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The good kings of the kingdom of Judah
The kingdom of Judah has had its fair share of good and bad kings. Out of the twenty kings of Judah, seven of them ended their lives as good kings, while the other thirteen ended as bad kings. A king of Judah is reckoned as good or bad based on his religion. Those who served the Lord of Israel were regarded as good, whereas the bad kings were those who forsook the Lord of Israel for idols.
Whereas the bad kings inflicted much injury on the lives of the people, the good kings paved the way for peace, prosperity, development, progress, and the welfare of the people at large. These are the good kings of Judah:
King Asa
The first king of Judah, King Rehoboam, was an idol worshiper. So was his son, King Abijah. Though preceded by two idolatrous kings, King Asa, the son of King Abijah, did not follow in their footsteps according to 1Ki 15:11 and 2Ch 14:2. King Asa served the true God of Israel, and God, in return, blessed him. As a good king, Asa ended the idolatrous religion perpetuated by the previous kings. He did so by taking away the altars of the foreign deities and the high places and breaking down the idols and commanded the people of Judah to seek the Lord their God and to keep His commandment. 2 Chronicles 14:3-5. The practice of idolatrous religion gave way to the proliferation of perversion; hence there were homosexuals in the kingdom. During his reign, Asa did well to drive out the homosexuals from his kingdom as part of the good things he did. (1 Kings 22:46).
King Jehoshaphat
King Jehoshaphat was 35 years old when he was enthroned and he reigned for 25 years. Jehoshaphat had no excuse at all to become a bad king for he was the son and successor of King Asa, a good king, and he had seen the blessedness that accompanies serving God. He took over after the death of his father and he followed in his father’s footsteps, serving the Lord according to 2Ch 17:3. Amidst the developmental works he did, Jehoshaphat did reforms to ensure justice in his kingdom. He also created a good religious atmosphere for all of Judah to serve the Lord. Also, though Asa did well to sack homosexuals out of the kingdom, some remained. Jehoshaphat came to finish his father’s work by driving out the rest of the homosexuals from the kingdom of Judah as part of the good things he did. 1Ki 22:46
King Uzziah
With time, the kingdom of Judah forsook the Lord for a very long time. They had five successions of kings who could not steer clear of idol worship. They profaned the land with idolatry at every turn. Then came Uzziah, who became king after the death of his idolatrous father King Amaziah. He became king at the age of sixteen and reigned for fifty-two years. He discontinued idol worship in Judea during his reign and served the God of Israel, making the kingdom mighty and formidable. See 2Ki 15:3 and 2Ch 26:4. Much of the projects he undertook were skewed toward building a good military to expand and defend his kingdom from invaders. In short, he created a good atmosphere for the people to serve the Lord. However, at some point, Uzziah, moved by pride, was found unlawfully exercising priestly duties in the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. And God punished him instantly with leprosy. He spent the rest of his life as a leper until he died.
King Jotham
King Uzziah paved the way for his son King Jotham to become a good king for he served the Lord according to 2Ch 27:2. Jotham continued to reign after the death of his father Uzziah. He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. Ambitious as he was like his father, he did many projects some of which were for the house of God in Jerusalem; he built the high gate of the Temple of Solomon. 2 Chronicles 27:3. God being on his side, he won battles to keep his kingdom safe, creating the atmosphere for all to serve the Lord. However, considering what happened to his father when he interfered with priestly duties, he feared going to the temple of God in Jerusalem, and throughout his reign, he never stepped foot there.
King Hezekiah
Hezekiah was the son and successor of King Ahaz, an idolatrous king. But he did not follow in his father’s footsteps, 2Ch 29:2, for he was a pious king and walked in the fear of the Lord like Asa, Jehoshaphat, etc. During the reign of Hezekiah, he restored the sole worship of Yahweh throughout the kingdom of Judah. The previous king, Ahaz shut up the house of the Lord such that no religious obligations were done to the Lord. But in the first year of Hezekiah’s reign, in the first month, Hezekiah opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them. He had the priests and the Levites cleanse and sanctify the house of the Lord of all filthiness. It took eight days for them to complete this task.
Before Hezekiah’s reign, during the reign of his idolatrous father, the Passover had not been kept. This left him to organize a big Passover celebration during his reign in Jerusalem in which he sent letters throughout the land of Israel to invite all Godfearing people to come to Jerusalem for the proper observation of the Passover. In all, Hezekiah was one of Judah’s best and most pious kings.
King Josiah
Though Hezekiah was a good king, his son Manasseh wasn’t for he committed many sins before his repentance. After Manasseh came King Amon, who also pursued idolatry. King Josiah came after these two idolatrous kings. He was installed on the throne at the age of eight. However, at such a tender age he was pious and pursued the worship of the one true God of Israel, Yahweh, 2Ki 22:2. He reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem.
When he turned twelve, he began to purge the kingdom of Judah and the city of Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, and the carved and metal images. He had them cut down the altars of the Baals and he cut down the incense altars that stood above them. Then he broke in pieces the Asherim and the carved and metal images, then made dust of them, and scattered it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. He also burned the bones of the priests of the idols on the altars of the idols and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem of idolatry. He did a similar thing across the entire land of Israel, purging the land of idolatry. (2 Chronicles 34:1-7)
Considering his zeal for the Lord and what he did, it is believed by many that Josiah was the best and the most pious king of Judah.
King Manasseh
Hezekiah was one of the most pious and best kings of Judah. However, his son King Manasseh was so evil. Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign and he reigned for fifty-five years. The Bible labels him as the king who turned the heart of the whole kingdom to idolatry – to the worship of the heavenly bodies and all kinds of strange gods. He was also labeled as the king who shed much innocent blood in Jerusalem. He was the worst of all the kings who ever ruled the Kingdom of Judah. Because of his sins, God gave him up to the Assyrians, and they captured him in battle, transported him to Assyria, and imprisoned him. While in prison, he repented and called upon the Lord for help. And God listened to him and delivered him from prison and exile and returned him to Jerusalem to continue his reign.
When King Manasseh returned from captivity as a repentant, he commanded the people of Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. Then he tried to undo the bad things he had done. He took away the strange gods from the temple of Solomon and destroyed all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the House of the Lord and in Jerusalem. 2Ch 33:15. And he repaired the altar of the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings and thanksgiving offerings on it, 2Ch 33:16
Though King Manasseh started as an evil person, he ended up as a good person. It is therefore proper to add him to the list of good and pious kings; normally, how a man starts is not as important as how he ends.
Kings who started good but ended bad
There were some kings who, though began as devotees to the true God of Israel, forsook him at some point. These kings acted in perpetual disobedience to the Lord. Jehoash of Judah and his son Amaziah forsook the one true God of Israel for foreign gods and idols.
Jehoash of Judah
Before Joash of Judah became a king, two idolatrous kings, and one idolatrous queen had preceded him – King Jehoram, King Ahaziah, and Queen Athaliah. But Jehoash did not immediately follow their examples when he began to reign. Jehoash was installed to the throne by the efforts of Jehoiada the priest. From childhood, under the influence of Jehoiada, he was a good king. But when Jehoiada died, he was misled by his officials into idol worship. So King Joash, his officials, and the kingdom abandoned the Lord their God and served idols, provoking the anger of the Lord upon themselves. Though he was good from the start, he ended as bad, 2Ch 24:2 and 2Ch 24:17-22.
King Amaziah
King Amaziah acted just like his father King Jehoash in an ungrateful manner. The Edomites were vassals to Judah, but they rebelled and Amaziah went to war against them. With God’s help, he secured victory over Edom. However, he took the gods of the Edomites and brought them with him to Jerusalem, set them up, and worshiped them, giving offerings to them. Therefore, God was angry with King Amaziah just as he was with his father. Though he was good from the start, he ended as bad. See, 2Ch 25:2 and 2Ch 25:14