Hezekiah’s Cultic Reforms according to the Archaeological Evidence

Abstract

Religious reforms during King Hezekiah’s reign based on archaeological records from the various Iron Age II Judean sites such as Tel Arad, Beersheba, Lachish, and others reveal cultic changes from a new point of view. At these sites remains of the Iron Age II cultic places were discovered. Among them the altars, incense burners, standing stones, shrines, and more findings were found during the last few decades. No later than the end of the eighth century BCE shrines were dismantled and destroyed under the influence of only one reform—probably Hezekiah’s religious, military, and economic reforms. Nevertheless, events at Lachish occurred earlier than the end of the eighth century BCE. This could be considered a long-term process that might have been finished before Assyria’s campaign against Judah in 701 BCE. However, the performance took different forms at every site, which shows that the command from Jerusalem required eliminating cultic activity outside the capital. How to realize reforms was not clearly defined and it probably depended on local authority.