In the 8th century B.C.E., Egypt’s Nubian (Cushite) rulers pledged support to Hezekiah’s rebellion against Assyria—but ultimately failed to deliver. Miriam’s complaint about Moses’ Cushite wife serves as a political allegory, cautioning against reliance on Egypt’s unreliable alliance.
Moses and Horus are hidden in thickets on the Nile by their mothers; Sargon is placed in a wicker basket and cast away on the Euphrates by his. Yet each survives to become a ruler of their people. The Akkadian legend tells of Sargon of Akkad, 3rd millennium B.C.E., but it serves as an allegory for Sargon II the 8th-century king of Assyria. Similarly, Exodus narrates the story of Moses, who freed Israel from Egypt, but serves as an allegory for King Hezekiah of Judah 8th century B.C.E., who struggled to navigate between Egypt and Assyria.
Hezekiah’s centralizing worship in Jerusalem, one altar for one God, failed in part because it created a spiritual vacuum for the average Judahite villager living far from the capital. Less than a century later, Deuteronomy revives the law, adding new provisions—a stipend for unemployed Levites, permission to slaughter animals outside the sacred precinct, and a requirement to make pilgrimage to the holy site three times a year—to address the law’s challenges.
2 Kings 18:4 describes Hezekiah as having abolished the bamot, worship sites outside Jerusalem. Archaeologists have discovered decommissioned temples and altars from this period in Lachish, Beersheba, and Arad. What do these findings really tell us?
Upon purifying the Temple in his first year as king, Hezekiah delays the celebration of Passover until the 14th of Iyar, the date of the Torah’s Pesach Sheni, “Second Passover.” A close examination of the story (2 Chr 29–30) demonstrates that this wasn’t a simple application of the Pesach Sheni law, but that Hezekiah was innovating in order to create unity between the northern Israelites and southern Judahites.
Deuteronomy commands centralizing worship of YHWH at the Temple once peace is obtained. When was this supposed to occur according to the Deuteronomic History, and when did it happen historically?
The Torah describes Moses building a copper serpent to heal the Israelites. According to Kings, Hezekiah destroys it because it was being worshiped. Archaeology and history clarify the religious and political meaning of this image.
Several biblical and non-biblical texts describe encounters with flying venomous snakes in the Sinai and Arabian deserts. Egyptian iconography helps clarify what is being pictured.