literary heritage through a special commission (Prov. 25, 1). Meanwhile, he endeavored to improve the finances of the state (II Reg. 20, 13), made certain military preparations (armaments and fortifications), and renewed Jerusalem’s water-supply installations, constructing, among other things, a tunnel that brought water into the city (a work commemorated in an inscription in the tunnel, discovered in 1880; V. SILOE).
Meanwhile, events abroad matured that completely altered relations with Assyria. E. did not participate in the anti-Assyrian revolt of 711, which was soon suppressed by Sargon; on that occasion, however, he had to demonstrate his loyalty by paying a heavier tribute. In 704 the Babylonian agitator Merodach Baladan, under the pretext of congratulating E. on his recovery (miraculous: Is. 38, 5) from a serious illness (it was on that occasion that the “canticle” In dimidio was composed, Is. 38, 10 ff.),
(from G. de Grenezen, Sainte Marie Antique, Rome 1911, pl. 12) EZECHIA – The prophet Isaia announces to King E. his imminent death (Is. 38, 1-2). Fresco in the church of S. Maria Antique (8th century).
Judah was attacked last: the Assyrian invaded the kingdom, deported many inhabitants, and laid siege to Jerusalem, as the Assyrian documents themselves record (H. Gressmann, Altar, Texte, 2nd ed., Berlin-Leipzig 1926, p. 353). What these documents do not relate, but is gathered from the Bible (and confirmed by Herodotus, II, 141), is the end of the invasion: while Sennacherib, after unsuccessfully attempting to reach an agreement with the besieged E., was preparing to return to Assyria, where a revolt had broken out, one night the “angel of the Lord,” perhaps through an epidemic, killed 185,000 of his soldiers in the camp (II Reg. 19, 0-37).
After the invasion, the king continued for another ten years, substantially victorious, to devote himself to the reconstruction of the kingdom, which became one of the most flourishing in Western Asia.
2. Name of various Jews who lived after the exile (I Par. 3, 23; Neh. 7, 2; 10, 18; in the Heb. form Jēḥizqijjāh: I Par., 28 12; Esd. 2, 16. Giovanni Rinaldi