Mugambi compares Africa after the Cold War (which began in 1917 and ended in 1989) with the members of the Jewish community following the fall of Babylonian empire in 538 BCE and their removal into exile, 605 to 538 BCE.
The Babylonian captivity had been foreseen by the prophet Jeremiah who was cautioned by God, during his call, that God was unhappy with the people of Israel because of their disobedience and rebellion. This led him to declare, 'The Lord said to me, 'From the north, disaster will be poured out on all who live in the Land. I am about to summon all the peoples of the northern kingdoms,' declares the Lord'" (Jer. 1:14-15).
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Jeremiah was further told:
Their kings will come and set up their thrones in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem; they will come against all her surrounding walls and against all the towns of Judah. I will pronounce my judgments on my people because of their wickedness in forsaking me, in burning incense to other gods and worshiping what their hands have made (Jer. 1:15-16).
The Israelites were thus taken into captivity after God "allowed" their enemy to conquer them as punishment for their disobedience. Interestingly, the same God released them from this captivity seventy years later.
In Jeremiah 4:5-31, a warning is issued that invaders from the north will bring God's judgment against the "unrepentant people." Jeremiah 4:27f thus states, "This is what the LORD says. The whole land will be ruined, though I will not destroy it completely.
Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow dark, because I have spoken and will not relent, I have decided and will not turn back."
Jeremiah is commanded to go up and down the streets of Jerusalem and consider, "If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city (Jer.
5:1). Jeremiah however finds that their faces were, "Harder than stone and refused to repent "(Jer. 5:3b). The people therefore continued to doubt the prophecy saying God will do nothing, and no harm would come upon them, "We will never see sword of famine.
The prophets are but wind and the word is not in them; so let what they say be done to them" (Jer. 5:12-13).
Jeremiah began prophesying in Judah halfway through the reign of King Josiah (640-609 BCE), continued throughout the reigns of Jehoahaz (609), Jehoiakim (609-598) and Zedekiah (597-586). He went through a period of storm and stress when the fate of entire nations, including Judah itself, was being sealed (see, Wood 1970:366). The smaller nation states of Western Asia were often pawns in the power plays of such imperial giants as Egypt, Assyria and Babylon, thus Jeremiah's period of prophecy was no exception. In 627 BCE Ashurbanipal, the last of the great Assyrian rulers died. Interestingly, his successors were no match for Nabopolassar who was the founder of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Nabopolassar began his rule in 626 BCE, which is also the year of Jeremiah's
1 Since the gateway of a city was the place where its ruling council sat (Gen. 19:1; Ruth 4:1), the Babylonians replaced Judah's royal authority with their own (cf. Jer. 43:10, 49:38).
calling to be a prophet (Jer. l:lff). This shows that Jeremiah began his ministry during the rise to power of the Babylonian empire.
With the fall of Assyria and the rise of Babylon, the shift of power came at the close of Josiah's 31-year reign (Wood 1970: 366). Soon after Assyria's capital city Nineveh fell under the onslaught of a coalition of Babylonians and Medes in 612 BCE, Egypt (who was a rival to Babylon) marched northward in an attempt to rescue Assyria, which was near destruction. King Josiah of Judah erred by trying to stop the Egyptian advance and he was killed near Megiddo in 609 at the hands of pharaoh Neco II (2 Chronicles 35:20-24) (see Boadt 1984:364).
Jeremiah had found a kindred spirit in the godly King Josiah and had perhaps proclaimed the messages recorded in Jeremiah 11:1-8; 17:19-27 during the reformation movement that Josiah initiated. Jeremiah lamented Josiah's death (2 Chron. 35:25). His son Jehoahaz succeeded him. He was however removed three months later by the Egyptians who controlled Palestine, being accused of favouring their rivals the Babylonians. They named his elder brother Jehoiakim, King in his place (Boadt 1984:364). Sadly, Jehoiakim was relentlessly hostile toward Jeremiah. Hence, on one occasion when an early draft of the prophet's writings was being read to Jehoiakim (Jer. 36:21), the king used a scribe's knife to cut the scroll apart, three or four columns at a time, and threw it piece by piece into the fire pot in his winter apartment (Jer. 36:22-23). At the Lord's command, however, Jeremiah simply dictated his prophecies to Baruch a second time, adding "many similar words" to them (Jer. 36:32). Curiously, Jehoiakim, who was expected to obey the Egyptians who had placed him in power, changed his heart and pledged his loyalty to the Babylonians after they drove the Egyptians out of Asia in 605 BCE. Later on, he began to plot against the Babylonians as he flirted with the idea of freeing his country from foreign control (Boadt 1984:364).
Prior to this episode in Jeremiah's life, an event of extraordinary importance took place that changed the course of ancient near-eastern history. In 605 BCE, the Egyptians, who had placed Jehoiakim in power, were finally crushed at Carchemish on the Euphrates by Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 46:2). As a leader, Nebuchadnezzar was a gifted general who
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succeeded his equally militarily capable father Nabopolassar as the new ruler of Babylon that same year (605 BCE). The Egyptian King Neco II returned home with heavy losses thereby giving Babylon a free hand to assume power in the region for the next seventy years when King Cyrus of Persia replaced him.2 This confirms Jeremiah's prophecy that he delivered from the LORD,
With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please. Now I will hand all your countries over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him. All nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes; then many nations and great kings will subjugate him. If, however, any nation or kingdom will not serve Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon or bow its neck under his yoke, I will punish that nation with the sword, famine and plague, declares the LORD, until I destroy it by his hand (Jer.
27:5-8).
With the Babylonian victory over the Egyptians complete in 605 BCE, the entire region of Western Asia became the domain of the Babylonians and thus Judah automatically came under Babylonian rule. Jehoiachin was taken into captivity in Babylon in 597 BCE, together with the queen mother, princes, servants, spoils (Wood 1970:374), including the prophet Ezekiel (2 Ki. 24:14; Jer. 52:28), 10,000 leading citizens, and 1000 smiths and crafts-persons (2 Ki. 24:11-16; Wood 1970:374). During the second Babylonian attack, Nebuchadnezzar installed Jehoiachin's uncle, Mattaniah, on the throne in 597 BCE.
Mattaniah who was renamed Zedekiah by Nebuchadnezzar, was the third son of King Josiah. He was a weak and vacillating ruler who sometimes befriended Jeremiah the prophet and sought his advice, but at other times, allowed the prophet's enemies to mistreat and imprison him (Wood 1970:374ff).
The period of Zedekiah's leadership was characterized by continual agitation and unrest (Wood 1970:374-375). Curiously, an anti-Babylonian group in Jerusalem pressurised for a revolt and urged Zedekiah to look again to Egypt for assistance (Wood 1970:375). This in itself was sinful as God's elect were not supposed to seek any military alliance; rather they were to rely on God alone as their divine warrior. Zedekiah and his people therefore must
This attack was accomplished in two phases. During the first attack, Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem (as we have noted above) in 605 BCE and humiliated Jehoiakim (Dan. 1:1-2). He also carried off Daniel and his three companions to Babylon (Daniel 1:3-6). In the second attack in 598-597 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem and the rebellious Jehoiakim was heard no more. His son Jehoiachin who succeeded him ruled Judah for only three months (2 Chron. 36:9). This captivity of Jehoiachin and his followers had been foretold by Jeremiah (22:24-30) and was later fulfilk*U(Jer. 24:1; 29:1-2; See also, Boadt 1984:364; Wood
1970:374).
have ignored Jeremiah's advice that they should surrender to the Babylonians as they (Jews) were undergoing a divine punishment for rebelling against God. As the Prophet Isaiah states:
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD. Yet, he too is wise and can bring disaster; he does not take back his words. He will rise up against the house of the wicked, against those who help evildoers. But the Egyptians are men and not God; their horses are flesh and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out his hand, he who helps will stumble, he who is helped will fall; both will perish together (Isa. 31:1-3).
By seeking a military alliance with the Egyptian Pharaoh Hophra, thus, Zedekiah rebelled against his captors in spite of the many warnings given by Jeremiah (Jer. 27:5-8; cf.
Wittenberg 1993:96). Consequently, Nebuchadnezzar decided to punish him and marched against Judah. In January 588 BCE, his army placed Jerusalem under siege after taking all the strong fortresses of the land (Wittenberg 1993:97; Wood 1970:375). The Babylonian victory was not outright because an Egyptian army advanced in support of Zedekiah, and the people in Jerusalem rejoiced as they thought the Babylonians would soon be defeated (Wittenberg 1993:96-7). Jeremiah however cautioned Zedekiah that the removal of the siege by the Babylonians did not mean the war was over; rather the Babylonians would soon be back to continue their assault against the city (Jer. 37:6-8). Ultimately, this took place as Jeremiah had told them. Nebuchadnezzar captured all the cities of Judah, placing Jerusalem under siege for a period of two years and thereby starving its occupants into defeat (Boadt 1984:365; Wood 1970:376). In this third attack, the city fell to the Babylonians in July 586 BCE (Wood 1970:376).3 A month after its fall Nebuzaradan, who was the commander of Nebuchadnezzar's bodyguard, arrived to break down the city. He levelled the city walls and set on fires the houses and public buildings of the city (Boadt 1984:365; Wittenberg 1993:97). It is in this third and most comprehensive attack, the temple, which was built by King Solomon, and had stood for four centuries, was destroyed (Wood 1970: 376; Wittenberg 1993: 97). Nehemiah was to come in 539/8 BCE, seventy years later, to lead in the reconstruction of the wall of the city of Jerusalem within which the temple had been situated.
3 While trying to flee the city, Zedekiah was overtakar*iy the pursuing Babylonians. His sons were executed in his presence after which he himself was blinded by Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 39:1-7) and later died at the hands of his tormentors (Wood 1970:376).
With the success of the Babylonian conquest, the remaining members of Judah were deported into exile, where they remained for almost a century. While in exile, Jeremiah, who was with the exiles in Babylon, implored them to ignore false prophets such as Hananiah (Jer. 28:1-17) who were misleading them into thinking that they would "soon"
be liberated from their captivity and would return back to Jerusalem and resume their worship in the Temple. In his letter, Jeremiah advised them to settle in the foreign land of their exile, until the seventy years were over (Jer. 29).
In his research, Farisani (2002:187) notes that following the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BCE, the Babylonians created two communities within the Jewish population, namely the am haaretz (pNHDy), the Israelites, who did not go into captivity in Babylon, but remained in Palestine. They are also referred to as the "adversaries" or "enemies" (Ezra 4:1; Neh. 4:11) and "the people of the land" (Ezra 3; Neh. 4:4) among other labels.4 The other community that the Babylonians created was that of the "returned exiles" - golah (J??]y) (Ezra 1:11;
Neh. 7:6). Even though the exiles could not maintain their social positions as in Judah, some were later incorporated into the leadership class in Mesopotamia, the capital city of Babylon. This however did not prevent tensions from mounting as doubts with respect to their loyalty were voiced (Farisani 2002:207). They had to work for the Babylonians on public works projects such as agricultural irrigation channels in or on building sites (Wittenberg 1993:103).
Even though the leaders introduced religious practices, which the people could observe even though they were far away from the Temple in Jerusalem, the Jews in exile remained downhearted whenever they thought of the city of Jerusalem and its revered Temple, now destroyed. Some doubted God's care for them as God's people, which culminated in the loss of hope among some (Isa. 40:27). It was as if Marduk the god of the Babylonians was more powerful than that of Yahweh (Isa. 42:17; Hinson 1973:153).
Upon their return, they could still recall their bitter memories as captives. Their hopelessness is well captured in Psalms 137 when the Psalmist says: "By the rivers of Babylon (there) we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion.. .our captors asked us (read "mocked us")...'sing us one of the songs of Zion!'" But in turn, they wondered,
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4 The first governor of the am haaretz (fiNnnyj community was Gedaliah who was appointed by Nebuchadnezzar's commander of the bodyguard, Nebuzaradan, as the governor of Judah (Jer. 40-41).
"How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?" (: 1-4). The youth in particular were greatly affected. A quotation from Ezekiel 18:2 shows this clearly, "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." The youth therefore felt that they were paying the price for what their parents had done. They felt hopeless, like the dry bones of Ezekiel's (37:1-14) vision, a lost generation, without direction (see, Wittenberg 1993:105).
In this context, God sent the prophets with a new message of hope that the "dry bones will come back to life" (Ezek. 37:1-14). Both Ezekiel and Deutro-Isaiah preached that even in the valley of despair and death there would be hope. They urged them against despair and hopelessness (Wittenberg 1993:105f). Isaiah emphasised the principle of "fear not," (e.g., Isa. 41:10), for even though the power of the Babylonians was still unbroken, God would intervene in history and liberate them from captivity (Wittenberg 1993:110). Isaiah went on to call on mountains, forests and nature to rejoice with him (Isa. 44:23).
5.1.1. The return of the Babylonian exiles and the rebuilding of the Temple
The fall of Babylon and the return of the Jews from exile are best captured in the book of Isaiah when the LORD says:
Sit in silence, go into darkness, Daughter of the Babylonians; no more will you be called Queen of Kingdoms. I was angry with my people and desecrated my inheritance; I gave them into your hand, and you showed them no mercy. Even on the aged you laid a very heavy yoke. You said, "I will continue forever - the eternal queen!" But you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen. Now, then listen, your wanton creature, lounging in your security...Disaster will come upon you, and will not know how to conjure it away (Isa. 47:5-11).
The return of Babylonian exiles was preceded by the fall of Babylon and the rise of Persia.
For in 559 BCE, Cyrus the great became the King of the Persian tribes. Later, Cyrus replaced the empire of the Medes with that of the Persians (See Farisani 2002:216). For by 550 BCE, Cyrus had captured Ecbatana, which was the capital city of the Medes. Medes themselves had been fierce enemies of the Babylonians (Wittenberg 1993:111). By 546 BCE Cyrus had conquered the Kingdom of Lydiah (Turkey today) and the balance of power now had been affected with the most powerful nation - Babylon clearly getting threatened. This turn of events caught the last king of the Babylon - Nabonidus, pants
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down as he had already annoyed a sensible proportion of the population for deposing the powerful priestly class in Mesopotamia in favour of a local god, sin, the moon-god (Lemche 1988:187). Thus, the people were ready for change of leadership considering that they had been influenced by the disgruntled priests of Marduk (Wood 1970:388).
Eventually, Cyrus managed to conquer the Babylonians in 539 BCE (Wood 1970:388;
Lemche 1988:187). Interestingly, when he personally entered Babylon a few weeks after the victory, he was welcomed as a liberator by the Marduk priests and the entire populace (Wood 1970:389). Thus by 539 BCE, the whole of Babylonian empire which included Judah had passed under the Persian control (Blenkinsopp 1988:61).
Prior to the emergence of Persia as the dominant world power, displacing the Medes and Babylon, prophet Isaiah (45:1-7) had proclaimed that the Persian conqueror had been given the task by Yahweh of setting the Israelite captives free. Following the conquest of Babylon, King Cyrus allowed the first group of exiles to return in 538 BCE, being led by Sheshbazzar (Ezra 1:1; Wood 1970:392). The second group returned eight years later, in the seventh year (458 BCE) of Artaxerxes Longimanus (Ezra 7:7), being led by Ezra (Wood 1970:392). The third group, returned thirteen years after the second, in the twentieth year (444 BCE) of Artaxerxes Longimanus (Neh. 2:1); and was led by Nehemiah (Wood 1970:392).
Cyrus gave permission to those who wished to return to Palestine to begin the process of reconstruction of the city of Jerusalem. He did this in the form of a decree (between 538 or 537 BCE). Recorded in Ezra 1:1-4, it states:
In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfil the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing: "This is what Cyrus king of Persia says 'The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah.
Anyone of his people among you - May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. And the people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.'"
Through this edict, Cyrus authorised the Jews to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem (Hinson 1973:155). He also decreed that the sacred vessels of gold, silver cups and plates, which
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