Wpływ imperialnej Asyrii na religię Judy

Abstract

The Deuteronomist’s narrative raises the issue of foreign interference in Judah’s cult during the reigns of Ahaz and Manasses. Of Ahaz it is said that he was the first king of Judah who “made his son pass through fire” (2 Kgs 16,3). Moreover, he had an altar built in Jerusalem after “the fashion of the altar that was in Damascus” (16,10-16). Manasseh’s many activities in the cultic sphere included introducing the worship of the host of heaven and the setting up of “the graven image of asherah which he had made in the house of the Lord” (21,7). Accepted teaching in most histories and textbooks of ancient Israel took these introductions for elements of the Assyrian state religion. In addition, many scholars have suggested that they were imposed on Judah by Assyria. The author of this paper believes that there is no evidence of Assyrian imposition upon or interference with Judah’s cult. The foreign innovations reported of the reigns of Ahaz and Manasseh should be rather seen as the voluntary adoption by Judah’s ruling class of the prevailing Assyro-Aramaean culture.