Babylonian Exile

Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones did not assume personal resurrection, a belief that entered Judaism in a later period. In its original context, the imagery of bones rearticulating and coming back to life draws upon the ancient burial practices of Judahite family tombs, offering a message of hope to the exiles in Babylon that YHWH will return them to their land.

The Bible consistently points to Aram in Northern Syria as Abraham’s place of origin. However, in a prequel added during the Babylonian exile, a later biblical author introduces Abram as being born in the famous city of Ur, near Babylon in Southern Iraq, from which he then migrates to Aram. When the city of Ur faded from historical memory, readers of the Bible associated the biblical Ur with Urfa in Turkey, aligning it with the Bible’s dominant tradition regarding Abraham’s origins.

Revised in the post-exilic period in the voice of Moses, Deuteronomy describes Judah’s destruction and exile to a foreign land כַּיּוֹם הַזֶּה “as it is still the case” (Deuteronomy 29:27), but reassures the people that, at the end of days, Israel will be reconciled with YHWH, who will circumcise their hearts to ensure their permanent loyalty.

During the Babylonian exile (6^th c. B.C.E.), Ezekiel prophesies the building of a future temple in Israel that is unlike the Tabernacle or First Temple, but that incorporates elements familiar from Babylonian temples, including the Ezida temple of Borsippa.

Abram’s journey from Ur of the Chaldeans to Canaan, and God’s changing his name to Abraham, “father of a multitude of nations,” presage the struggles and aspirations of his descendants’ return migration from Babylon to Judah. At stake is Isaiah’s vision about the place of Israel among the nations.

The Bible describes the shock that Ezra and Nehemiah experience upon learning that the Judean locals had married non-Judeans. And yet, from Babylonian marriage documents uncovered in cities near Babylon, we learn that intermarriage was occurring back in Babylonia as well.

During the Babylonian siege, while Jeremiah was in King Zedekiah’s prison, he redeems his cousin’s land, upon YHWH’s instruction. The incarcerated prophet thus symbolically enacts the future restoration for the people who will soon be exiled from their land.

Psalm 114, a late psalm, is exceptional in its structure and content.  These tightly structured eight verses, which reflect several non-Torah traditions, use Egypt symbolically, to encourage the exiles to return from Babylonia.

In 722 B.C.E., Assyria conquered the kingdom of Israel, and deported many of the residents of Samaria and its surroundings to other Assyrian provinces, and brought deportees from other conquered territories to Samaria to take their place. Excavations at Tel Hadid, near Lod in Israel, have unearthed material remains that contribute to our understanding of these transformative years.

Jeremiah 39 describes Nebuchadnezzar’s siege of Jerusalem, and even names some of the officials who were with him and their titles (v.3). Babylonian administrative records uncovered by archaeology revises our understanding of who they were.

And the Re-imagining of the Harvest Festival in the Wake of the Babylonian Exile

The connection between the Israelite festival of Sukkot in the temple and the Ugaritic new year festival and its dwellings of branches for the gods.  

A New Reading of Psalm 95

Upon the conquest of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar deported many Judeans to Babylonia. What was their life like there? Were they assimilated, or did they stand out? What language(s) did they speak and what religious practices did they maintain? What was their social and economic standing? Babylonian records allow us glimpses into the lives of some of the deportees.

Before the destruction of Judah in 586 BCE, Jeremiah wrote a series of oracles consoling his northern brethren. After the destruction of Judah, a supplementary layer was added to console the southern Judahites as well.