RELIGION AND CULT IN THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH UNDER ASSYRIAN HEGEMONY: A NEW EXAMINATION / דת ופולחן בממלכת יהודה בימי ההגמוניה האשורית — עיון מחודש

The predominant view among historians of ancient Israel during the last century was that the reported idolatry of kings Ahaz and Manasseh of Judah stemmed from a policy of religious coercion enforced by the conquering Assyrians. This view was challenged more than two decades ago by examination of the Assyrian royal inscriptions; it was found that local cults were not subject to interference, nor were Assyrian gods forcibly introduced. Newer studies have re-opened the issue and these are examined here. The two literary corpora, Assyrian and biblical, present independent and complementary descriptions of religious affairs in Judah. Rather than being evidence of forced adoption of the royal cult, the cultic innovations in Judah are best explained as expressions of an assimilatory trend among the country's upper class, during a century of widespread adoption of the fashionable Assyro-Aramean culture.