Hello, I'm Gary Stevens, and welcome to the History in the Bible podcast.

All the history, in all the books, in all the Bibles.

Thank you. Episode 1.53 Evil King Manassar and the Reformation of Josiah.

In episode 1.51 of the history in the Bible,

we left Hezekiah's kingdom of Judah, reeling from an Assyrian invasion.

According to the Book of Kings, the city of Jerusalem was spared assault after God smote the Assyrians in the way that God does.

The downside was that Sinagarub of Assyria

had wreaked a swath of destruction through the countryside.

Hezekiah's son Manasa, Menasha, followed him on the throne

in 698 BC at the age of 12.

He reigned, for 55 years, the longest reign in Hebrew history.

If our chronology is right, he was born in his father's 42nd year, which seems rather

late for a king to have an only heir. Perhaps the Assyrians pressured his father to bypass older sons.

Perhaps he was the only surviving son. Perhaps he was even Hezekiah's grandson.

The youthful Manassar inherited a reduced and war-torn Judean state. Assyrian documents call him the king of the

city of Judah, implying that he ruled over little more than Jerusalem, at least for part of his reign.

During his long time on the throne, Manasa was a dutiful vassal of Assyria.

He had no choice.

Throughout the period, Assyria campaigned again and again in the Levant.

Assyrian troops and outposts were stationed throughout the entire area, policing their vassals and the Mediterranean maritime trade.

Egypt had supported Levantine revolts against the Assyrians for decades,

smugly confident that they could stick pins into that most belligerent of nations,

...