Part 7: The Babylonian exile

For the 150 years that the Israelites were reduced to the Southern Kingdom, their neighboring superpowers of the Babylonians and Assyrians skirmished with each other. With the rise of Nebuchadnezzar II in 626 BCE, the balance of power began shifting to the Babylonians’ favor. In 605, he conquered Egypt, and in 598, the first Judeans began being deported to Babylonia. The governor at the time, Zedekiah, rebelled in 587, and the kingdom fell in 576. Zedekiah’s sons were killed, and he was blinded and also shipped away.

(Above right: The Middle East, c. 600 BC, showing the extent of the Neo-Babylonian empire).

Judea’s priests, scribes and land-holding elite was sent to Babylonia, and the 50 years they spent in exile there have been the subject of much academic debate. It used to be thought that the five books of the Torah were finalized during this time – an activity of intense scribal activity by an exile community desperate to cling onto their identity. But this is no longer believed to be the case.

While it appears the exiles were allowed to live in the same areas and maintain their worship practices in Babylonia, they would not have had access to the foundational texts these books based upon – they would be back in Judea. Further, the absence of any Babylonian descriptions of any kind of flourishing Judean community in their midst suggests that there wasn’t one – that they were small, subsistence and basically living under the radar.

The 43 years of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign were apparently quite spectacular. From Kuhrt Amelie:
Some of the splendour and wealth of Babylon and its court is echoed by the legendary anecdotes and romantic stories … the late second century book of Daniel being the best-known. But there are many more: the fabled hanging gardens were counted among the seven wonders of the world, and Babylon became a byword for luxury and cosmopolitan life. Nebuchadnezzar himself later counted as a world conqueror, reaching the frontiers of the known world. The immense wealth commanded by the Babylonian kings is reflected in their large-scale building projects, with their magnificent temples and towering ziggurats, now lying in sad ruins. The royal inscriptions describe in loving detail many more impressive royal constructions is which nothing has survived. The colourful embellishments and decorations in precious metals, too, have vanished. Some evidence for the manufacture of perform, oil and purple dye for textiles and fine wines on royal estates in Judah has been teased out.

The extensive cuneiform records reveal a great deal about Babylonian life and social structure, and significant among them is the evidence that the citizen body was an exclusive group. Gaining membership into the body of privileged inhabitants was neither automatic nor easy – and the Judean exiles were most certainly not a part of this group.

It was at this juncture in Israelite history that the term “Jew” entered the lexicon. The term derives from the Aramaic yehuday, or Judean, which was meant to distinguish the expatriate Judean from those still residing in Judah. In one Babylonian ration list, a man named Ur-milki is designated a “Jew,” as are several others in vicinity on the list.

What percentage of the population was actually shipped to Babylonia is not known, nor are the exact regions of their settlement there. However, some evidence suggests that the bulk of the expatriates were north of Babylon, with smaller numbers in the south. The names of some Jewish settlements -- mound of ears (of grain), mound of deluge and mound of potsherd – suggest they were sent to inferior agricultural areas that had been abandoned by the Babylonians due to salty soil or other destructions.

One possible new religious development in this period was the synagogue, Amelie says. The synagogue became in the beginning simply a gathering place of people, either in private resident or open air. Later, actual buildings were constructed for this purpose.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch in Judea
We don’t know a ton about the Judean exiles’ life in Babylon but we know even less about the Judeans who remained in Judea after the conquest. The archaeological record shows that the population shifted from the urban to the rural areas and living standards fell precipitously, but the written record is sparse.

Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian dynasty, was overthrown by Persian king Cyrus in 539 BCE (at right), who instituted more liberal measures toward the peoples who formed part of the Babylonian empire. From Assyria to western Iran, he returned local divine images to their temples and organized the return of people to their homelands.

To say that theJudean exiles “returned” to Judea, however, is a bit of a misnomer. The exile lasted 50 years, and back then, 50 years was a lifespan. So it was really the next generation who “went back” to a land that most of them had even known.