Hezekiah and the Dialogue of Memory

Song-Mi Suzie Park, Song-Mi Suzie Park

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781451485226
• eBook ISBN: 9781451494341
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

Hezekiah is a critical figure in the Hebrew Bible, which credits him with major political, social, and religious reforms in Judah's history and the weathering of a major crisis in the invasion of the Assyrians under their emperor, Sennacherib. Examining the different accounts of Hezekiah's reign in 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, and Isaiah, Song-Mi Suzie Park describes a "Hezekiah complex" that developed over a long time, in which the figure of Hezekiah served as a symbol for the vicissitudes of Judah's history. The king could be understood as a positive reformer of the "pagan" ways of the country, or as a sinner, at least partly responsible for the threats and disasters that befell Judah, from Sennacherib's invasion through the Babylonian exile more than a century later. By showing how the stories about Hezekiah developed over time through a process of response and counterresponse, forming at the end a dialogue of memory, Park elucidates the ways in which biblical stories in general function as loci of continual dialogue, dispute, and discussion.

1

The Beginning of Hezekiah's Reign and Sennacherib's Attack in 2 Kings 18:1—19:9

Introduction

In order to begin our delineation of the redactional process that led to the mixed biblical tradition about Hezekiah, we first have to determine where to begin our study: Which narrative initiated the series of address and redress that underlies the development of the Hezekiah complex? This chapter will show that 2 Kgs. 18:1-12, which acts as a bridge between the pericope about the fall of the North in 2 Kings 17 and the subsequent narratives in the Hezekiah complex, especially the story of the Assyrian attack, is the natural and logical starting point of the complex. Once we have established 2 Kgs. 18:1-12 as the beginning point, we will proceed in this chapter to analyze and delineate the subsequent series of redactional accretions in the Book of 2 Kings, which, as we will show, is the original context of the Hezekiah complex.

The Summary of Hezekiah’s Reign in 2 Kgs. 18:1-12

Leaving aside for the moment the question of which book, 2 Kings or Isaiah, functioned as the original context of the Hezekiah complex, a topic that we will discuss in depth at a later chapter,^[1] we begin with the question about which pericope came first in the series of responses and counter-responses that generated the ambivalent traditions about Hezekiah in the Bible. Since 2 Kgs. 18:1-12, the overview and summary of Hezekiah’s reign, is the first passage that the reader encounters when they begin the story about this monarch in 2 Kings, it would appear to be an obvious place to start. However, the passage at 2 Kgs. 18:1-12, as well as the relationship between this pericope and the stories that follow, has been largely ignored,^[2] eclipsed by the lengthier and more triumphant story of the Assyrian attack and Jerusalem’s salvation in 701 bce. As a result, most scholarly discussion about Hezekiah begins with the narrative of the attack, and not with the summary of Hezekiah’s reign found in this introductory section (2 Kgs. 18:1-12).^[3] Unfortunately, by starting with an episode that comes in the middle of the biblical narrative about Hezekiah’s reign rather than at the beginning, the crucial function that 2 Kgs. 18:1-12 plays as narrative bridge between the stories that precede and succeed it has been largely missed. As a result, what has been overlooked is the function of 2 Kgs. 18:1-12 as the starting point in the redactional development of the Hezekiah complex.

Let us more closely examine 2 Kgs. 18:1-12, especially with an eye towards how this pericope looks both backwards to the story of the fall of Northern Israel in 2 Kings 17 and also forwards to the succeeding tale of the 701 Assyrian attack. The narrative about Hezekiah’s reign in the book of 2 Kings begins with a typical Deuteronomistic introduction (2 Kgs. 18:1-3): the opening summary notes the corresponding king in the North, the age when Hezekiah assumed the throne,^[4] the total years of his reign, and the name of his mother. This summary ends with a Deuteronomistic summation of his rule, which notes that Hezekiah “did what was pleasing to the Lord, just as his father David had done.” As we will discuss later, this comparison to David is striking and unique, found only one other time with reference to Josiah at 2 Kgs. 22:2.

An “elongated theological appraisal”^[5] following this quick summary introduction continues with the overall positive assessment of Hezekiah in 2 Kings^[6]:

He [Hezekiah] abolished the shrines and smashed the pillars and cut down the sacred post. He also broke into pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until that time the Israelites had been offering sacrifice to it; it was called the Nehushtan. He trusted (bāṭāḥ) only in the Lord the God of Israel; there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those before him. He clung to the Lord; he did not turn away from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord had given to Moses (2 Kgs. 18:4-6).

This summation of Hezekiah’s cultic acts in 2 Kgs. 18:4-6 provides the first connection forward to the following narrative of the 701 attack, as this reform will receive a brief mention later in the speech of the Rabshaqeh at 2 Kgs. 18:22—an important link, which we will discuss in a subsequent section.^[7]

The summary of Hezekiah’s actions concerning the cult is followed by an outline of his military and political actions. Political, military, and religious matters are juxtaposed and intertwined in 18:7-8: “And the Lord was always with him [Hezekiah]; he was successful wherever he turned. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. He overran Philistia as far as Gaza and its border areas, from watchtower to fortified town” (2 Kgs. 18:7-8). The interweaving of religion, politics, and warfare in 2 Kgs. 18:7-8 offers a second link to the succeeding narrative of the 701 attack where these matters also are closely correlated.

A more direct connection between the introduction in 2 Kgs. 18:1-12 and the 701 attack is found in the statement that Hezekiah “rebelled against the king of Assyria” (2 Kgs. 18:7). This allusion to the relationship between Judah and Assyria provides a reason, not directly stated in the following story of the attack, as to why Assyria came to conquer Judah in 701 bce. Interestingly, though the mention of Hezekiah’s insubordination in 2 Kgs. 18:7 is stated neutrally and without comment as to its success, it occurs in a section of the introduction that describes the success and piety of Hezekiah. By its placement in this section, Hezekiah’s rebellion seems to be pictured as something commendable, an aspect that will become relevant in our discussion of the redactional development of the 701 attack narrative.

Interestingly, this introductory section of the Hezekiah complex in 2 Kings not only references important themes and issues in the succeeding narrative about the 701 attack, but also is intimately linked to the preceding narrative in 2 Kings 17 concerning the fall of Samaria. Indeed, this summary concludes with a short description of the fall of Northern Israel to Shalmaneser V (2 Kgs. 18:9-12). At first, this short account of the downfall of the North seems awkwardly attached to the introductory section, especially since a full account of its devastation is given in the immediately preceding chapter (2 Kings 17). Closer inspection, however, reveals a number of telling connections between the 2 Kgs. 18:1-12 and the preceding narrative about Samaria’s destruction in 2 Kings 17.^[8] In particular, the description of Samaria’s fall in 17:5-7 sounds remarkably similar to the report of this event in the beginning summary of Hezekiah’s reign in 2 Kgs. 18:9-12:^[9]

Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria; for three years he besieged it. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria; he carried the Israelites away to Assyria. He placed them in Halah, on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. This occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt (2 Kgs. 17:5-7).

In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of King Hoshea son of Elah of Israel, King Shalmaneser of Assyria came up against Samaria, besieged it, and at the end of three years, took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of King Hoshea of Israel, Samaria was taken. The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded; they neither listened nor obeyed (2 Kgs. 18:9-12).

Both descriptions state that Assyria besieged Samaria for three years, that Samaria was taken during the reign of Hoshea, and that the Israelites were exiled to Halah, Habor, Gozan, and the cities of the Medes. Most interestingly, both notices juxtapose Samaria’s downfall and the Exodus event. 2 Kgs. 17:7 states that the devastation in the North occurred because the Israelites sinned against the Lord who “brought them up out of the land of Egypt,” while 2 Kgs. 18:12 maintains that the Israelites transgressed the covenant of the Lord, “all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded.” The inclusion of the description of Samaria’s fall at the end of Hezekiah’s introductory section (2 Kgs. 18:9-12) and its close analogy to 2 Kgs. 17:5-7 strongly suggest that this event was seen as having some bearing on the reign of this king.

Other similarities between 2 Kgs. 18:1-12 and 2 Kings 17 lend further support to this conclusion.^[10] Hull notes that the phrase “from watchtower to fortified city” in 2 Kgs. 18:8 is repeated in 2 Kgs. 17:9b, and forms “a catch phrase that helps link the two [narratives] together.”^[11] While in 2 Kings 18 this phrase is used to describe the military success of the pious Hezekiah, in the preceding chapter it describes, by contrast, the impiety of the Northerners who are said to have erected highplaces everywhere “from watchtower to fortified city” (2 Kgs. 17:9b).^[12] Indeed, the relationship between 2 Kgs. 18:1-12 and 2 Kings 17 appears to be one of opposition. Most notably, the reform of Hezekiah in 2 Kgs. 18:9-12 is painted as antithetical to the cultic activities of the North described in 18:3-4 and 17:7ff.^[13]

They [the Northerners] built bamot . . . but he [Hezekiah] . . . removed them. They erected matsevot and asherim . . . but he shattered them and cut them down. They burned incense on all the high places, he cut up the bronze serpent to which the people had been burning incense. They did evil things to provoke YHWH, he did right in the eyes of YHWH (18:3). They served idols, he did not serve the king of Assyria (18:7b).^[14]

According to Nadav Na’aman, Hezekiah’s reform not only stands in contradistinction to the religious sins of the North, but perfectly and completely fulfills the law in Deut. 12:3 concerning the destruction of non-Yahwistic cult sites: “…you shall tear down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire; you shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy their name out of that place.”^[15] Hence, while the Northerners are said to have committed every offense that is warned against in Deuteronomy, Hezekiah, with his reform, takes the very action prescribed in Deuteronomy in reference to these illegal places of worship. Just as the North perfectly and completely disobeys God’s commandments, so in opposition Hezekiah perfectly fulfills them.^[16]

The specific manner in which the fall of the North is described in the introduction in 2 Kgs. 18:1-12 also serves to distinguish the two kingdoms. The...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table Of Contents
• Abbreviations
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• The Beginning of Hezekiah's Reign and Sennacherib's Attack in 2 Kings 18:1—19:9
• The Continuation of the Hezekiah Complex in 2 Kings 19:9b—20:19: Source B2, The Tale of Illness, and the Visit of the Envoys
• The Hezekiah Complex in Isaiah 36–39
• The Hezekiah Complex in 2 Chronicles 29–32
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index