Temple Renovation in Neo-Assyrian Records and the Book of Kings

This chapter examines Neo-Assyrian accounts of temple renovations, especially those of Esarhaddon, and then turns to comparable examples from the DH, namely, the renovations undertaken by Jehoash (2 Kgs 12:5–17), Ahaz (2 Kgs 16:10–18), and finally Josiah (2 Kgs 22–23). Both sets of temple renovation texts employ a similar rhetoric of discontinuity by which Esarhaddon and Josiah use their recent predecessors as foils for their rebuilding efforts. At the same time, both kings employ a rhetoric of continuity to associate their reign with older and more illustrious past traditions.