Babylonian Exile

In Judeans in Babylonia, Tero Alstola presents a comprehensive investigation of deportees in the sixth and fifth centuries BCE. By using cuneiform documents as his sources, he offers the first book-length social historical study of the Babylonian Exile, commonly regarded as a pivotal period in the development of Judaism. The results are considered in the light of the wider Babylonian society and contrasted against a comparison group of Neirabian deportees. Studying texts from the cities and countryside and tracking developments over time, Alstola shows that there was notable diversity in the Judeans’ socio-economic status and integration into Babylonian society.

Tero Alstola (2020). Judeans in Babylonia: A Study of Deportees in the Sixth and Fifth Centuries BCE. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 109. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004365421.

This paper investigates the many and varied attitudes towards the Babylonian exile in Persian period biblical literature, in particular, in Third Isaiah, the books of Haggai, Zechariah, Ezra and Nehemiah, 1 and 2 Chronicles and Esther. This paper finds that there are significant disagreements between these texts with regard to the duration of exile, the status of those left behind and the importance of the exile for the future of the people of Israel. The conclusion drawn is that the understanding of the exile in Persian period Yehud was not formulated at once. Biblical literature contains several different voices and opinions on exile, which biblical scholarship must remember to detect and appreciate in order to get a better understanding of the individual texts’ constructions of exile and their nuances.

This article argues that Isa xlvi 1-2 represents a prophecy given on the occasion of the Babylonian New Year's festival. It is based on the condition and "behaviour" of the Babylonian cult statues carried in procession. This prophecy is not only directly dependent upon a group of Babylonian omens, called "processional omens", but also follows the Babylonian custom of divining portents from the condition and movement of the statue of Marduk at the New Year's festival.

Revista Vox Scripturae, v. 25, n. 1, 2017.
http://vox.flt.edu.br/edicao/31/volume-xxv-numero-1-abril-2017

Resumo
Na década de 1990, o estudioso Hans Barstad desenvolveu a ideia, proposta inicialmente por Robert P. Carroll, do “Mito da Terra Vazia”, em que a concepção de um território judeu abandonado com grande parte do povo exilado teria sido uma criação posterior de uma pequena comunidade judaica zelosa por Sião que havia retornado de Babilônia. Segundo essa teoria, a sociedade em Judá continuou funcionando normalmente com seus camponeses, artesãos, comerciantes e funcionários do Templo. No entanto, estudos recentes têm questionado essa hipótese e indicado — por meio de evidências arqueológicas, documentais e demográficas — um evento marcante na história de Israel que pode ser identificado com o exílio e a destruição apresentados na Bíblia Hebraica. Portanto, a presente comunicação tem como objetivos analisar essas descobertas e pesquisas recentes de forma panorâmica e demonstrar de que modo elas iluminam a compreensão do que significou, de fato, a destruição de Judá e o exílio da população daquela terra no século VI AEC.

Abstract
In the 1990s, the scholar Hans Barstad developed the idea, initially proposed by Robert P. Carroll, of the “Myth of the Empty Land”, in which the conception of an abandoned Jewish territory with much of the people exiled would have been a later creation of a small Jewish community zealous for Zion, who had returned from Babylon. According to this theory, society in Judah continued to function normally with its peasants, artisans, merchants and Temple officials. However, recent studies have challenged this hypothesis and indicated — through archaeological, documentary and demographic evidence — a striking event in the history of Israel that can be identified with the exile and destruction presented in the Hebrew Bible. The purpose of this paper is therefore to analyze these recent findings and researches in a panoramic way and to demonstrate how they illuminate the understanding of what the destruction of Judah and the exile of the people of that land meant in the sixth century BCE.

This paper studies several hitherto unpublished or unedited Late Babylonian documents which shed light on the ethno-linguistic composition of the population of the countryside in southern Babylonia in the sixth century BCE. The new evidence includes information on Judeans that can be linked to the data of the so- called Yahudu
archive.

In Jer 29:5-7 the Prophet Jeremiah calls his deported compatriots to: “Build houses and inhabit [them], plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and bear sons and daughters, take wives for your sons and give your daughters husbands, so that they bear sons and daughters. Increase yourselves there and do not decrease. Seek the šālôm of the city where I [=Yhwh] have led you into exile, and pray for it, because in its šālôm will your šālôm lie”. This article present three models for the interpretation of these verses and taking account of the discussed interpretations develops some new perspectives.

This chapter is aimed at examining the literary evidence within the book of Ezekiel and in Neo-Babylonian sources that may shed light on the temporal, geographical, and cultural aspects of this prophetic book—information that scholars often bring to either corroborate or refute the surface narrative of Ezekiel, that of the prophet active among the Jehoiachin-Judean exiles in Babylonia. The discussion leads to even more complex questions concerning two aspects of the sociology of exile. First, as regards relations with outsiders, what does the book tell us about the Judean deportees’ familiarity with and acculturation to the host society (and possibly with other neighboring groups of deportees)?; and second, what does the book tell us about interactions between the Jehoiachin exiles and those who remained in Judah after the Jehoiachin deportation in 597? In addition, the study presents a concise theology of exile, seen in terms of the significant theological contributions that Ezekiel (and his followers) may be credited with in formulating, or in re- formulating, the Judahite religion in the face of destruction and exile. This chapter argues that, while avoiding references to daily life in Babylonia, but at the same time revealing a high level of familiarity with Babylonian culture and ideas, the book of Ezekiel speaks to the Jehoiachin-Judean exiles through terminology, theological themes, and ideological content rooted in Yahwistic/Judahite religious traditions. The combination of Babylonian conceptions and Judahite ideology locates the prophet and his book firmly among the Babylonian exilic community of the early sixth century BCE.

The paper examines the cuneiform evidence from sixth-century Babylonia (and beyond) for information on the form and aims of Neo-Babylonian imperial rule over its western provinces. While new texts, which hitherto have not been considered in this context, can be brought to bear on the issue, direct evidence from these provinces is still scarce. These documents will thus be supplemented by drawing on the rich information concerning state institutions and resource extraction in the imperial centre. It is argued that in the first half of the Neo-Babylonian period, until ca. 585 BCE, Babylonian imperial rule in the western periphery can be conceptualized primarily as a straightforward exploitative tributary regime. From about the mid-reign of Nebuchadnezzar onwards, however, there is a shift towards a more sustainable resource extraction through the creation of stable pockets of Babylonian presence in the periphery. This diachronic shift was meant to steady and organize the initial ad hoc Babylonian approach. These measures, however, did not prevail, and the chaotic years which followed the 43 years reign of Nebuchadnezzar illustrate the fragility of the relatively short-lived Babylonian imperial age.

The Babylonian exile of the Jews is a Romantic iconography frequently depicted by German and French artists, that assumes in the context of Italian Risorgimento the value of a metaphor of the national movement’s conditions after the unsuccessful uprisings in 1848. To pave the way for this political interpretation of biblical imagery were massive use of biblical metaphors by Italian patriots and wide-spread circulation of poetic versions that propose of the psalms a secular, completely unorthodox interpretation. The article focuses on the literary and cultural groundings of the Art spectator’s ambivalent expectations during the Italian Risorgimento and it questions the artist’s use of this unvisible thread before and after the national unification.

A bible-exegetic study with geopolitical implications.
Table of contents:
A. Reason for the investigation.
B. Topicality of the investigation.
C. Methodology of the investigation.
D. Preliminary remarks.
Part I: A retelling of the history of ancient Israel as it is handed down in writing.
1. How it all began.
2. The moral requirement to be regarded as descendants of Abraham.
3. Descendants of Abraham.
4. Redemption, election and mission of the 12-tribed people.
5. The Sinai fiefdom contract and its provisions.
6. The decentralized federation of the 12 tribes of Israel and its corrupt end.
7. The Royal History of Israel and the First Temple Period.
8. Babylonian captivity and liberation.
9. The renewed apostasy from the Law during the Second Temple Period and its end.
  Excursus 1: The tragic consequences of Pharisaic legality for the Jewish people.
10. Preliminary summary.
Part II: The Messianic fulfillment of the heritage of Abraham according to the Hebrew prophetic writings.
1. David's Psalms.
2. Isaiah.
3. Ezekiel.
4. Further considerations: The two components of the land promise.
    a. The physical-territorial component of the land promise.
    Excursus 2: The Sinai Treaty contained no legally binding return clause.
    b. The "heavenly", eternal component of the Abraham promise.
5. The prophecy about the messianic temple.
    Excursus 3: Notes for those who acknowledge Jesus as Messiah.
6. Answering questions.
    Excursus 4: The question of "election”.
7. Test result: Ten stumbling blocks of neo-Zionist doctrine.
8. Closing words.
(2020-10-19)

Een onderzoek naar de historische achtergronden van de Babylonische ballingschap en het theologische perspectief daarop in het boek Jeremia; met nadrukkelijk aandacht voor de recent gepubliceerde Babylonische teksten m.b.t. de ballingen in Babel (Pearce 2014).

Esta tese tem como objeto de estudo o tema da esperança nos oráculos de salvação de Dêutero-Isaías (Is 41.8-13; 14-16; 43.1-7; 44.1-5). O exílio babilônico tornou-se um divisor de águas na história de Israel. Ao mesmo tempo que foi um período terrível, também foi um tempo para grandiosas produções teológicas. Busca-se compreender como a esperança se desenvolveu entre os israelitas exilados e as israelitas exiladas na Babilônia e qual foi a relevância para a fé. O livro do Dêutero-Isaías foi escolhido para ser a base do desenvolvimento da presente pesquisa, com foco nos oráculos de salvação, os quais são fundamentais para compreender todo o desenvolvimento teológico durante o exílio. A dor e o sofrimento, ocasionados pela perda do Templo de Jerusalém e pela deportação, fez com que as pessoas exiladas lamentassem diante de Javé. O culto alternativo durante o exílio tornou-se o espaço adequado para o desenvolvimento da esperança via os oráculos de salvação. Uma vez que o Deus de Israel se comoveu pela dor de seu povo, ele colocou em prática o seu projeto de esperança. O tema da esperança se desenvolveu dentro de aspectos teológicos e antropológicos, no qual as pessoas exiladas puderam reconhecer os seus pecados e perceber que Javé não os abandonou. O Deus de Israel coloca toda a história em movimento para a construção de um futuro utópico, no qual as pessoas exiladas puderam sonhar com uma volta para a terra prometida. Deste modo, a profecia assumiu um papel importante na conscientização das pessoas exiladas, uma vez que eles estavam imersos na religiosidade e cultura babilônica. O desenvolvimento da esperança mostra-se importante para toda a humanidade, em especial para a América Latina, lugar em que se vive em “exílio”.

This thesis has as its object of study the theme of hope in the oracles of salvation of Deutero-Isaiah (Is 41:8-13; 14-16; 43:1-7; 44:1-5). Babylonian exile was a watershed in Israel's history. While it was a terrible time, it was also a time for great theological productions. One seeks to understand how hope developed among the exiled Israelites in Babylon and what was the relevance to the faith. The book by Deutero-Isaiah was chosen to be the basis for the development of this research, focusing on the oracles of salvation, which are fundamental to understand all theological development during exile. The pain and suffering, caused by the loss of the Temple in Jerusalem and the deportation, caused the exiled people to lament before Yahweh. Alternative worship during exile became an appropriate space for the development of hope via the oracles of salvation. Once the God of Israel was moved by the pain of his people, he put his hope project into practice. The theme of hope was developed within theological and anthropological aspects, in which people in exile were able to recognize their sins and realize that Yahweh did not abandon them. The God of Israel sets the whole story in motion to build a utopian future, in which people in exile could dream of a return to the promised land. In this way, prophecy took on an important role in raising awareness of the exiled people, since they were immersed in Babylonian religiosity and culture. The development of hope is important for all humanity, especially for Latin America, a place where we live in “exile”.

This paper is an attempt to offer new insight into the development of Judaism and the forces that helped shape it. It focuses on the conflict that erupted in Judea when the Babylonian exiles returned. My argument is that the Biblical story of the return was told by religious zealots who had nothing but scorn for the “inhabitants of the land,” the people who were not exiled. My thesis is based on an analogy to what I is happening to life in modern Israel. Like their Biblical ancestors, the Israeli religious right, many of whom have made Aliyah, has taken control of a secular Israel to impose its own more restrictive values. Like their Babylonian forebears, they believe passionately in their ideals and, fortified with the sense that they are doing God’s work, seek nothing less than to purify the land and its people. The returnees rebuilt the Temple, reestablished sacrificial rites, proclaimed that Judeans should divorce their “foreign” wives and live according to Mosaic Law. Although a weak political minority at first, as their numbers grew, they gained political superiority and remade the political and religious structure of Judea.

However, the land to which they returned was not the land they left. Their efforts to rebuild the Temple were stymied by their “enemies” -- the people who for three generations had lived on the homes of the exiles, taken over their lands and their property, and, together with their Persian overloads, had set up new governmental and administrative structures. With no kingship or priesthood, no central place of worship, and with all the figures of authority gone into exile or killed, we have to assume that they rebuilt their society on new, and probably, less stringent laws. And the returnees wanted to overthrow the new order to establish their own. This is the conflict. The returnees won and the story they told is our Bible.

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1-2 Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah express a different approach to the future of Israel to that provided in the Earlier Prophets. Firstly, the nature and the dating of this part of the Hebrew Bible are discussed, suggesting the end of the fifth and the very beginning of the fourth century B.C. as the time of its origins. Secondly, the retrospect of the past in 1-2 Chronicles is presented with a very specific attitude towards the Exile. The article focuses on the detailed analysis of Ezra 4:1-5, a passage representing the very core of this book. Against the backdrop of the identity of the deputation visiting Jerusalem as seen by the author of Ezra and the completely different self-presentation of the envoys from the north, the serious conflict that ensues is described. It bears analogies with the former antagonisms and tensions between the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel. On the basis of this conflict, a new reality emerges, namely Judaism. The religion of the preexilic Israel was profoundly transformed, having been exclusively limited to those Judeans who had come back from the Exile. As a result of this separation, the question of the "true Israel" became more crucial, setting new direction for the project of the national and religious identity of biblical Israel.