Archaeology in the Time of Kings: Hezekiah’s Reform
Episode: This inaugural Biblical World episode takes a deep dive into the archaeological background of King Hezekiah’s religious reform (2 Kgs 18:4).
Hosts: Chris McKinny (Gesher Media) and Oliver Hersey (Jerusalem University College)
Episode Summary: In this episode, Chris and Oliver discuss the following:
The historical background of Assyrian interactions with Israel and Judah in the late 8th century BC;
The destruction of Israel by the Assyrians;
The campaign of Sennacherib to Judah in 701 BC;
The archaeological evidence at Tel Sheba (decommissioned altar);
The archaeological evidence at Arad (decommissioned shrine).
The archaeological evidence at Tel Moza (reformed “temple”)
The archaeological evidence at the Lachish gate shrine (decommissioned and defiled)
Additional Resources: Jerusalem University College (JUC); JUC Summer Institute; JUC Online; Context of Scripture in Accordance Bible Software; BAS Article on Lachish and BASOR article on same subject; Moulis 2019 “Hezekiah’s Cultic Reforms according to the Archaeological Evidence”
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I enjoyed this episode thanks.
A friend has done a bit more research which confirms much of what is said in the episode. But he found this abstract of an article dated 28 May 2020 by Sabine Klieman titled “”The Iron IIB Gate Shrine at Lachish: An Alternative Interpretation” which states there is actually no indication of cultic reform. Refer:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03344355.2020.1707447?scroll=top&needAccess=true&journalCode=ytav20&
Can you help please?
Graeme
Hi Graeme, Thanks for the note and listening! There are in fact two articles that have recently appeared that dispute the claims of the excavators of the gate of Lachish – the one by Sabine Kleiman that you mentioned (which I have perused) and another article in the most recent issue of BASOR by David Ussishkin – see https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/712425. I have yet to read the article by Ussishkin. I am not sure if Saar Ganor and Igor Kreimerman are going to respond or not, but I found their arguments pretty convincing. We will see who wins the war of the toilet 🙂