SERIES N --- THE EXILE --- LESSON 19

JERUSALEM DESTROYED

ISRAEL’S FINAL DESTRUCTION

From 2 Kings 25; 2 Chronicles 36:13-23

Zedekiah, the last king to rule over the land of Judah, did much evil in Adonai’s eyes. He refused to listen to the prophet Jeremiah, who brought him numerous messages from Adonai. He refused to humble himself before Adonai, and he also refused to humble himself before King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, even though he had sworn by the name of Adonai that he would serve him. The leaders of the nation, including the priests, followed the evil worship of the heathen nations, even polluting Adonai’s house, the temple, in Jerusalem with their heathen worship. In His love and compassion, Adonai sent prophets again and again to the people. But they mocked Adonai’s messengers, showing contempt for Adonai’s Words, until Adonai became so angry at them that there was no escape from His judgment. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon brought his army and besieged Jerusalem, constructing a siege wall around it. He came on the tenth day of the tenth month, March 25, during the ninth year of King Zedekiah’s reign. He set up camp around the city and kept up the siege until the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign. The famine was so severe in Jerusalem that by the ninth day of the fourth month, which was July 24, there was no more food. In desperation, King Zedekiah and his troops broke through the city wall and tried to escape by night through the gate in the double wall by the king’s garden. But the Babylonians, who still surrounded the city, saw Zedekiah and his troops and pursued them. They caught up with them in the plains of Jericho and captured Zedekiah while his troops deserted him and ran for their lives. The Babylonians took Zedekiah to Riblah, where Nebuchadnezzar tried and sentenced him. Zedekiah was forced to watch his sons be executed. Then he was blinded, bound in fetters, and taken to Babylon. During King Nebuchadnezzar’s nineteenth year of reign, on the seventh day of the fifth month, which was July 22, Nebuzaradan, captain of King Nebuchadnezzar’s bodyguard, entered Jerusalem. Adonai permitted the Babylonians to go to Jerusalem so they might destroy those people of Judah who had turned from Him. The Babylonians killed without mercy, destroying not only the young men, but also the old men and young girls. They pursued the people to kill them, even going after them into the temple. The very poorest were spared and left to farm the soil. The remaining people were taken to Babylon to serve King Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuzaradan burned the temple, the king’s palace, and every other house and building of value in Jerusalem. Then he ordered his troops to pull down the city walls. The Babylonians broke up the great bronze pillars of the temple and the large bronze water tank which had been built centuries earlier by King Solomon, and hauled the bronze to Babylon. They took the bronze temple vessels, including the pots, shovels, snuffers, bowls, and other items used in the temple services. The pillars and water tank were so heavy that it would be difficult to estimate their weight, for the pillars themselves were twenty-seven feet high and each had a four and one-half foot capital on top, decorated with a network of pomegranates. Nebuzaradan captured Seraiah, the high priest, his assistant Zephaniah, and the three doorkeepers of the temple, and took them to Babylon. He also captured the commander of the army, five members of the king’s council, the man who registered the troops, and sixty landholders. He brought these people to Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah, and there they were executed. The destruction of Judah was completed. Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan as governor of the survivors left in Judah. When some of the Judean warriors, who had escaped into the open country, heard about Gedaliah, they met with him at Mizpah. These included Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, and the other men with them. Gedaliah promised them, [If you will serve the king of Babylon, he will let you live in peace in this land.] But Ishmael, a member of the royal family, returned seven months later with ten men and murdered Gedaliah and the officials who served with him, both Jews and Babylonians. Then Ishmael and his men, as well as a number of other people of Judah, escaped to Egypt, for they were afraid that the Babylonians would take revenge on them. Many years later, when Evil-merodach became king of Babylon, he released King Jehoiachin from prison, gave him new clothes, and placed him in a higher position above the other kings who had been taken captive. He also spoke kindly to him, accepted him as a guest at the king’s table, and gave him a daily allowance for the rest of his life. This happened on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of Jehoiachin’s thirty-seventh year of captivity, thus the Word of Adonai through Jeremiah was fulfilled, for the land lay desolate for seventy years, giving it a Shabbat rest. Later, when Cyrus became king of Persia, Adonai caused another of Jeremiah’s predictions to come true. Adonai caused Cyrus to proclaim throughout his kingdom, in writing, [Adonai, YHVH of heaven has given me all kingdoms on earth, and He has Commanded me to build a temple for Him in Jerusalem, in the land of Judah. All Adonai’s people who so wish may return, and may Adonai YHVH be with you.]

COMMENTARY

THE BABYLONIAN EXILE

Seventy years of exile in Babylon gave the Judeans a new sense of themselves and of YHVH. Their experiences helped shape the religion now called Judaism. In 608 B.C. Daniel and his friends were among the first Judeans exiled to Babylon. A decade later, when Judah rebelled, Nebuchadnezzar deported Judah’s leaders along with King Jehoiachin and the prophet Ezekiel. Zedekiah was appointed ruler of Judah, but his part in an anti-Babylon conspiracy brought Nebuchadnezzar back to Jerusalem in 586 B.C. The king destroyed the temple, deported Judeans and sacked most of Judah’s cities. Four years later more Judeans were exiled, perhaps because of an uprising. After the first hard years, the Judeans in Babylon became courtiers, merchants, bankers and craftsmen. Babylonian policies allowed them to own property, to marry and to worship as they pleased -- in a quiet and inconspicuous way. Some adopted the Babylonian religion, but others found their faith in YHVH renewed. Emphasis on Jehovah as the one YHVH became stronger. Study of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, grew and thrived. Synagogues, representing the destroyed temple in Jerusalem, appeared for the first time as places for Israelites to assemble and worship. When the Persian emperor, Cyrus II, released the Israelites in 539 B.C., many chose to stay in the familiar security of Babylon. But more than a hundred thousand returned and re-joined those who had remained in Judah. By 516 B.C. the temple and walls of Jerusalem stood whole again. The words [Jew] and [Judaism] originated in this period, as contracted forms of [Judah.]