Class Member Study Guide: Lesson 29
Ensign Article about King Hezekiah's Strengths and Weaknesses: Hezekiah's Tunnel Vision. (I think the pun was intended)
2 Chronicles 29 2 Chronicles 30
2 Chronicles 32 2 Chronicles 34
Kings from Saul Until the Fall of the Northern and Southern Kingdom
This week's lesson focuses on King Hezekiah and his Great Grandson's Josiah's desire to turn the hearts of the people to the temple and the scriptures. The last lesson I taught focused on the prophet Elijah. Elijah was a prophet almost 100 years earlier.
Now King Hezekiah throws open the doors of a neglected temple and sends the priest in to clean the holy sanctuary. He defends Judah against the Assyrians turning to the Lord for assistance in times of trial. He staves off an Assyrian siege in part by the construction of an underground waterway to provide a permanent, secret water source for the city.
Find Elijah on the chart below. Count down 8 kings to find Hezekiah. Isaiah and Mich are prophets in the southern kingdom during this time.
Saul
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David
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Solomon
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Kings of Judah
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Divided Kingdom
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Kings of Israel
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Divided Kingdom
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Prophets
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Rehoboam
Shayshek
(Eygpt-- took Lord’s treasure
buried
in Jerusalem)
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930–913 B.C.
Reigned
17 Years
Started
at 41 in Jerusalem
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War
all their days
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Jeroboam I
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930–909 B.C.
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Abijam--Fell
sick
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913–910 B.C.
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Asa
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910–869 B.C.
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Nadab
(Son
of Jeroboam)
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909–908 B.C.
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Baasha
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908–886 B.C.
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Elah
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886–885 B.C.
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Zimri
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885 B.C.
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Tibni
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885–880 B.C.
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Omri
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885–874 B.C.
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Ahab
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874–853 B.C.
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Micaiah
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Jehoshaphat*/Elijah
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872–848 B.C.
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Ahaziah
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853–852 B.C.
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Elijah
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Joram/Jehoram
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852–841 B.C.
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Elisha
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Jehoram*
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853–841 B.C.
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Ahaziah
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841 B.C.
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Jehu
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841–814 B.C.
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Athaliah
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841–835 B.C.
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Joash/Jehoash
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835–796 B.C.
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Jehoahaz
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814–798 B.C.
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Jehoash
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798–782 B.C.
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Amaziah
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796–767 B.C.
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Jeroboam II
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793–753 B.C.
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Azariah/Uzziah*
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792–740 B.C.
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Zachariah
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753 B.C.
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Shallum
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751 B.C.
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Menahem
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752–742 B.C.
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Pekahiah
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742–740 B.C.
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Pekah
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752–740 B.C.
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Jotham*
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750–732 B.C.
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Ahaz*
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735–715 B.C.
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Hoshea
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732–722 B.C.
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Hezekiah/Isiah Prophet, Micah Prophet
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715–686 B.C.
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Proverbs compiled during the time of
Hezekiah
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Manasseh*
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697–642 B.C.
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Amon
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642–640 B.C.
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Josiah/Jeremiah Prophet Habbakkuk Prophesized
Zephaniah Prophesized |
640–609 B.C.
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Jehoahaz
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609 B.C.
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Jehoiakim/Eliakim
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609–598 B.C.
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Jehoiachin
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598–597 B.C.
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Zedekiah/Mattaniah
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597–586 B.C.
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Pictures, Maps and Commentary of Hezekiah's Great Waterway
"An elaborate engineering scheme
extending about 1770 feet through limestone rock, bringing the waters of
Gihon spring inside the walls of Jerusalem to the pool of Siloam.
The tunnel was built in the days of
Hezekiah, about 701 B.C., as a defense against possible attack from the
Assyrian army under Sennacherib (2 Kgs. 20:20; 2 Chr. 32:4, 30).
Workmen dug from both ends, in a
zig-zag course, until they met.
A dramatic account of the meeting of
the workmen is told by an inscription carved in stone near the Siloam end of
the tunnel.
It reads: “The boring through is
completed. Now this is the story of the boring through. While the workmen were
still lifting pick to pick, each toward his neighbor, and while three cubits
remained to be cut through, each heard the voice of the other who called his
neighbor, since there was a crevice in the rock on the right side. And on the
day of the boring through the stonecutters struck, each to meet his fellow,
pick to pick, and there flowed the waters to the pool for a thousand and two
hundred cubits, and a hundred cubits was the height of the rock above the heads
of the stonecutters.”
The inscription has been removed from
its original location and is now kept in the Turkish Archaeological Museum at
Istanbul. The tunnel is still in use today" (from LDS Bible Dictionary).
Water Comes from the Gihon Spring and Moves to the Pool of Siloam--See Above. The Map Below Illustrates the Downhill Course of the Water Flowing through Jerusalem
Tunnel with Water Flow.
Gihon Spring Above and Pool of Shiloam Below
Assyrian Leader Who Laid Siege to Jerusalem under King Hezekiah's Rule
The Message of the Gospel is Living Water to Us Today
Elder Bruce R.
McConkie explained that living water is
“the
words of eternal life, the message of salvation, the truths about God and his
kingdom; it is the doctrines of the gospel” (Doctrinal New Testament
Commentary, 3 vols. [1966–73], 1:151).
How Can We Make Temple Worthiness and Attendance a Priority?
President
Howard W. Hunter encouraged:
“Let us be a temple-attending people.
Attend the temple as frequently as personal circumstances allow. Keep a picture
of a temple in your home that your children may see it. Teach them about the
purposes of the house of the Lord. Have them plan from their earliest years to
go there and to remain worthy of that blessing.
“If
proximity to a temple does not allow frequent attendance, gather in the history
of your family and prepare the names for the sacred ordinances performed only
in the temple. This family research is essential to the work of the temples,
and blessings surely will come to those who do that work” (in Conference
Report, Oct. 1994, 8; or Ensign, Nov. 1994, 8).
President Ezra Taft Benson described
the dangers of neglecting one of our books of scripture, the Book of Mormon:
“In 1829, the Lord warned the Saints
that they are not to trifle with sacred things (see D&C 6:12). Surely the Book of Mormon is a
sacred thing, and yet many trifle with it, or in other words, take it lightly,
treat it as though it is of little importance.
“In 1832, as some early missionaries
returned from their fields of labor, the Lord reproved them for treating the
Book of Mormon lightly. As a result of that attitude, he said, their minds had
been darkened. Not only had treating this sacred book lightly brought a loss of
light to themselves, it had also brought the whole Church under condemnation,
even all the children of Zion. And then the Lord said, ‘And they shall remain
under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even
the Book of Mormon’ (D&C 84:54–57). …
“If the early Saints were rebuked for
treating the Book of Mormon lightly, are we under any less condemnation if we
do the same?” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1986, 3–4; or Ensign, Nov. 1986,
4–5).
President Spencer W. Kimball said:
“The Lord is not trifling with us when
he gives us these things, for ‘unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be
much required.’ (Luke 12:48.) Access to these things means
responsibility for them. We must study the scriptures according to the Lord’s
commandment (see 3 Nephi 23:1–5); and we must let them govern
our lives” (“How Rare a Possession—the Scriptures!” Ensign, Sept. 1976, 5).
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