b. The outer defense walls of Jerusalem were strengthened and troops stationed in various Judaean fortresses (v. 14).7 These passages from Chronicles make it all the more evident that the Deuteronomistic historian focused solely upon one element, that of Manasseh’s cultic offenses, which in his view determined Judah’s future and which were expressly the object of Josiah’s reform. 3. What was the nature of Manasseh’s cultic innovations, so negative as to be regarded as the cause of Judah’s downfall?