CU4-7


 * 4:7 Hezekiah and the Beginnings of Monotheism **
 * Goal ** The students will learn about the stories of Hezekiah’s reforms, with an emphasis on the how monotheism along with priestly sacrifices in a centralized Temple served his economic and political needs.
 *  1. **** Gain the attention of the learner **Post pictures of the various deities worshiped in the Ancient Near East during this period.
 *  2. **** Relevant past learning ** Identify period and locations to be studied on the timeline. Ask students to share what they know about the worship of a god: What god? How? Why?
 *  3. **** Present new material ** Relate what historians and archeologists know about the worship of multiple gods, including YHWH, Baal, Ashstarte, Elohim (the plural form of “god”), in multiple locations (high places), in both Israel and Judah and about the idea, expressed by people like Elijah, Amos, and Hosea, that YHWH should be worshiped to the exclusion of all other gods. Discuss how this idea and its associated practices served Hezekiah’s economic and political needs over those of the internal regional power centers and how he used the destruction of Israel to justify his reforms. (See pp. 246-250 in “The Bible Unearthed.”)
 *  4. **** Provide for guided practice ** Look down and list on board shoe each student is wearing. Why did they purchase these shoes? What guided their preference? Where do these beliefs come from? (Ask students to discuss the importance of being accepted and modifying beliefs to be accepted by the group. Or selecting a particular brand of endorsed athletic shoes because they want to be more like the endorsing person. Or they want to please their parents. Teacher should guide the students towards realizing what are the strong influences on their beliefs.)
 *  5. ****<span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> Provide for independent practice **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">As described in 3 above, Hezekiah forced all Jewish males to travel three times a year to Jerusalem to present to the priests produce and goods for sin offerings, etc. Students are to list beliefs that were forced upon them, that they have in order to be accepted, and that are based on their own judgments.
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> 6. Close the lesson **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> Come together, share lists, discuss how different these different categories of belief really are. Believers in YHWH as a single god needed a way to reconcile that belief with the bad occurrences. Ask students to figure out how someone who believed in a god would explain terrible events. Come together and share the ideas. Explain to the students how the biblical prophets reconciled belief in YHWH with the destruction of Israel. End by relating the stories that are told about Hezekiah’s religious reforms. (See pp. 249-250 in “The Bible Unearthed.”)During Hezekiah’s time, new material was written to support priestly rule, centralized worship, sacrifices only at the Temple. Where does belief come from?