Sennacherib’s claim that Hezekiah had removed the Lord’s altars and high places is cited in full from II Kings 18.22 but contains one further emphasis. In place of ‘you shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’ the Chronicler reads ‘before one altar’ (LXX, however, here displays the reading of II Kings 18.22). The significance of this statement for the history of the Israelite cult has been pointed out repeatedly; notwithstanding its actual source, it proves that the movement for the centralization of the cult was initiated by Hezekiah, and it is only the Deuteronomist’s preference for
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