Hezekiah and the Dialogue of Memory

<p>Hezekiah is a critical figure in the Hebrew Bible which credits him with major political social and religious reforms in Judahs history and the weathering of a major crisis in the invasion of the Assyrians under their emperor Sennacherib. Examining the different accounts of Hezekiahs reign in 2 Kings 2 Chronicles and Isaiah Song-Mi Suzie Park describes a Hezekiah complex that developed over a long time in which the figure of Hezekiah served as a symbol for the vicissitudes of Judahs history. The king could be understood as a positive reformer of the pagan ways of the country or as a sinner at least partly responsible for the threats and disasters that befell Judah from Sennacheribs invasion through the Babylonian exile more than a century later. By showing how the stories about Hezekiah developed over time through a process of response and counterresponse forming at the end a dialogue of memory Park elucidates the ways in which biblical stories in general function as loci of continual dialogue dispute and discussion.</p>