Page 243 - History of The Quranic Text | Kalamullah.Com

EARLY HISTORY OF JUDAISM: A BRIEF LOOK 223

4. He;:;ekiah (716-687 B.C.)
Succeeding his father Ahaz at the age of 25, he proved himself to
be one ofJudah's most prominent rulers and carried out the following
reforms:
He destroyed the brazen serpent that Moses had made, which
had been an object of worship in the Temple."
He cleansed the country sanctuaries from idolatry and cut
down the groves used for pagan rituals of promiscuity.70

5. Manasseh to Amon (687-640 B.C.)
Manasseh (687-642 B.C.) reacted against his father's reforms by re-
instating the altars which Hezekiah had abolished, establishing new
altars for Baal and worshipping the host of heavens and serving
them. His son Amon continued these practices."

6. Josiah (640-609 B.C.): the 'Torah miraculously rediscovered
Succeeded his father at the age of eight. In his eighteenth year as
king, the high priest Hilkia showed Shapham, the royal scribe, a
'Book of the Law' which he had unearthed in the Temple during its
renovation. It was read toJosiah and he became greatly agitated at
how the religious practices of his time had gone astray," calling a
public assembly in the Temple and reading the entire Book to all
those present before settingout on a programme of sweepingreforms.

The Temple was purged of all heathen altars and cult objects,
particularly those belonging to the Assyrian worship of the sun,
the moon and the stars... The practice of child sacrifice ... was
stopped 'that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an
offering to Molech.' [2 kg 23:lO] The idolatrous priests were
killed, the pagan house of male prostitutes was pulled down,
and the local shrines outside Jerusalem were destroyed and
defiled by burning human bones on them.P

7. Jehoaha;:; to Zedekiah (609-587 B.C.)
During this turbulent periodJudah faced mounting pressure, first
from the Egyptians and then the Babylonians. The latter were led
by King Nebuchadnezzar, who tookJudah's royal household captive

69 2 Kg 18:4.
70 Dictionary if the Bible, p. 382; Who:r Mo, i:152; 2 Kings 23:14.
71 Dictionary if the Bible, p. 616; Who:r Mo, i:50.
72 JiVlIO'S JiVho, i:243
73 ibid, i:243.