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.
the Babylonian cultic policy towards the gods of Assyria. The main source we have is the Babylonian chronicle series, and although the chronicles appear objective, in reality their pro-Babylonian bias is revealed throughout their text37. Even if the Babylonians destroyed Assyrian cult statues, the author would avoid mentioning it in his work.
It is well known that an earlier Mesopotamian cult statue that has been lost could be fashioned only on the basis of some model of the lost one. T.G. Lee demonstrated that Nabonidus reconstructed the lost statue of Sin of Harran by the image that was engraved on Ashurbanipals cylinder seal, which he dedicated to the god Sin38. This may indicate that Assyrian statues were indeed destroyed during the Babylonian conquest. The scope of destruction of cult statues is unknown, but the fact that the kings of Babylonia never mentioned the fate of captured Assyrian statues may indicate that the author of Account B2 referred to events that happened not long before his time.
The Date and Place of Accounts B1 and B2
An analysis of the place names mentioned in Account B2 indicates that its author knew some details of the Babylonian campaigns to northern Mesopotamia and Syria in the years 612-605 BCE. Moreover, he had specific knowledge of certain places in eastern Babylonia, such as the settlement of the Edenites in Telassar-Til Auri and the sites of Lah~iru and Hena. The attachment of Ivvah and Sepharvaim the origin of the settlers in the province of Samerina to Lah~iru and Hena may suggest that he was aware of their location in eastern Babylonia. We may safely assume that the author of Account B2 lived in eastern Babylonia, where some other deportees from the places he mentioned lived, and they must have been his sources for the Babylonian campaigns to northern Mesopotamia.
Noteworthy also is the reference to the gods of the nations whom my ancestors destroyed (s$ih9a4tu= ) (v. 12). Ostensibly, the author is referring to Sennacheribs predecessors, the kings of Assyria. Assuming that, in reality, the text refers to the kings of Babylonia who conquered these places, the term my ancestors indicates that Account B2 was written after the time of Nabopolassar and Nebuchadrezzar, i.e., after 562 BCE. We may conclude that the author of the second prophetic story was a descendant of a Judean deportee living in Babylonia. He must have written his story after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, either in the time of the late Babylonian Empire or in the early Persian period. A date after the sixth century BCE is unlikely, since the author would then have drawn the historical episodes from more recent events, and the details of the Babylonian conquests in the late seventh century BCE would not have been kept in memory so accurately.
The author of Account B2 expanded and elaborated the early story of Sennacheribs campaign and the miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem (2 Kgs 18,13-19,9a.36-37) in according with his experience in the new place and the message he was trying to convey to his audience, the Judean deportees in