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1. Hezekiah was one of Judah's best kings. He is classed with David and Josiah. "All, except David and Ezekias and Josias, were defective" (Ecclus. 49:4). In his zeal for God he "brake in pieces the brasen serpent" which had become an object of superstition, and sought to carry into effect the Mosaic prohibition of heathen sanctuaries (Exodus 23:24; Exodus 34:13). Moreover, "he removed the high places," thus showing the sweeping nature of his reformation. These "high places" were "local sanctuaries," which some good kings had tolerated, contenting themselves with uprooting the worship of false gods; for at these local shrines there was, it is supposed, some sort of worship of Jehovah carried on, which was to satisfy the religious instinct without going up to Jerusalem. It shows Hezekiah's thoroughness and determination.

2. But Hezekiah's greatness shines out still more vividly in the hour of trial. Jerusalem was threatened by Assyrian forces. Their generals were at the gates, demanding submission. He stood alone, and yet not alone, for God was his "Refuge and Strength, a very present Help in trouble"; "He trusted in the Lord God of Israel," and he did not trust in vain. Let us first note some of the grounds upon which this confidence in God is based; and, secondly, mark some of its features.

I. SOME GROUNDS UPON WHICH TRUST IN GOD IS BASED.

1. The first is the goodness of God. Thus moral theology places trust in God in connection with hope, and not directly with faith.

2. Another ground of trust in God is His faithfulness to His promises. "He is faithful that promised" (Hebrews 10:23). In order to impress upon us this truth, God confirmed His word "by an oath," as men when they bind themselves more strictly to a compact (Hebrews 6.). Goodness, when combined with almightiness and fidelity, affords a triple basis upon which to rest.

3. Experience may be added to the former. Thus David, when he drew near to the giant, recollected past deliverances. "The Lord," he said, "that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear," etc. (1 Samuel 17:37).

II. SOME FEATURES OF THIS CONFIDENCE MUST NOW BE NOTED.

1. To have confidence in God, it must be entire. In foul weather as well as fair, in the storm when Christ is asleep, as well as on the land when He is awake. Christ tested this confidence in the case of His disciples, and He does so still. It must extend both to temporal as well as spiritual things, as we are reminded in to-day's Gospel — to the necessaries of life, as well as to graces and gifts from heaven. This was laid down clearly in the definition of trust at the beginning. Such trust, it need hardly be said, must not be a cause of idleness, but a stimulant of effort: "God helps those who help themselves." Hezekiah knew that; and so went into the house of the Lord, and spread "the letter before the Lord" which the Assyrian foe had sent him, and prayed earnestly to the Lord.

2. Trust, too, must be prompt. To ask for Divine help when all things have been tried in vain, savours rather of despair than of confidence. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God," in point of time as well as order, and turn to all else as means which are only of avail when they have the Divine blessing.

III. LESSONS.

1. The whole subject is so eminently practical that the lessons are obvious. All must have some object in which to confide. Our trust must be, not in self, not in others, but in God. It was to Him Hezekiah at once turned in his terrible need.

2. To kindle this spirit of confidence, let us meditate upon the Divine goodness, the fidelity of God to His promises, and call up remembrances of His past mercies.

3. Finally, let this trust extend to all circumstances and difficulties whether of soul or body; and we shall find, like the good king, that "the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord," and "He is their strength in the time of trouble" (Psalm 37:39).

IV. LESSONS.

1. To grasp still more firmly the fundamental truth of Christianity — the union of the human nature with the Divine nature in the One person of the Word, or Son of God, who for our sakes "became poor."

2. To learn the lesson of detachment from all external possessions, after the pattern of His life on earth.

3. To seek by every means in our power to obtain the "true riches" which Christ, "through His poverty," has purchased for us.

4. So to use "the mammon of unrighteousness," if we have it, as to lay up "treasure in heaven"; for "where your treasure is there win your heart be also" (Matthew 7:20, 21).

(W. H. Hutchings, M. A.)

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KJV: He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.

WEB: He trusted in Yahweh, the God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor [among them] that were before him.