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 and Persian Periods: Methodological Perspective
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The Fall and Rise of Jerusalem
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The restoration of Jerusalem in the early Persian Period
The last module of our course will deal with different aspects of the Persian period: the cult of Jerusalem, changes in Jerusalem's status, the Judahite diaspora, the fall of Babylon and much more. We hope you will enjoy this final module which closes the story of Jerusalem's fall and rise.
Conheça os instrutores
Professor Oded Lipschits, Ph.D.Director, Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology
Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Near Eastern Cultures
The destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation of the elite of the nation
from the homeland into Babylon brought about
a grave religious, national, and personal crisis
among the exiles living in Babylon, both those who were exiled during the
time of Jehoiakim in 597 BCE, and those who had just recently joined them.
Additionally, for the first time, the nation was split
according to social and class lines that continued to exist independently.
An important element of the nation, the leaders, priests, and many of the
people of Jerusalem, had to live far from their homeland and the temple.
And there was a real threat of physical, spiritual and cultural alienation.
To cope with this harsh reality, the exiles
first and foremost had to understand the course
of historical events, to explain the events that
had led to the destruction, and thus, to
quickly develop a new social, national and religious framework.
However, the land was not left uninhabited.
From the different Biblical descriptions of the time of
the destruction and the exile, it's clear that there
was an ideological gap and a controversy that continued to develop
between the exiles in Babylon and the people who remained in the land.
Those remained lost the elite class that had shaped the way of life for centuries.
The institutions of government to which they had been accustomed,
and the major site of religious ritual in the kingdom.
However, they did
remain in their own homes and on their land.
With their own local leadership and the local
centers that had served them for so long.
It is even possible that in many senses,
the situation for those remaining in Judah actually improved,
because in the organization of the province after the
destruction, there was a new possibility of social mobility
and the option
to develop a new elite. And many could seize ownership of homes
and property. It is reasonable to assume that life
without a centralized government placing Jerusalem in the center and regarding it
as the only legitimate place for religious ritual, allowed the abolishment
of the Jerusalem monopoly and the development of alternate
places of religious ritual.
During this time, local traditions could have appeared openly, some of which
were ancient traditions that had been stored away under the Jerusalem monopoly.
Even new traditions could have sprung up
which emphasized the importance of, and standing, of
the house of Saul, the centrality of the
central cities in Benjamin, and the sanctity of
sites of worship such as Bethel, Mizpah, Gibeon, and even
Shechem.
The exiles in Babylon in contrast, underwent an ideological and
religious melting pot experience, and within a short time, a
new national, religious, and moral worldview took shape, in which
Jerusalem and the House of David continued to be central components.
From the anger expressed by Ezekiel in his furious
prophecies against those who remained in Judah.
Particularly you can see in Ezekiel 11, verses 15 to 21,
or in Ezekiel 33, verses 23 to 29.
It emerges that the exiles could not
accept the ideological liberation of those remaining.
The attempt to establish their lives in Judah based on an independent leadership,
and the moral viewpoints that they had developed.
According to these moral views, whoever sinned was punished by exile,
and those who remained in Judah were the people of God
and were entitled to realize the promise given by God to Abraham.
Added to this is the anger of the
exiles on those who remained and seized possession of
their lands and property because the exiles continued to
regard themselves as the legal owner of these assets
and they certainly had played a part in the longing to return to Judah.
It was only in the second generation of the exiles to Babylon in the
mid-sixth century BCE that there is a
discernible note of reconciliation with Babylonian rule and
with the reality of life in exile, as well
as recognition of the existence of the remnant in Judah.
There is evidence of a new stage, where the exile acknowledged their
loss, adjusted to the situation, and made peace with this reality.
It is
probable that
the province of Judah continued to exist
under Babylonian rule as part of a defined
administrative
unit, headed by a local governor
and Mizpah continued to be its capital, possibly until the rebuilding
of Jerusalem's wall in the middle of the fifth century BCE.
There is no evidence that the proclamation of Cyrus, and the Persian rule, brought with
them any change in the status of the province, which had already been defined,
a legacy from the days of the Babylonian rule.
The major change that took place during the Persian rule was
reflected in the appointment of governors who were relatives of the
royal family and the return of the reigns of government to
the elite of the nation, who had been in exile in Babylon.
This is one of the most striking and important hallmarks of the new era,
which began with a return to Zion, and it led to a renewal of the
rule of the old-time elite over the people remaining in Judah.
Demographically, the return to Zion would be
without significance and no change is detectable
between the end of the sixth century and the beginning of the fifth century BCE.
Moreover, the unprecedented dwindling of the total population
of the province of Judah after the destruction of Jerusalem continued
into the beginning of the Persian period.
One may estimate the population of province of Judah in
the middle of the fifth Century BCE at approximately 30,000 people.
It is likely that, at the beginning of
the Persian period, several hundreds returned to Judah from
among the nation's elite, particularly among the priestly
caste and those who served in a temple worship
and they settled in Jerusalem and its environs.
At the same time, the city continued to exist in its poverty,
and those who returned were unable to re-establish it as a true urban center.
It seems that at this period Jerusalem may be defined as a temple alongside
of which there was a place to live for those who served in the temple and
perhaps for a few residents. The days of the return to Zion
brought to an end a brief exceptional period of time in the history of Judah.
The elite returning from Babylon refused to reconcile itself to the fact that at
certain point in time that people remaining
in Judah had managed their lives without them.
That birthright had been taken from Jerusalem, and
the central or only temple was standing in ruins.
Alongside of these ruins other signs of ritual were springing up.
Therefore, immediately upon the return to Zion, there was an expanding of
the history of the community at that time from biblical historiography. A historical
dark age was created where the land was empty, desolate, and ruined,
and its most definitive feature was an account of the exiles in Babylon.
As far as the returnees were concerned, a Jewish presence
in Judah was renewed only upon their arrival in the land.
And the proclamation by Cyrus was the basis for the
establishment of the Yehud province.
However, the historical, geopolitical, and archeological research
that I presented in this course affirm that, in every respect, the circumstances
at the beginning of the Persian rule in Judah were
a direct continuation of the circumstances during the Babylonian rule.
The changes that took place during the days of the return to
Zion were the reestablishment of the temple and the renewed recognition
that it was the official place of religious ritual of the Persian province.
Establishment of the status of Jerusalem as
the uncontested political, social, and religious center of
the nation and thus, the reestablishment of the
elite that had been in exile in Babylon
as the nation's leadership.
This leadership uses support of the Persian imperial government to introduce
its ways and views as they have taken shape in 50 years of Babylonian exile.
The religious and national ideology that the returnees brought back with them
was innovative and shaped the character of the province until the Hasmonean period
in second century BCE.
Jewish fanatical society closed in upon
itself, set itself apart from the neighbors,
and diverted most of its effort to rallying around the center in Jerusalem.
The constant tension between the small, weak province, which was fanatical and
closed, and the memories of the past and the longing for the future is
a central characteristic of the prophetic literature from the early days of
the return to Zion and the later historigraphic literature of this area.
The tension and the gap between the poor reality, the great memories, and the high
expectations to the glorious future, was probably the
leading national ideological force in Persian period Judah.
However, from any aspect that we checked during this course,
the actual situation in the province remained quite the same.
The Babylonian, Persian, and early Hellenistic period are a unique
area in the history of Judah from 586 to 167 BCE.
Judah was a small province under the rule of great empires.
The history of Judah and Jerusalem
between 586 and 167 BCE is an interlude
between two periods of greatness and political independence.
The end of the first temple period on the one
hand, and the period of the Hasmoneans on the other.
Before 586 and after 167 BCE, Judah, and especially Jerusalem
were the focus of scribal literature that promoted the centrality
of the city, its temple, and the leader of the
nation, be it the house of David or the Hasmonean family.
Jerusalem and its ongoing expansion played an important role in this
literature and in some ways, developed as a result of it.
In both periods, the built up-area of the city expanded over a
short time period to the western hill of Jerusalem, the area of
the modern day Jewish Armenian Quarter the so called
mounts, Mount Zion and was enclosed by strong fortifications.
The Southeastern Hill, the so-called City of
David, was rebuilt and refortified as well.
The border of Judah, its army, and its administration also underwent dramatic
changes, all of which make the late eighth and seventh century BCE, as well
as the second half of the second century BCE, well-defined and
easily recognizable periods in the
historical and archaeological research of Judah.
In contrast with this rich and well-organized architectural
remains from the late eighth to seventh century,
and to the second and first centuries BCE,
not many building remains from the intervening period.
The Babylonian, Persian and
Hellenistic periods have been uncovered in Judah.
This is the case even at sites
where an abundance of pottery sherds, semi-precious,
figurines and other typical Persian, Babylonian or
even early Hellenistic period finds have been uncovered.
It's clear that, under the Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and Hellenistic
rule, there was a marked process of attenuation in urban
life in Judah.
The meaning of all this is that, in contrast with the high
expectations for a change, Judah continued to be a rural province for centuries.
And Jerusalem renewed its status as a real city only during
the late Hellenistic period, after the revolt of the Hasmonean family.
In the coming units of this part of the
course, my colleagues and I will demonstrate the small and
gradual changes in the geo-political, administrative, demographic, and
settlement aspects, in order to show that the
changes that took place in the Babylonian period
continued to exist during all the Persian period.
Besides the changes in the cultic status of Jerusalem, no other aspects in the
Judahite life in Judah materialized according to
the expectation of the representatives of the Babylonian
elite who came back to Jerusalem.
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