Anderson, Poul. "In the House of Sorrows" [vt "House of Sorrows"]
Divergence: 701 BCE
What if: Jerusalem fell to the Sennacherib's siege, and the Diaspora occurred before Christianity could get started.
Summary: Adventures of a courier from North Markland (America) 2000 years laer in a Palestine in which there are too many competing religions to count.
Published: In What Might Have Been? Volume 1: Alternate Empires (eds. Gregory Benford and Martin H. Greenberg), q.v.; and All One Universe, Tor 1996 (0312858736BUY), 1997 (0812539095BUY).