Nadav Na'aman, «New Light on Hezekiah's Second Prophetic Story (2 Kgs 19,9b-35)», Vol. 81 (2000) 393-402
The article re-examines some elements in Account B2 (2 Kgs 19,9b-35) in an effort to shed more light on the date and place in which the story was composed. It is suggested that the list of cities mentioned in vv. 12-13 reflects the conquests of Nabopolassar and Nebuchadrezzar in the late seventh century BCE. It is also suggested that vv. 17-18 may reflect the Babylonian practice of destroying cult statues during their conquest of Assyria. The author of Account B2 was probably a descendant of a Judean deportee who lived in eastern Babylonia in the second half of the sixth century BCE. It is further suggested that the Deuteronomist combined chronistic and narrative early texts (Accounts A and B1) and integrated them into his composition of the history of Israel.
According to the inscriptions of Nabonidus (556-539), the city of Harran suffered heavy damage and declined for many years, until he restored it to its former glory. The temple of Sin was plundered during the Babylonian conquest and the city was partly destroyed because of its prominent place in the late Assyrian Empire. The words did the gods of the nations save them whom my ancestors destroyed in 2 Kgs 19,12 may allude to the destruction of Harran and the despoliation of its temples by the Babylonians24.
(b) After the conquest of Nineveh in 612 BCE, the Babylonian troops advanced westward, conquered Nas[ibin and brought a heavy booty and exiles [from the lands of GN] and Rus[apu25. Rus[apu-Ras[appa is located in the Sindjar plain of Upper Mesopotamia and was the capital of an Assyrian province26. Its identification with biblical Rezeph (res9ep) is self-evident.
(c) In the following year (611) Nabopolassar marched against the city of Ruggulitu, captured it and killed its inhabitants27. Ruggulitu is mentioned in the annals of Shalmaneser III as an important city of the kingdom of B|4t Adini, which he captured and annexed to Assyria (856 BCE)28. In 611 BCE, about 250 years later, it was conquered and annexed by the Babylonians.
In the following years Nabopolassar conquered all the Assyrian territories up to the Euphrates, so that in 607 he was able to cross the Euphrates and conquer the city of Kimuh~u (modern Samsat)29.
We may conclude that Nabopolassar conquered the cities of Gozan, Harran, Ras[appa and the land of B|4t Adini in the course of his conquest of Upper Mesopotamian in the years 612-610 BCE. Captives were taken from the conquered areas and settled in Babylonia. Among them were probably the Edenites, whom the Babylonians settled at Telassar-Til Auri.
(d) Til Auri is located on the Diyala River, near the border between Babylonia and Media30. Shilh~azi, a place near Til Assuri, is called by Tiglath-pileser III fortress of the Babylonians, and was probably a Babylonian fort on the border with Media. Babylonians apparently lived in Til Auri in the time of Tiglath-pileser III and worshiped Marduk, their national god, in the local temple. When the Babylonians regained their territories, they established their border with Media along the same line. Deportees from B|4t Adini were probably brought to this place, which must have been the central