He was one of the most righteous kings of Judah, a real standout. He lived way back when—around the 8th century BCE—and he's remembered for some seriously impressive things.
The Talmud actually praises Hezekiah to the heavens, claiming he wanted to annihilate the Assyrian King Sennacherib, an enemy of the Jewish people, through magical means using the Divine Name (Sanhedrin 94a).
But here’s one thing he’s specifically celebrated for: preserving Hebrew literature. Think about it. Before the printing press, before the internet, everything had to be copied by hand. It was painstaking, meticulous work. And Hezekiah made it happen. The Babylonian Talmud (Bava Batra 15a) tells us that it was Hezekiah and his court who ensured that we have copies of the books of Isaiah, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, and Proverbs. These are core texts, foundational to Jewish thought and spirituality.
Imagine a world without them.
But there's a twist. According to the Zohar, the central text of Kabbalah, Hezekiah hid away books containing medical remedies. Why would he do that? Was he afraid people would rely on texts rather than prayer, or that this knowledge might be misused? The Zohar doesn't explicitly tell us why, but the implication is clear: knowledge can be a double-edged sword.
What kind of king withholds healing knowledge?
Hezekiah’s death was met with profound mourning. Thirty-six thousand men, with bare shoulders as a sign of grief, walked before his coffin. But the most remarkable tribute? A Sefer Torah, a scroll of the Law, was laid upon his bier. The sages proclaimed, "He who rests in this bier has fulfilled all that is ordained in this book.” Now, that's a legacy. He was buried near David and Solomon, among the giants of Jewish history.
It's a powerful image, isn't it? To have one's life so aligned with the Torah that it becomes the ultimate eulogy. Hezekiah, the preserver of sacred words, rests with the sacred word itself.
But it leaves us with a question: what are we preserving? What stories are we passing down? And what knowledge, perhaps for good reason or perhaps not, are we choosing to conceal? Food for thought, indeed.