Israeli archaeologists

Israeli Archaeologists: King Hezekiah Really Did Destroy Idols [Excerpts]

A new archaeological discovery in Israel revealed that the biblical King Hezekiah really did destroy pagan idols, consistent with the Bible’s account.

[It is reported] that excavations in the Tel Lachish National Park in central Israel revealed a “gate-shrine,” dated to the period of the First Temple, about the eighth century B.C. "The size of the gate is consistent with the historical and archaeological knowledge we possess, whereby Lachish was a major city and the most important one after Jerusalem," said excavation director Sa'ar Ganor.

The Bible contains accounts of King Hezekiah tearing down idols and desecrating the pagan temple, as well as fighting against Sennacherib, the Assyrian king.

2 Kings:18:4He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
See All... says that King Hezekiah “removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles.” The Bible says this took place at the city gates, and true to the biblical account, archaeologists found evidence of destruction of pagan artifacts near the city “gate-shrine.”

Included in the discovery were horns on the pagan altar which had been “intentionally truncated.”

"That is probably evidence of the religious reform attributed to King Hezekiah, whereby religious worship was centralized in Jerusalem and the cultic high places that were built outside the capital were destroyed," Ganor said.

The site is still undergoing excavation and is being prepared for visitors.

(Neffinger, “Israeli Archaeologists: King Hezekiah Really Did Destroy Idols,“ ChristianHeadlines Online, September 28, 2016).