They Found a Holy Shitter in Israel?

[Minimalist]

The wonders of archaeology.

https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/dail...=ZE7ANMZ00

Ancient Latrine: A Peek into King Hezekiah’s Reforms in the Bible?

A millennia-old latrine discovered at Tel Lachish in Israel might reveal some interesting insights into Biblical history. According to Sa’ar Ganor and Igor Kreimerman, who conducted the excavations on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), the latrine could be evidence of King Hezekiah’s religious reforms enacted throughout the Kingdom of Judah in the eighth century B.C.E.

[vorlon13]

wonder if the king there had rectal bleeding

(tee hee)

[Minimalist]

He did after the Assyrians got through with him.

[vorlon13]

{make note: find Assyrian}

[brewer]

What the hell were the reforms? Chew your food properly?

[Minimalist]

Great question. 

In his book, "Did God Have A Wife" archaeologist William Dever discusses the role of folk-religion in ancient Canaan.  The first thing you have to do is wipe all of this OT bullshit out of your mind.  That story was cobbled together much later to give a very insignificant region some sort of "history."

Judah, the Southern Kingdom, ( and we don't know if they called it that or not - they were not big writers ) was little more than an arid region of goat and sheep herders with an estimated total population of about 20,000.  These conditions did not materially change until late in the 8th century BC when the Assyrians took out the Northern Kingdom ( which we call "Israel" but which they may have called Bit Humri (House of Umri) with Umri being the founder.  After the Assyrian attack it is theorized that waves of refugees from the areas which Assyria attacked fled to Judah.  Judah had remained a loyal vassal of the Assyrians.  Based on building activities traced to the late 8th century archaeologists have tracked the explosive growth of Judah at this time.  In fact, Jerusalem grew from a shithole of perhaps 500-1000 people to nearly 10,000 which is about the extent that could have ever lived there due to the available water resources in short order.  We have extra-biblical attestation for Hezekiah as king of Judah at this time.

Dever's evaluation of the artifacts found and a handful of inscriptions and the fact that all of the ANE was moving from polytheistic to a henotheistic model at the time is that Hezekiah was trying to centralize the folk religion of the countryside into a state cult similar to what was going on in other more advanced states at the time.

The bible thumpers will lose their shit over stuff like this but, fuck 'em.  Got no time for those assholes.

[brewer]

OK. But what does this directly or indirectly have to do with one dunny and religious reforms?

Unless we're discussing holy shit.

[Pat Mustard]

{make note:  find Assyrian}

Ask Donny Jnr. His real father was one, his half brother rules them*.


*In case anybody forgets, I posited a few months ago that Hafez alAssad fathered Donnie Jnr.

[Minimalist]

OK. But what does this directly or indirectly have to do with one dunny and religious reforms?

Unless we're discussing holy shit.

YOu asked what his "reforms" might have been.  Establishing central control under priests located in the capital might not seem like a "reform" to us but it seems as if Hezekiah thought it was.

It was about suppressing other cults in the nation.

[Brian37]

What was it a couple months ago archaeologists found the outhouse of Paul Revere?