A History of Israel, 3rd ed.

Top Highlights

“Josiah both launched a sweeping reform and moved to take possession of appreciable portions of northern Israel.” (source)

“Hezekiah died the following year (687/6). His son Manasseh gave up the rebellion and made peace.” (source)

“The Hebrews were in fact late-comers on history’s stage. All across the Bible lands, cultures had come to birth, assumed classical form, and run their course for hundreds and even thousands of years before Abraham was born. Difficult as it is for us to realize, it is actually farther in time from the beginnings of civilization in the Near East to the age of Israel’s origins than it is from that latter age to our own!” (source)

“The tribal system was broken; the effective basis of social obligation was no longer Yahweh’s covenant, but the state. And this meant inevitably that in daily affairs covenant law lost much of its relevance.” (source)

“The reign of Ahaz was remembered by later generations as one of the worst periods of apostasy that Judah had ever known.” (source)