Assyrians take Jerusalem

in 701BCE the Assyrians laid seige to Jerusalem. the city held out and the siege was lifted after the Assyrians became sick from drinking bad water, but what if the city had fallen and it's inhabitants slautered or enslaved. would that have been the end of monotheism? how would such a world develope?
 
I'm not sure it would have done much to change the trajectory of Judaism or monotheism, really. The survivors of Judah would have been carted off to Nineveh, where, faced with the need to stay together as a nation in exile, they would have codified the tenets of their religion a century earlier than OTL (under Josiah and then in Babylon). Hell, considering that Samaria-Israel had only been eradicated a decade earlier they'd probably come back into contact with the "Ten Lost Tribes" and strengthened Judaism as a whole.

Under this new Judaism Hezekiah would likely be seen as the OTL of Josiah (as a reformer who came too late to save his country), and King Ahab of Israel would have been seen as even worse than historically, and the cause of God's wrath against the Israelites+Judaeans.

Might even see the Babylonians playing the role of the Persians in this timeline, seeing as the Israelites would no doubt be rather grateful for being allowed back into their native land.
 
you make some very good points. I don't know much about the history of Judaism so had assumed that if Jerusalem fell early Before monoteism had time to realy take hold then perhaps it would be absorbed into the Asyrian Panthion and thus no rise of Monothyism
 
I'm not sure it would have done much to change the trajectory of Judaism or monotheism, really. The survivors of Judah would have been carted off to Nineveh, where, faced with the need to stay together as a nation in exile, they would have codified the tenets of their religion a century earlier than OTL (under Josiah and then in Babylon). Hell, considering that Samaria-Israel had only been eradicated a decade earlier they'd probably come back into contact with the "Ten Lost Tribes" and strengthened Judaism as a whole.

Under this new Judaism Hezekiah would likely be seen as the OTL of Josiah (as a reformer who came too late to save his country), and King Ahab of Israel would have been seen as even worse than historically, and the cause of God's wrath against the Israelites+Judaeans.

Might even see the Babylonians playing the role of the Persians in this timeline, seeing as the Israelites would no doubt be rather grateful for being allowed back into their native land.
The thing is, that the Persians conquered Babylon, 'proving' divine intervention to the Jews, and returning their leadership to Israel. That is a VERY strange coincidence. In particular, returning the conquered leadership of lands is a very rare behaviour and would be very unlikely iTTL.

No, I think Judaism, as we know it, is wiped out. Only the remnants left behind keep up their faith (very like OTL's Samaritans - but they won't have any written scripture to keep them going). Note that the Samaritans use the Pentateuch - which was only compiled in its final form after the 'Babylonian Captivity'. Which implies, I think, that they didn't have any kind of definitive writings of their own, or they would have used them. So, iTTL, that body of writing won't exist, which suggests the *Samaritans wouldn't have written scriptures. Which is a real problem for propagating your faith.

I think said version of Judaism dies out before what iOTL would be 1AD.
 
The thing is, that the Persians conquered Babylon, 'proving' divine intervention to the Jews, and returning their leadership to Israel. That is a VERY strange coincidence. In particular, returning the conquered leadership of lands is a very rare behaviour and would be very unlikely iTTL.

No, not really. The Persians were doing a classic conqueror move, making nice with some of the people the previous empire had been oppressing.
 
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