Rare cultic stone from Israelite mansion may testify to King Hezekiah’s biblical reform

A massive cultic stone found in an Israelite mansion destroyed by the Assyrians in the late 8th century BCE might offer additional evidence for the historicity of a religious reform carried out by biblical King Hezekiah to centralize Jewish cult in the Temple of Jerusalem a few years earlier, a new study has suggested.

According to the paper’s author, Bar-Ilan University Prof. Avraham Faust, the stone might have been taken down when Hezekiah curbed local devotional practices, as narrated in the Bible.

Published in the 2026 issue of the Hebrew University’s peer-reviewed Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology, the study focuses on a massive artifact measuring approximately 1.4 meters (4.6 feet) in height and weighing about 750 kilograms (1,650 pounds), unearthed at Tel ‘Eton in the southeastern part of Israel’s Judean Shephalah (lowlands), a little over 20 miles southeast of Ashkelon. The stone was found divided into two segments, presenting matching indentations.

Known in Hebrew as a “massebah,” or standing stone in English, this type of monument was prevalent in Near Eastern cults at the time, Faust told The Times of Israel during a video interview.

“Standing stones were a common religious feature in the ancient Middle East and beyond from prehistory to a much later period, and are attested in both archaeological finds and written sources, including in the Bible,” Faust said.

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“People used large stones as a symbol,” he added. “Their exact meaning is debated, but all scholars agree that they were used in religious contexts.”

This particular artifact was especially imposing and was found incorporated into a platform in the largest room of a typical Israelite “four-room house,” suggesting that by the time the building was destroyed, someone had taken the stone down and repurposed it.

“Four-room house” refers to a structure divided into four spaces, sometimes further subdivided into smaller rooms, which marked a very common setup during the Iron Age (1200-586 BCE), when most of the biblical narratives are said to have taken place.

According to radiocarbon analysis, the Tel ‘Eton building was erected in the late 11th or early 10th centuries BCE, and went through different phases and transformations until the Assyrians conquered Israel and destroyed the town and the luxurious house, with a blaze that engulfed the building and left many of the objects inside intact.

The stone was discovered in the largest room of the house, also known as 101B, with a cooking pot on top, and was completely excavated throughout the last two seasons of work at the site in 2014-2015.

“We did not immediately understand what we had found,” Faust recalled. “At the beginning, we thought the stone layer was part of the collapse of a wall, and that the large stone was part of it. We removed all the other stones, but the large one was far too heavy. We initially considered breaking it into pieces to remove it more easily, but after beginning the process, we decided against it. Only later, we understood that it must have been a massebah.”

Faust explained that the interpretation of the stone as a massebah is pretty clear from its shape and size, including the fact that it was roughly hewn to give it that particular form.

According to the archaeologist, it was clear that the stone was not lying down as a result of the building’s destruction, but that its inhabitants had incorporated it into the platform earlier. They are not sure how much earlier, but Faust does not think it was before the 8th century BCE.

A God-fearing reform?

Faust said that the stone might have been taken down as a result of a religious reform.

“Most scholars consider and debate two main reforms that led to religious changes during the Iron Age, Hezekiah’s and King Josiah’s,” Faust said. “Since Josiah’s reform is thought to have happened later in the 7th century, it is not really relevant, but Hezekiah is believed to have reigned in the 8th century, so it could fit.”

Hezekiah is described in the Bible as a pious king beloved by God, but only a few verses refer to his efforts to curb unauthorized cult sites outside Jerusalem. A passage explicitly refers to the destruction of massebahs.

“[Hezekiah] did what was pleasing to God, just as his forefather David had done. He abolished the shrines and smashed the pillars (massebahs) and cut down the sacred post,” reads a passage in II Kings (18:3,4, translation by JPS).

Many biblical scholars believe that the verses do not reflect a historical event but were added later than the rest of the narrative. Others believe they echoed real historical vicissitudes.

According to Faust, one reason for the skepticism is that archaeologists have identified only a limited number of temples and shrines outside Jerusalem that were destroyed or stopped functioning during the relevant period. They include cultic structures found at Lachish, Arad and Beersheva.

If cult was also practiced locally within individual households and those settings were affected by Hezekiah’s reform as well, this would open further avenues for research into its historicity.

“The debate has focused on public buildings devoted to cultic activity, but we have very few such buildings from Judah, and even considering additional evidence for public cult, we are left with evidence from three or four sites,” Faust said. “Their interpretation is debated. For some scholars, they are enough to prove the reform; for others, they are not. But if we look carefully at domestic architecture, we might find additional evidence.”

The context in which the massebah was found at Tel ‘Eton also suggests it was important: it was placed in the largest room of the house and, when the door was open, would have been visible from the outside.

The fact that the stone was carefully reused rather than smashed might also be a sign that the house’s residents still tried to treat it with respect.

No other artifact from the earlier phase was found, while the archaeologists identified several objects from the time the building was destroyed, including the cooking pot that stood on the platform and a footbath.

In a previous study devoted to the room, Faust argued that, on the eve of its demise, the room was inhabited by the patriarch and matriarch of a multigenerational family he believed lived in the house when the Assyrians destroyed it, likely during the military campaign waged against the region in 712 BCE.

The archaeologists found some chunks of burned wood under the platform that incorporated the stone, which could be connected to cultic practice. However, the attempt to send them for scientific analysis to determine the type of wood the remains are made of and to find more information yielded no results.

“Sometimes this kind of sample gets deteriorated during the sampling, and the test fails,” Faust said. “Probably the analysis won’t tell us more than what we know, but you never know.”

The archaeologist said he was not sure whether, when the stone was still standing, the room was used solely as a place of cult or had other purposes.

“Contrary to its last phase, we do not have anything that tells us about the daily life there when the stone stood, but I think it’s more likely that the room was also used for other purposes,” he said.