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The Assyrian capital of Nineveh fell to the onrushing Babylonians in 612 B.C.E. Jehoahaz, the successor to Josiah, was on the throne only three months before the Egyptians removed him. The combined forces of Egypt and Assyria were unable to neutralize Babylonia at Carchemish in 605. From then on, Judah became a vassal state to Babylonia.
Jehoiakim (609-598) followed Jehoahaz. When he withheld tribute from Nebuchadnezzar, the great Babylonian empire builder, Jerusalem was besieged. Jehoiakim was assassinated sometime during the onslaught and Jehoiachin replaced him. Hapless Jehoiachin was on the throne only three months until the city fell. He was naturally held responsible and was carted off to Babylon along with other Jerusalemite notables and officials, as well as the temple treasury.
Zedekiah (598-587) was installed as king of Jerusalem on the understanding that he would promote loyalty to the Babylonian overlords. When later he rebelled, Nebuchadnezzar was compelled to return to Jerusalem to force compliance. Jerusalem was completely destroyed after an eighteen-month siege. Especially traumatic was the total destruction of the temple. The focus of Judah's religious life was now gone.
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A Babylonian Cylinder commemorating certain building activities of Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 B.C.E.), the king who destroyed the first Temple in Jerusalem.
Yale Babylonian Collection |
Gedaliah was appointed governor of what became the province of Judea. But Jerusalem was in such a shambles that he administered the province from Mizpah. A sorry state, or province, it was. Only the least capable elements of the population were left in Judah. All those who had not been killed in the final conflagration of Jerusalem, the priesthood, members of the royal court, tradesmen, and craftsmen, were taken to Babylon where they began a new life.
The book ends on a note of guarded optimism. Jehoiachin, Judah's Davidic king in exile, was freed from prison around 560 B.C.E. after thirty-seven years of captivity. He was treated with respect by Evil-merodach, king of Babylon, known in Babylonian records as Amel-marduk (562-560). Babylonian historical tablets (see Pritchard 1969: 308) record the payment of oil and barley rations to Yaukin (Jehoiachin) king of Iahudu (Judah).
For the faith of God's people, the most important point was that the Davidic line of Judah had not disappeared. There was still hope for the future. Thus, the Deuteronomistic History ends negatively and positively. Judah had been destroyed, but God's community survived, implying it might one day recover greatness through the messianic line.
 Figure 9.8 Babylonian Empire
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| ToC | Reading the Old Testament | . . . Chapter 9. Kings | ToC |
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