What were the causes of instability in the Kingdom of Judah under the
Babylonian Rule?
Jehoiakim became ruler of the Kingdom of Judah in 609 BCE, appointed by
the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho and ruled as his vassal. Necho however was
soundly defeated near the Euphrates by Nebuchadnezzar in 605 BCE who
subsequently moved south, conquering all of the Egyptian empires territories
along the Mediterranean coast including the Kingdom of Judah.
Nebuchadnezzar left Jehoiakim as the vassal King of Judah as part of his new
Babylonian empire and this was a major cause of instability in subsequent
years.
2 Kings 24:1-6 tells the story of Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest of Judah and how
three years later Jehoiakim revolted. Jeremiah 36:9-29 repeats the story and
includes a narrative of how Jehoiakim burnt a scroll of Jeriamiah which caused
further unrest. The scroll contained words from God and had caused great fear
among the people as to the fate that would happen to Jerusalem given the
Jehoiakim had revolted.
When he conquered Judah and the other surrounding territories,
Nebuchadnezzar left in place the existing arrangements formulated during the
Assyrian and Egyptian rule and conducted a policy of minimal intervention. He
did not follow the Assyrian tradition of two-way deportation of populations. This
was probably a signal the Jehoiakim interpreted as allowing his revolt to be
successful. Jehoiakim probably also anticipated that the Egyptians would be
powerful enough to help him, given that they had repelled Nebuchadnezzar’s
invasion of Egypt at this time but 2 Kings 24:7 states that the Egyptians chose
to stay in Egypt instead.
The Babylonian Chronicles details that Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to
Jerusalem in response to the revolt as he moved northwards and once
conquering the city sent its king to Babylon as captive. 2 Kings 24:12-17 states
that the Jehoiakim and his family along with 10,000 of Judah’s elite were sent
into exile in Babylon as God willed it and the temple of Solomon and palace
were looted of gold. Nebuchadnezzar subsequently left Zedekiah as his new
vassal King of Judah.
How would you describe the continuity in Judah during the Babylonian
Period?
Against the advice of Jeremiah and others Zedekiah also revolted against the
Babylonians. This action is 2 Kings 24:20 and condemned in Ezekiel 17:15.
Nebuchadnezzar again besieged the Jerusalem and took the city eighteen
months later. This time he looted the palace and temple and then destroyed
them both. Those who had remained in the city after Jehoiakim’s revolt were
exiled. Zedekiah’s sons were executed and he and other elites including
Zedekiah, were sent to Babylon while the others were dispersed to the
countryside in the area of Mizpah. The prophet Jeremiah was to go to Babylon
but god instructed him instead to go with the others to Mizpah and attend to
them.
Essentially Judah was a divided culture during the Babylonian period after the
destruction of the temple. Its culture continued to exist in the countryside of
Judah and also in Babylon. The city of Jerusalem was largely empty during this
period. Those who had fled to the hills prior to the siege heard of the defeat
and returned to the Mizpah region which became a centre of agriculture which
paid tribute to the Babylonians. Archeological discoveries in Ramat Rahel
show that production of wine and olive oil were imprinted with stamps of the
Babylonian empire at this time.
The physical division of the people of Judah also created large ideological and
religious rifts. The exiles had to reconcile themselves with historical events that
lead to the destruction of the city and the temple. Preachers taught that the
destruction was God’s will and was punishment for turing away from him. In
Mizpah the people of the land had to develop new social orders and this
created a new social mobility where many gained. Ezekiel 11: 15-21 shows
that the exiles saw themselves as the true faithful and that God was still
protecting them in exile. Ezekiel 33: 23-29 condemns those still living in Judah
for being developing new lines of faith.
From the Babylonian perspective the division of Judah into two distinct parts
was a strategic operation conducted on lines similar to other rebellious
territories. They saw the advantage of eliminating the Davidic lineage but did
not wish to fully destroy the culture as the land was an important buffer
between Babylonia itself and the still threatening presence of Egypt.
What were the main changes in Judah during the Persian Period?
The Babylonian empire was subsumed by the Persian empire and Cyrus the
Great became emperor. Cyrus model himself as a liberator of Babylon, having
himself invited into the city and offered the leadership following dissatisfaction
by the Babylonians of their previous emperor who had gone to the desert to
worship the moon god Sin, rather than the State god Marduke. This was
important for the Judean exiles because as a liberator Cyrus chose to let them
return to Judah in small groups. As liberator also decreed that the temple could
be restored and the city of Jerusalem rebuilt.
Judah was now a vassal kingdom of the Persian Empire. A key difference was
that it was no longer a frontier barrier against advancing Egyptian armies as it
had been under Nebuchadnezzar. The Persians had conquered Egypt and
pacified it.
Under the leadership of Cyrus the Persian Empire developed a level of
tolerance to it subject culture and the returning Judeans were allowed to
restore Jerusalem, rebuilding its walls and the temple. Ezra 1-6 details those
who return and the restoration work that occurred as well as the reuniting of
the two divisions of the Judean peoples.
The various sources of the Bible, Jeremiah, 2 Kings, Ezekiel, and Ezra differ in
how much of the city had been destroyed by the Babylonians and how much
restoration needed to occur. Archeological evidence differs again and there are
questions as to whether any destruction took place at all. What is cleat is that
the Persian period was a time of restoration of Judean life which rebuilt the
Jewish faith and also created the foundations to what would later become
Christianity.