Babylonian captivity

The Babylonian captivity, or Babylonian exile, was the period in Jewish history from the deportation and exile of Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar II starting with the first deportation in 597 BC of the royal court and other prominent citizens and craftsmen, along with a sizable portion of the Jewish population of Judah, numbering about 10,000^[1], and continuing even after the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the Temple in 587 BCE.^[2] The forced exile lasted until the fall in 538 BCE of Babylon to the Persian Cyrus the Great, who gave Jews permission to return to Yehud Province.^[3] However, Jews continued to live in Babylon until the establishment of Israel in the mid-20th century CE, when most of them moved to Israel.

The captivity and subsequent return to Israel and rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple are pivotal events in the history of the Jews and Judaism, and had a far-reaching impact on the development of Jewish culture and practices.

Destruction of Judah

According to the Babylonian Chronicles, Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon lay siege to Jerusalem in 599 BC.^[4]^[5] Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, died in 598 BC^[6] during the siege, and was succeeded by his son Jeconiah at an age of either eight or eighteen.^[7] The city fell about three months later (2 Chronicles 36:9),^[8] on 2 Adar (March 16) 597 BC. Nebuchadnezzar pillaged both Jerusalem and the Temple, carting all the spoils to Babylon. Jeconiah and his court and other prominent citizens and craftsmen, along with a sizable portion of the Jewish population of Judah, numbering about 10,000^[9] were deported from the land and dispersed throughout the Babylonian Empire. (2 Kings 24:14) Among them was Ezekiel.

Nebuchadnezzar appointed Zedekiah, Jehoiakim's brother, king of the reduced kingdom, who was made a tributary of Babylon. Babylonian captivity is counted as having started with the first deportation in 597 BC. The exiles in Babylon continued to consider Jeconiah as the rightful king, and not Zedekiah. Jeconiah was counted as the first Exilarch.

Jews of the southern Kingdom of Judah were forced into exile following the conquest of the kingdom by the Babylonians in 598/7 and 587/6 BC. Historians agree that several deportations took place, that not all Jews were forced to leave their homeland, that returning Jews left Babylonia at various times, and that some Jews chose to remain in Babylon.^[10] This was the first of numerous Jewish communities living permanently in the Jewish Diaspora.

Despite the strong remonstrances of Jeremiah and others, Zedekiah revolted against Nebuchadrezzar, ceasing to pay tribute to him and entered into an alliance with Pharaoh Hophra of Egypt. In 589 BC, Nebuchadnezzar returned to Judah and again besieged Jerusalem for eighteen months. During this period, many Jews fled to surrounding Moab, Ammon, Edom and other countries to seek refuge. (Jeremiah 40:11–12) The city fell and Nebuchadnezzar again pillaged both Jerusalem and the Temple, after which he destroyed them both. He took Zedekiah to Babylon and made Judah a Babylonian province, called Yehud, putting an end to the independent Kingdom of Judah. In addition to those killed during the siege, over time, some 4,600 Jews were deported after the fall of Judah.(Jeremiah 52:29)

The exile to Babylon was a traumatic event in Jewish history, as the destruction of the political independence of the kingdom coincided with the destruction of the monarchy and of the First Temple of Jerusalem. Prior to this, several deportations of Judaean nobility and leading citizens occurred.^[11]

As a result of the Babylonian captivity and the general dispersion of Jews following the destruction of the kingdom of Judah, Jews continued to live in significant numbers outside Eretz Israel, in a "Jewish diaspora."

Return

After the overthrow of Babylonia by the Persian Empire in 538 BCE,^[12] the Persian Cyrus the Great gave Jews permission to return to Yehud Province,^[13]^[14]^[15] and more than 40,000 are said to have returned, as noted in the Biblical accounts of Jehoiakim, Ezra, and Nehemiah.^[16]

The first significant return of exiles commenced with Ezra, who assembled at the river Ahava all those who wanted to return. These consisted of about 1,800 men, or 5,500 to 6,000 souls (Ezra 8), besides 38 Levites and 220 slaves of the Temple from Casiphia. With this body, which was invested with royal powers, Ezra and Nehemiah succeeded, after great difficulties, in establishing the post-exilic Jewish community. From the list given in Nehemiah 7:6–72 (which parallels Ezra 2), which the chronicler supposed to be an enumeration of those who had returned under Cyrus, it appears that the whole Jewish community at this time comprised 42,360 men, or 125,000 to 130,000 people.^[17]

During the period of captivity, Jews continued to practice and develop their religious traditions, many of which became distinct from their origins, due to the influences of the local culture.

The Babylonian captivity had a number of consequences on Judaism and the Jewish culture, including changes to the Hebrew alphabet and changes in the fundamental practices and customs of the Jewish religion. This period saw the last high-point of Biblical prophecy in the person of Ezekiel, followed by the emergence of the central role of the Torah in Jewish life.^[18] This process coincided with the emergence of scribes and sages as Jewish leaders (see Ezra and the Pharisees).

Other theories

Prior to the return, the northern Israelite tribes had been taken captive by Assyria and never returned, leaving the survivors of the Babylonian exile as the majority of the remaining Children of Israel. When the Israelites returned home, they found a mixture of peoples, the Samaritans, practicing a religion very similar, but not identical, to their own. Over time, hostility grew between the returning Jews and the Samaritans.

Although there are many other conflicting theories about the Samaritans' origins, many of them may have simply been Israelites who remained behind and thus had no part in the sweeping changes of the Israelite religion brought about among the captives. Alternatively, perhaps the fierce purity of the Jewish religion and cultural identity of the Babylonian Jews returning from exile, seventy years after their deportation, completely eclipsed the partial fate of the mixed group of Israelite survivors, who had practised paganism for hundreds of years in Israel (including the worship of a golden bull), and who had inter-married with the peoples sent into the territory by the Assyrians (a practice strictly forbidden by Mosaic laws^{[citation needed]}, and punished by Nehemiah).

Significance in Jewish history

The Babylonian Captivity and the subsequent return to Israel were seen as one of the pivotal events in the biblical drama between Yahweh and his people of Israel. Just as they had been predestined for, and saved from, slavery in Egypt, in the logic of the Bible it had been prophesied that the Israelites would go into captivity to the Babylonians for their idolatry and disobedience to Yahweh, and then be delivered once more. The Babylonian Captivity had a number of serious effects on Judaism and the Jewish culture. For example, the current Hebrew script was adopted during this period, replacing the traditional Israelite script.

This period saw the last high-point of Biblical prophecy in the person of Ezekiel, followed by the emergence of the central role of the Torah in Jewish life; according to many historical-critical scholars, it was edited and redacted during this time, and saw the beginning of the canonization of the Bible, which provided a central text for Jews.

This process coincided with the emergence of scribes and sages as Jewish leaders (see Ezra). Prior to exile, the people of Israel had been organized according to tribe; afterwards, they were organized by clans, only the tribe of Levi continuing in its 'special role'. After this time, there were always sizable numbers of Jews living outside Eretz Israel; thus, it also marks the beginning of the "Jewish diaspora", unless this is considered to have begun with the Assyrian Captivity of Israel.

In Rabbinic literature, Babylon was one of a number of metaphors for the Jewish diaspora. Most frequently the term "Babylon" meant the diaspora prior to the destruction of the Second Temple. The post-destruction term for the Jewish Diaspora was "Rome," or "Edom."