Jerusalem's Survival Against Assyria

(January 27)

In this lecture, we learned how the Assyrian's failure to destroy Jerusalem was the single greatest catalyst for the legend of this city as being inviolable. Assyria became a very strong country who were feared throw their fighting tactic. According to biblical accounts, God delivered Jerusalem from Assyria through Hezekiah. God supposedly wiped out the Assyrian army before they had a chance to conquer Jerusalem. However, the Assyrian accounts say that this reasoning is wrong. They supposedly trapped Jerusalem, like a bird in a cage, but did not destroy the city. Although both sides have different stories to what had happened, both accounts do say that Jerusalem survived the Assyrian onslaught. This further pursues Jerusalem's reputation as being the city that God will not destroy, therefore claiming its sacredness.
In addition, we addressed religious centralization. Hezekiah brings about a religious reform to praise God in only one place instead of at different shrines. He knocked down the other idols even though they all worshiped the same God. This action can be considered as an indication of the preparation for rebellion against the Assyrians because he is unifying the people.
Josiah is another king that addressed religious centralization after Manasseh, who undid all the religious reforms that Hezekiah placed. He also founded a religious book of the law called the "Deuteronomic" Reform. He used this as his guide for the reforms he established.