King Manasseh and Child Sacrifice: Biblical Distortions of Historical Realities

Description

The Hebrew Bible portrays King Manasseh and child sacrifice as the most reprehensible person and the most objectionable practice within the story of 'Israel'. This monograph suggests that historically, neither were as deviant as the Hebrew Bible appears to insist. Through careful historical reconstruction, it is argued that Manasseh was one of Judah's most successful monarchs, and child sacrifice played a central role in ancient Judahite religious practice. The biblical writers, motivated by ideological concerns, have thus deliberately distorted the truth about Manasseh and child sacrifice. Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction Chapter 1: The Biblical Manasseh 1.1 The Manasseh of Kings 1.2 The Manasseh of Chronicles 1.3 The Scapegoating of Manasseh 1.4 Anti-Manasseh Polemic in the Hebrew Bible Chapter 2: The Historical Manasseh 2.1 The Separateness of Judah and Israel 2.2 The Fall of Samaria and the Non-Fall of Jerusalem 2.3 King Manasseh of Judah Chapter 3 : The Distortion of Manasseh 3.1 Afterlives of Manasseh 3.2 Distorting Manasseh Chapter 4: The Biblical Portrayal of Child Sacrifice 4.1 Child Sacrifice as a Foreign Practice 4.2 Child Sacrifice as a YHWH-Practice Chapter 5: The Historical Reality of Child Sacrifice 5.1 Mlk as an Ancient Near Eastern God of Child Sacrifice 5.2 Mlk as a Sacrificial Rite in the Phoenician and Punic Worlds 5.3 Mōlek as a Sacrificial Term in the Hebrew Bible 5.4 Child Sacrifice in the Deir ‘Alla Texts 5.5 Šadday as a God of Child Sacrifice 5.6 Child Sacrifice in Judah Chapter 6: The Distortion of Child Sacrifice 6.1 Afterlives of Child Sacrifice 6.2 Distorting Child Sacrifice Conclusions Bibliography Indexes Biblical Texts Non-Biblical Texts Authors Subjects