The destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem and the Babylonian Exile were a great catastrophe in the history of the Jewish Nation. What really happened during that dark, fateful age, and how did new opportunities arise from the ashes?
The Babylonian Period
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From the course by Tel Aviv University
The Fall and Rise of Jerusalem
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From the lesson
Introduction to geopolitics and geography of the Ancient Near East
Welcome to the first module of "The Fall and Rise of Jerusalem"! In this module you will be introduced to the geopolitical reality of the time of the Assyrian empire, followed by the Neo-Babylonian. We hope you'll find the videos informative and interesting. We encourage you to use the discussion forums in order to raise any questions or thoughts you might have after watching the videos.
Meet the Instructors
Professor Oded Lipschits, Ph.D.Director, Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology
Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Near Eastern Cultures
Well, the short period of the existence of the new Babylonian empire
comprises the most important turning point in the history of Judah and
the Judeans in the first millenium BCE.
Already the first years of Babylonians' rule in the Levant,
from about 605 to 586 BCE, were fraught with more changes and
turbulence than any others witnessed by the Kingdom of Judah.
This small kingdom was passed from hand to hand,
in the battle of Titans, that took place between Egypt and Babylon.
And the entire period was categorized by instability of regime and
steadily increasing religious agitation.
For the first time in the history of the kingdom, the king was sent into exile and
with him, many of the nations in it.
The dispute between the exiles and
those who remained along with the fits among the political and
religious leadership remaining in Jerusalem and many of those living in
the peripheral areas when expression of a strong inner turbulence in Judah.
They also added to the external instability and
hastened the end of the kingdom.
Babylon's expedition against Judah in 588 to 586 BCE,
sealed that kingdom's fate and for generation afterwards,
shaped the national consciousness that people's perception of religion and
ritual and the nation's ways of historical memory.
Jerusalem, the ancient capital of Judah, ceased to exist and left a huge vacuum
in the heart of the nation in its social, economic, and political reality.
The destruction of the temple, the ancient spiritual and
religious center of the nation, left a gaping hole of enormous dimension.
And caused a great crisis that was accompanied by the need both
to reshape the account of the nation's history, and to give it new meaning.
The fate of the royal house, which had ruled the kingdom since it's establishment
hundreds of years earlier and
which many believed that it will rule forever, fared no better.
The sons of Hezekiah were put to death, his eyes were put out,
and he was brought to Babylon where he died.
For the time being, Jehoiachin who was imprisoned in Babylon,
remained the last remanent of the Davidic royal line.
Added to the leadership vacuum, this severe religious crisis was
the exiling of the residents of Jerusalem including many of the nation's elite.
From among them the priestly families, the aristocracy, and
the royalty, who had controlled the kingdom's economy, led the nation,
and shaped its consciousness, culture, and religion.
Not only Jerusalem had been destroyed.
The urban and military centers in the western part of the kingdom,
the lowland, we call it Shephelah, were likewise destroyed, and
all the system of government and army of Judah ceased to exist.
In the wake of these events came the collapse of the outlined settlements
in the more desert areas to the east and to the south of the kingdom.
The Jordan Valley and along the western shore of the Dead Sea.
The Negev, the southern hill of Judah, and the southern Shephela.
Many of the residents abandoned these areas, and the Judean population,
which had inhabited this area for centuries, quickly became a small minority
within an Arabian-Edomian majority that steadily enforced its hold there.
Thus at this time of Babylonian rule an unprecedented
demographic change took place in Judah which ended in the dwindling
of the local population leaving it less than half of its previous size.
However, the destruction, exile and the national crisis
were the beginning of a new stage in the history of the people and the land.
The exiled elite in Babylon was forced to adjust to life without a land,
without a nation and without the Temple.
It was exposed to and opened up to the wealthy, powerful,
ancient Babylonian culture and religion.
And in the course of time, also to the cultures and religions prevalent within
the Persian empire, and developed new patterns of community life and
a new system of faith, ideas, and historiographic perceptions
that were suited to exiles living as a small minority in a foreign country.
The need to understand the past and to reshape spiritual life and
religion, led to the creation of an intensive body of literature,
unparalleled in size and importance.
When many part of the old testament where written, and rewritten, and edited.
This was the beginning of a new Judaism.
The Judaism of the second temple period.
The life of many of those of the kingdom, who remain in the homes without the royal
house, without the temple, and without the ancient capitol,
require the development of alternatives that until then could not have existed.
The religious and ritual supremacy of Jerusalem in the end of
the life of the Kingdom along with its social and
political centrality, prevented the development of alternate centers,
particularly after the reforms of King Uzziah.
The power and sanctity of the royal house, and the immense power of the old-time
elite also ruled out the possibility of change as long as both existed.
However, after the Royal House and the old time elite disappeared,
there was an opportunity to form a new elite, an alternative,
local leadership under the protection of the Babylonians and
to form other government and religious centers as well.
Large Judean population remained in two areas left intact by the Babylonians.
In the region of Benjamin, north of Jerusalem, and
the northern Judean Hills, south of the city.
It is here that many of those who remained in Judah
assembled after the destruction of Jerusalem.
In here the process of rebuilding the people who
remain in the land under the protection of the Babylonian Empire begin.
Instead of the devastated city of Jerusalem,
the Babylonians established Mizpah in
the Benjamin region as the center of the province they established in Judah.
Instead of the house of David, they appointed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam,
the son of Shaphan of one of the most respected and
renowned families in the land.
Instead of the temple in Jerusalem and
at a time was a place of pilgrimage for small groups and individuals.
Alternative centers of religious worship began to rise in the country,
Mizpah, Gibeon, Bethel, and perhaps even Shechem.
These places competed with each other for place of honor and
extolled the traditions of sanctity from earlier period in the nation's history.
All of these changes had unprecedented social, ideological, and
religious significance, which is primly expressed
in the various debates embedded in the political literature.
Who is Judah?
The people exiled to Babylon or those who remained in the land?
Are those who were exiled, the ones who had seen it and therefore were punished
or are those who remained and therefore proved that they had not seen it,
entitled to inhabit the land and property of those exiled.
If Jerusalem is not the eternal capital of the Lord,
what will its status now become and
what be the status of the capital that replaces it?
If the Temple in Jerusalem is not the only place where the religious
worship of the God of Israel may be held, what is the alternative?
What is the status of the House of David exiled in Babylon?
What should be the attitude toward the new leaders appointed by the Babylonians?
However, the days of Babylonian rule were brief.
As whether ideas and changes in society, religion, and
religious ritual among those remaining in Judah.
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