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Throughout the Scriptures, there are several references to kings and rulers of the nation of Israel. But what really makes a difference in this significant historical “story” is whether the king was, very simply put, good or bad. The impact of the good king was as consequential as the impact of the bad king; however, they were both at two opposite extremes. It is important to know the good king from the bad, and to realize the magnitude of both kinds of reigns. The good king has three major characteristics: he is filled with the spirit of the Lord, hence earning the title of “charismatic”, he is faithful to the covenant, and lastly he abides by the word of the Lord. The bad king, however, may have been charismatic at first, but loses the spirit of the Lord when he makes a bad decision, a concept similar to the ancient Chinese notion of a Mandate of Heaven. He does not conform to the covenant, and he does not abide by the word of the Lord. Primarily, the charismatic quality is of top priority. The Lord is the judge on whether a person does or does not qualify as charismatic. Therefore, he chooses who will be the king of his people. An example of a good king is King Hezekiah. King Hezekiah was a descendant of Ahaz, and he actually started out as a king through dynasty, a dynasty that Ahaz was trying to establish. He commenced his reign as a bad king; he revised the political approach of his father Ahaz by appealing to Egypt, hence halting Assyrian expansion. His pragmatic approach, however, was scornfully criticized by the prophet Isaiah, who was extremely active and highly influential in Judah during this period. In Isaiah 31:1, he is known to say, "Ha! Those who go down to Egypt for help and rely upon horses! They have put their trust in abundance of chariots, in vast numbers of riders, and they have not turned to the Holy One of Israel, they have not sought the Lord." Isaiah’s theo-political methodology stated that the Assyrian conquests were no more than an omen to the people to resume the worship of the Lord once more, and that attempts to rely on temporal military help was destined to fail.
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