Page 242 - History of The Quranic Text | Kalamullah.Com

222 THE HISTORY OF THE QUR'ANIC TEXT

2. Asa toJehoshaphat (91l-848 B.c.)
Asa (911-870 B.C.) is praised in the Bible for his piety.

He stamped out idolatrous practices and restored the Temple
in Jerusalem as the center of worship. It was decreed that un-
believerswould be put to death. Asa even stripped of her dignities
his grandmother Maacah ... [who] had fashioned an obscene
idol connected with the cult of the Phoenician fertility goddess
Ashtoreth.i"

He sent Temple treasure to Benhadad of Damascus, to persuade
60
him to invade Israel and thus relieve the pressure onJudah. His son
Jehoshaphat (870-848 B.C.) continued Asa's reforms and destroyed
many of the local hill-shrines.'"

3. Jehoram toAhae; (848-716 B.c.)
This period, covering the reign of eight kings, saw a return to
idolatry and moral degeneracy. Jehoram (848-840 B.C.) constructed
high places in the mountains ofJudah and compelled the inhabitants
ofJerusalem to commit fornication." while his son Ahaziah intro-
duced Baal as one of the gods ofJudah.63 Similarly, Amaziah (796-
781 B.C.) set up the gods of Seir as his own gods, prostrating before
them." His successor Uzziah put much effort into developing the
kingdomj" but with Ahaz (736-716 B.c.)Judah declined rapidly.
Ahaz "indulged in pagan cults and revived the primitive custom of
child sacrifices,"66 going so far as to sacrifice his own son as a means
of invoking Yahweh's favour.'? Eventually, as a token of his sub-
mission to Assyrian rule, he was compelled to replace the worship
of Yahweh in Solomon's Temple with that of Assyrian deities."

59 Jll!ho's Jll!ho, i:56.
60 Dictionary if the Bible, pp. 59-60.
61 Jll!ho's Jll!ho, i:193.
62 KJv, 2 Ch 21:11(seealso21:13). In the CEVhowever the reference to fornication
is omitted. See this work pp. 292-3.
63 Dictionary if the Bible, p. 17.
64 2 Chronicles 25:14.
65 Jll!ho's Who, i:377-8; Dictionary if the Bible, p. 1021.
66 Who's Who, i:44.
67 Dictionary if the Bible, p. 16.
68 ibid, p. 16.