Josephus’ Depiction of Hezekiah in the Antiquities

Louis Feldman has argued that Josephus’ portrayal of Hezekiah in the Jewish Antiquities is ambivalent. On the one hand, Josephus calls Hezekiah good, just, and pious (9.260). However, he also attributes Hezekiah’s failure to personally meet with Sennacherib’s envoys to the former’s δειλία. He fails to ascribe certain virtues to Hezekiah that he often ascribes to other biblical heroes, such as wisdom or courage, and he omits Hezekiah’s strategic military preparations to meet Sennacherib as related in 2 Chr 32:3–8. This raises the question of incongruity between Josephus’ presentation of Hezekiah in the Antiquities and his earlier positive depiction of the Judean king in his speech in B.J. 5.376–419. I argue, contra Feldman, that Josephus is overtly positive in his presentation of Hezekiah in the Antiquities. In fact, Josephus presents him as exemplifying the ideal response to an attack on Judea by a foreign foe.