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Captivity
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kap-tiv'-i-ti
RELATED: Assyria, Babylon, Cyrus, Daniel, Exile, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Kingdom of Israel, Kingdom of Judah, Zedekiah, Zerubbabel
INVADERS OF THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL: Pul, Tiglath-pileser, Shalmaneser, Sargon
INVADERS OF THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH: Nebuchadnezzar, Sennacherib |
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Easton's Bible Dictionary
(1) Of Israel.
The kingdom of the ten tribes was successively invaded by several Assyrian kings.
Pul (q.v.) imposed a tribute on Menahem of a thousand talents of silver ( 2 Kings
15:19 , 15:20 ; 1 Chronicles 5:26 ) (B.C. 762), and Tiglath-pileser, in the days
of Pekah (B.C. 738), carried away the trans-Jordanic tribes and the inhabitants
of Galilee into Assyria ( 2 Kings 15:29 ; Isaiah 9:1 ). Subsequently Shalmaneser
invaded Israel and laid siege to Samaria, the capital of the kingdom. During the
siege he died, and was succeeded by Sargon, who took the city, and transported
the great mass of the people into Assyria (B.C. 721), placing them in Halah and
in Habor, and in the cities of the Medes ( 2 Kings 17:3 , 17:5 ). Samaria was
never again inhabited by the Israelites. The families thus removed were carried
to distant cities, many of them not far from the Caspian Sea, and their place
was supplied by colonists from Babylon and Cuthah, etc. ( 2 Kings 17:24 ). Thus
terminated the kingdom of the ten tribes, after a separate duration of two hundred
and fifty-five years (B.C. 975-721).
Many speculations have been indulged in with reference to these ten tribes. But
we believe that all, except the number that probably allied themselves with Judah
and shared in their restoration under Cyrus, are finally lost.
"Like the dew on the mountain, Like the foam on the river, Like the bubble on
the fountain, They are gone, and for ever." (Sir Walter Scott)
(2) Of Judah.
In the third year of Jehoiachim, the eighteenth king of Judah (B.C. 605), Nebuchadnezzar
having overcome the Egyptians at Carchemish, advanced to Jerusalem with a great
army. After a brief siege he took that city, and carried away the vessels of the
sanctuary to Babylon, and dedicated them in the Temple of Belus ( 2 Kings 24:1
; 2 Chronicles 36:6 , 36:7 ; Daniel 1:1 , 1:2 ). He also carried away the treasures
of the king, whom he made his vassal. At this time, from which is dated the "seventy
years" of captivity ( Jeremiah 25 ; Daniel 9:1 , 9:2 ), Daniel and his companions
were carried to Babylon, there to be brought up at the court and trained in all
the learning of the Chaldeans. After this, in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, a great
national fast was appointed ( Jeremiah 36:9 ), during which the king, to show
his defiance, cut up the leaves of the book of Jeremiah's prophecies as they were
read to him in his winter palace, and threw them into the fire. In the same spirit
he rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar ( 2 Kings 24:1 ), who again a second time (B.C.
598) marched against Jerusalem, and put Jehoiachim to death, placing his son Jehoiachin
on the throne in his stead. But Jehoiachin's counsellors displeasing Nebuchadnezzar,
he again a third time turned his army against Jerusalem, and carried away to Babylon
a second detachment of Jews as captives, to the number of 10,000 ( 2 Kings 24:13
; Jeremiah 24:1 ; 2 Chronicles 36:10 ), among whom were the king, with his mother
and all his princes and officers, also Ezekiel, who with many of his companions
were settled on the banks of the river Chebar (q.v.). He also carried away all
the remaining treasures of the temple and the palace, and the golden vessels of
the sanctuary.
Mattaniah, the uncle of Jehoiachin, was now made king over what remained of the
kingdom of Judah, under the name of Zedekiah ( 2 Kings 24:17 ; 2 Chronicles 36:10
). After a troubled reign of eleven years his kingdom came to an end ( 2 Chronicles
36:11 ). Nebuchadnezzar, with a powerful army, besieged Jerusalem, and Zedekiah
became a prisoner in Babylon. His eyes were put out, and he was kept in close
confinement till his death ( 2 Kings 25:7 ). The city was spoiled of all that
was of value, and then given up to the flames. The temple and palaces were consumed,
and the walls of the city were levelled with the ground (B.C. 586), and all that
remained of the people, except a number of the poorest class who were left to
till the ground and dress the vineyards, were carried away captives to Babylon.
This was the third and last deportation of Jewish captives. The land was now utterly
desolate, and was abondoned to anarchy.
In the first year of his reign as king of Babylon (B.C. 536), Cyrus issued a decree
liberating the Jewish captives, and permitting them to return to Jerusalem and
rebuild the city and the temple ( 2 Chronicles 36:22 , 36:23 ; Ezra 1; 2). The
number of the people forming the first caravan, under Zerubbabel, amounted in
all to 42,360 ( Ezra 2:64 , 2:65 ), besides 7,337 men-servants and maid-servants.
A considerable number, 12,000 probably, from the ten tribes who had been carried
away into Assyria no doubt combined with this band of liberated captives.
At a later period other bands of the Jews returned (1) under ( Ezra 7:7 ) (B.C.
458), and (2) ( Nehemiah 7:66 ) (B.C. 445). But the great mass of the people remained
still in the land to which they had been carried, and became a portion of the
Jews of the "dispersion" ( John 7:35 ; 1 Peter 1:1 ). The whole number of the
exiles that chose to remain was probably about six times the number of those who
returned.
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
(no entry)
Smith's Bible Dictionary
The present article is confined to the forcible deportation
of the Jews; from their native land, and their forcible detention, under the Assyrian
or Babylonian kings.
Captives of Israel. --
The kingdom of Israel was invaded by three or four successive
kings of Assyria. Pul or Surdanapalus, according to Rawlinson, imposed a tribute
(B.C. 771 or 712), Rawl.) upon Menahem. ( 2 Kings 15:19 ) and 1 Chronicles 5:26,
Tiglath-pileser carried away (B.C. 740) the trans-Jordanic tribes, ( 1 Chronicles
5:26 ) and the inhabitants of Galilee, ( 2 Kings 15:29 ) comp. Isaiah 9:1 to Assyria.
Shalmaneser twice invaded, ( 2 Kings 17:3 , 17:5 ) the kingdom which remained
to Hoshea, took Samaria (B.C. 721) after a siege of three years, and carried Israel
away into Assyria. This was the end of the kingdom of the ten tribes of Israel.
Captivities of Judah .--
Sennacherib (B.C. 713) is stated to have carried into Assyria 200,000 captives
from the Jewish cities which he took. ( 2 Kings 18:13 ) Nebuchadnezzar, in the
first half of his reign (B.C. 606-562), repeatedly invaded Judea, besieged Jerusalem,
carried away the inhabitants to Babylon, and destroyed the temple. The 70 years
of captivity predicted by Jeremiah, ( Jeremiah 25:12 ) are dated by Prideaux from
B.C. 606. The captivity of Ezekiel dates from B.C. 598, when that prophet, like
Mordecai the uncle of Esther ( Esther 2:6 ) accompanied Jehoiachin. The captives
were treated not as slaves but as colonists. The Babylonian captivity was brought
to a close by the decree, ( Ezra 1:2 ) of Cyrus (B.C. 536), and the return of
a portion of the nation under Sheshbazzar or Zerubbabel (B.C. 535), Ezra (B.C.
458) and Nehemiah (B.C. 445). Those who were left in Assyria, ( Esther 8:9 , 8:11
) and kept up their national distinctions, were known as The Dispersion. ( John
7:35 ; 1 Peter 1:1 ; James 1:1 )
The lost tribes. --
Many attempts have been made to discover the ten tribes existing as a distinct
community; but though history bears no witness of the present distinct existence,
it enables us to track the footsteps of the departing race in four directions
after the time of the Captivity.
Some returned and mixed with the Jews. ( Luke 2:36 ; Philemon 3:5 ) etc. Some
were left in Samaria, mingled with the Samaritans, ( Ezra 6:21 ; John 4:12 ) and
became bitter enemies of the Jews. Many remained in Assyria, and were recognized
as an integral part of the Dispersion; see ( Acts 2:1 ; 26:7 ) Most, probably,
apostatized in Assyria, adopted the usages and idolatry of the nations among whom
they were planted, and became wholly swallowed up in them.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
kap-tiv'-i-ti (galah, galuth, shebhuth, shibhyah; metoikesia):
I. OF THE NORTHERN KINGDOM (THE WORK OF ASSYRIA)
1. Western Campaigns of Shalmaneser II, 860-825 BC:
The captivity of the Northern Kingdom was the work of the great Assyrian power
having its seat at Nineveh on the Tigris. The empire of Assyria, rounded nearly
2000 BC, had a long history behind it when its annals begin to take notice of
the kingdom of Israel and Judah. The reign of Shalmaneser II (860-825 BC) marks
the first contact between these powers. This is not the Shalmaneser mentioned
in 2 Kings 17 and 18, who is the fourth of the name and flourished more than a
century later. Shalmaneser II was contemporary during his long reign with Jehoshaphat,
Jehoram, Ahaziah and Joash, kings of Judah; with Ahab, Ahaziah, Jehoram and Jehu,
kings of Israel; with Hazael and Benhadad II, kings of Syria at Damascus, and
with Mesha, king of Moab. The Assyrian authorities for his reign are an inscription
engraved by himself on the rocks of Armenia; the Black Obelisk brought by Layard
from Nimroud, now in the British Museum; and the texts engraved on the bronze
gates of Balawat, discovered by Hormuzd Rassam in 1878, and recognized as the
swinging gates of Shalmaneser's palace. From these authorities we learn that in
his 6th year he encountered the combined forces of Damascus, Hamath, Israel, and
other states which had united to oppose his progress westward, and completely
routed them in the battle of Karkar (854 BC). The danger which threatened the
western states in common had brought Syria and Israel together; and this is in
accord with the Scripture narrative which tells of a covenant, denounced by God's
prophet, between Ahab and Benhadad (1 Kings 20:34), and mentions a period of three
years when there was no war between Syria and Israel. The defeat of the allies
seems, however, to have broken up the confederacy, for, soon after, Ahab is found,
with the aid of Jehoshaphat of Judah, attempting unsuccessfully, and with fatal
result to himself, to recover from the weakened power of Syria the city of Ramoth-gilead
(1 Kings 22). In another campaign to the West, which likewise finds no record
in Scripture, Shalmaneser received the tribute of Tyre and Sidon, and of "Yahua
of Khumri," that is, of Jehu, of the land of Omri, as Israel is called on the
monuments.
2. Of Rimmon-nirari III, 810-781 BC:
The next Assyrian monarch who turned his arms against the West was Rimmon-nirari
III (810-781 BC), grandson of Shalmaneser II. Although he is not mentioned by
name in Scripture, his presence and activity had their influence upon contemporary
events recorded in 2 Kings. He caused Syria to let go her hold of Israel; and
although he brought Israel into subjection, the people of the Northern Kingdom
would rather have a ruler exercising a nominal sovereignty over them in distant
Nineveh than a king oppressing them in Damascus. Hence, Rimmon-nirari has been
taken for the saviour whom God gave to Israel, "so that they went out from under
the hand of the Syrians" (2 Kings 13:5; compare 2 Kings 13:23).
With the death of Rimmon-nirari in 781 BC, the power of Assyria received a temporary
check, and on the other hand the kingdom of Judah under Uzziah and the kingdom
of Israel under Jeroboam II reached the zenith of their political prosperity.
In 745 BC, however, a usurper, Pul, or Pulu, ascended the throne of Assyria, and
reigned as Tiglath- pileser III. It is by the former name that he is first mentioned
in the Scripture narrative (2 Kings 15:19 ; 1 Chronicles 5:26), and by the latter
that he is mentioned on the monuments. That the two names belong to one man is
now held to be certain (Schrader, COT, I, 230 f).
3. Of Tiglath-pileser III, 745-727 BC:
Tiglath-pileser was one of the greatest monarchs of antiquity. He was the first
to attempt to consolidate an empire in the manner to which the world has become
accustomed since Roman times. He was not content to receive tribute from the kings
and rulers of the states which he conquered. The countries which he conquered
became subject provinces of his empire, governed by Assyrian satraps and contributing
to the imperial treasury. Not long after he had seated himself on the throne,
Tiglath-pileser, like his predecessors, turned his attention to the West. After
the siege of Arpad, northward of Aleppo, the Assyrian forces made their way into
Syria, and putting into operation the Assyrian method of deportation and repopulation,
the conqueror annexed Hamath which had sought the alliance and assistance of Azariah,
that is Uzziah, king of Judah. Whether he then refrained from molesting Judah,
or whether her prestige was broken by this campaign of the Assyrian king, it is
not easy to say. In another campaign he certainly subjected Menahem of Israel
with other kings to tribute. What is stated in a word or two in the Annals of
Tiglath-pileser is recorded at length in the Bible history (2 Kings 15:19): "There
came against the land Pul the king of Assyria; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand
talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his
hand. And Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth,
of each man 50 shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king
of Assyria tamed back, and stayed not there in the land." In the reign of Pekah,
under his proper name of Tiglath-pileser, he is recorded to have raided the northern
parts of Israel, and carried the inhabitants away into the land of Assyria (2
Kings 15:29). We next hear of Ahaz, king of Judah, appealing to the Assyrians
for help against "these two tails of smoking firebrands," Rezin of Syria and Pekah,
the son of Remaliah (Isaiah 7:4). To secure this help he took the silver and gold
of the house of the Lord, and sent it as a present to the king of Assyria (2 Kings
16:8). Meanwhile Tiglath-pileser was setting out on a new campaign to the West.
He carried fire and sword through Syria and the neighboring lands as far as Gaza,
and on his return he captured Samaria, without, however, razing it to the ground.
Pekah having been slain by his own people, the Assyrian monarch left Hoshea, the
leader of the conspiracy, on the throne of Israel as the vassal of Assyria.
4. Of Shalmaneser IV, 727-722 BC--Seige of Samaria:
In 727 BC Tiglath-pileser III died and was succeeded by Shalmaneser IV. His reign
was short and no annals of it have come to light. In 2 Kings 17 and 18, however,
we read that Hoshea, relying upon help from the king of Egypt, thought the death
of Tiglath-pileser a good opportunity for striking a blow for independence. It
was a vain endeavor, for the end of the kingdom of Israel was at hand. The people
were grievously given over to oppression and wickedness, which the prophets Amos
and Hosea vigorously denounced. Hosea, in particular, was "the prophet of Israel's
decline and fall." Prophesying at this very time he says: "As for Samaria, her
king is cut off, as foam upon the water. The high places also of Aven, the sin
of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their
altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall
on us" (Hosea 10:7 , 8 ; compare Hosea 10:14 , 15). No less stern are the predictions
by Isaiah and Micah of the doom that is to overtake Samaria: "Woe to the crown
of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious
beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley of them that are overcome with
wine" (Isaiah 28:1). "For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the
sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria?
.... Therefore I will make Samaria as a heap of the field, and as places for planting
vineyards" (Micah 1:5 , 6). No help came from Egypt. With the unaided and enfeebled
resources of his kingdom Hoshea had to face the chastising forces of his sovereign.
He was made prisoner outside Samaria and was most likely carried away to Nineveh.
Meanwhile the land was over-run and the capital doomed to destruction, as the
prophets had declared.
5. Samaria Captured by Sargon, 722 BC:
Not without a stubborn resistance on the part of her defenders did "the fortress
cease from Ephraim" (Isaiah 17:3). It was only after a three years' siege that
the Assyrians captured the city (2 Kings 17:5). If we had only the record of the
Hebrew historian we should suppose that Shalmaneser was the monarch to whom fell
the rewards and honors of the capture. Before the surrender of the city Shalmaneser
had abdicated or died, and Sargon, only once mentioned in Scripture (Isaiah 20:1),
but one of the greatest of Assyrian monarchs, had ascended the throne. From his
numerous inscriptions, recovered from the ruins of Khorsabad, we learn that he,
and not Shalmaneser, was the king who completed the conquest of the revolted kingdom
and deported the inhabitants to Assyria. "In the beginning (of my reign)," says
Sargon in his Annals, "the city Samaria (I took) with the help of Shamash, who
secures victory to me (.... 27,290 people inhabiters of it) I took away captive;
50 chariots the property of my royalty, which were in it I appropriated. (....
the city) I restored, and more than before I caused it to be inhabited; people
of the lands conquered by my hand in it (I caused to dwell. My governor over them
I appointed, and tribute) and imposts just as upon the Assyrians I laid upon them."
The Assyrian Annals and the Scripture history support and supplement each other
at this point. The sacred historian describes the deportation as follows: "The
king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed
them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the
Medes .... because they obeyed not the voice of Yahweh their God, but transgressed
his covenant, even all that Moses, the servant of Yahweh, commanded, and would
not hear it, nor do it" (2 Kings 17:6 , 7 ; 18:11 , 12).
6. Depopulation and Repopulation of Samaria:
The repopulation of the conquered territory is also described by the sacred historian:
"And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Avva,
and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead
of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities
thereof" (2 Kings 17:24). The fact that Sargon introduced foreign settlers taken
in war into Samaria is attested by inscriptions. That there were various episodes
of deportation and repopulation in connection with the captivity of the Northern
Kingdom appears to be certain. We have seen already that Tiglath-pileser III deported
the population of the northern tribes to Assyria and placed over the depopulated
country governors of his own. And at a time considerably later, we learn that
Sargon's grandson Esarhaddon, and his great-grandson Ashur-bani-pal, "the great
and noble Osnappar," imported to the region of Samaria settlers of nations conquered
by them in the East (Ezra 4:2 , 10). Of the original settlers, whom a priest,
carried away by the king of Assyria but brought back to Bethel, taught "the law
of the god of the land," it is said that "they feared Yahweh, and served their
own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried
away" (2 Kings 17:33). The hybrid stock descended from those settlers is known
to us in later history and in the Gospels as the Samaritans.
7. The Ten Tribes in Captivity:
We must not suppose that a clean sweep was made Of the inhabitants of the Northern
Kingdom. No doubt, as in the Babylonian captivity, "the poorest of the land were
left to be vinedressers and husbandmen" (2 Kings 25:12). The numbers actually
deported were but a moiety of the whole population. But the kingdom of the Ten
Tribes was now at an end. Israel had become an Assyrian province, with a governor
established in Samaria. As regards the Golah--the captives of Israel in the cities
of the Medes--it must not be supposed that they became wholly absorbed in the
population among whom they were settled. We can well believe that they preserved
their Israelite traditions and usages with sufficient clearness and tenacity,
and that they became part of the Jewish dispersion so widespread throughout the
East. It is quite possible that at length they blended with the exiles of Judah
carried off by Nebuchadrezzar, and that then Judah and Ephraim became one nation
as never before. The name Jew, therefore, naturally came to include members of
what had earlier been the Northern Confederacy of Israel as well as those of the
Southern Kingdom to which it properly belonged, so that in the post-exilic period,
Jehudi, or Jew, means an adherent of Judaism without regard to local nationality.
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II. OF JUDAH (THE WORK OF THE CHALDAEAN POWER)
Southern Kingdom and House of David.
The captivity of Judah was the work of the great Chaldean power seated at Babylon
on the Euphrates. While the Northern Kingdom had new dynasties to rule it in quick
succession, Judah and Jerusalem remained true to the House of David to the end.
The Southern Kingdom rested on a firmer foundation, and Jerusalem with its temple
and priesthood secured the throne against the enemies who overthrew Samaria for
nearly a century and a half longer.
1. Break-up of Assyria:
Sargon, who captured Samaria in 722 BC, was followed by monarchs with a great
name as conquerors and builders and patrons of literature, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon,
Ashurbanipal. When Ashurbanipal died in 625 BC, the dissolution of the Assyrian
Empire was not far off. Its hold over the West had greatly slackened, and the
tributary peoples were breaking out into revolt. Bands of Scythians, a nomad Aryan
race, from the region between the Caucasus and the Caspian, were sweeping through
the Assyrian Empire as far as Palestine and Egypt, and the prophecies of Jeremiah
and Zephaniah reflect their methods of warfare and fierce characteristics. They
were driven back, however, at the frontier of Egypt, and appear to have returned
to the North without invading Judah.
2. Downfall of Nineveh, 606 BC:
From the North these hordes were closing in upon Nineveh, and on all sides the
Assyrian power was being weakened. In the "Burden of Nineveh," the prophet Nahum
foreshadows the joy of the kingdom of Judah at the tidings of its approaching
downfall: "Behold, upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,
that publisheth peace! Keep thy feasts, O Judah, perform thy vows; for the wicked
one shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off" (Nahum 1:15; compare
Nahum 3:8 - 11). The Medes regained their independence and under their king, Cyaxares,
formed an alliance with the Chaldeans, who soon afterward revolted under the leadership
of Nabopolassar, viceroy of Babylon. Rallying these various elements to his standard
Nabopolassar laid siege to the Assyrian capital, and in 606 BC, Nineveh, which
had been the capital city of great conquerors, and had "multiplied (her) merchants
above the stars of heaven" (Nahum 3:16), fell before the combined forces of the
Medes and Chaldeans, fell suddenly and finally, to rise no more. Of the new Babylonian
Empire upon which the Chaldeans now entered, Nebuchadrezzar, whose father Nabopolassar
had associated him with him on the throne, was the first and most eminent ruler.
3. Pharaoh Necoh's Revolt:
That the people of Judah should exult in the overthrow of Nineveh and the empire
for which it stood we can well understand. Jerusalem herself had by God's mercy
remained unconquered when Sennacherib nearly a century before had carried off
from the surrounding country 200, 150 people and had devastated the towns and
fortresses near. But the hateful Assyrian yoke had rested upon Judah to the end,
and not upon Judah only but even upon Egypt and the valley of the Nile. In 608
BC Pharaoh Necoh revolted from his Assyrian suzerain and resolved upon an eastern
campaign. He had no desire to quarrel with Josiah of Judah, through whose territory
he must pass; but in loyalty to his Assyrian suzerain Josiah threw himself across
the path of the Egyptian invader and perished in the battle of Megiddo. The Pharaoh
seems to have returned to Egypt, taking Jehoahaz the son of Josiah with him, and
to have appointed his brother Jehoiakim king of Judah, and to have exacted a heavy
tribute from the land.
4. Defeat at Carchemish, 604 BC:
But he did not desist from his purpose to win an eastern empire. Accordingly he
pressed forward till he reached the Euphrates, where he was completely routed
by the Babylonian army under Nebuchadrezzar in the decisive battle of Carchemish,
604 BC. The battle left the Chaldeans undisputed masters of Western Asia, and
Judah exchanged the yoke of Assyria for that of Babylon.
5. The New Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadrezzar, 604-562 BC:
So far as cruelty was concerned, there was little to choose between the new tyrants
and the old oppressors. Of the Chaldeans Habakkuk, who flourished at the commencement
of the new Empire, says: "They are terrible and dreadful. .... Their horses also
are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves; and their
horsemen spread themselves: yea, their horsemen come from far; they fly as an
eagle that hasteth to devour" (Habakkuk 1:7 , 8 the American Revised Version,
margin). Over Western Asia, including Judah, Nebuchadrezzar since the battle of
Carchemish was supreme. It was vain for Judah to coquet with Egypt when Nebuchadrezzar
had a long and powerful arm with which to inflict chastisement upon his disloyal
subjects.
The Mission of Jeremiah, 626-580 BC.
The mission of Jeremiah the prophet in this crisis of the history of Judah was
to preach obedience and loyalty to the king of Babylon, and moral reformation
as the only means of escaping the Divine vengeance impending upon land and people.
He tells them in the name of God of the great judgment that was to come at the
hand of the Chaldeans on Jerusalem and surrounding peoples. He even predicts the
period of their subjection to Chaldean domination: "And this whole land shall
be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of
Babylon seventy years" (Jeremiah 25:11). This preaching was unpalatable to the
partisans of Egypt and to those who believed in the inviolability of Jerusalem.
But with stern rebuke and with symbolic action he proclaims the doom of Jerusalem,
and in the face of persecution and at the risk of his life, the prophet fulfills
his ministry.
6. Revolt and Punishment of Jehoiakim, 608-597 BC:
Jehoiakim, who was first the vassal of Pharaoh Necoh, and then of Nebuchadrezzar,
was in corruption and wickedness too faithful a representative of the people.
Jeremiah charges him with covetousness, the shedding of innocent blood, oppression
and violence (Jeremiah 22:13 - 19). The fourth year of Jehoiakim was the first
year of Nebuchadrezzar, who, fresh from the victory of Carchemish, was making
his sovereignty felt in the western world. The despicable king of Judah became
Nebuchadrezzar's vassal and continued in his allegiance three years, after which
he turned and rebelled against him. But he received neither encouragement nor
help from the neighboring peoples. "Yahweh sent against him bands of the Chaldeans,
and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children
of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of
Yahweh, which he spake by his servants the prophets" (2 Kings 24:2). The history
of the latter part of Jehoiakim's reign is obscure. The Hebrew historian says
that after a reign of eleven years he slept with his fathers, from which we infer
that he died a natural death. From Daniel we learn that in the third year of Jehoiakim,
Nebuchadrezzar came up against Jerusalem and besieged it, and carried off, along
with vessels of the house of God, members of the seed royal, and of the nobility
of Judah, among whom was Daniel the prophet. That Jehoiakim was included in what
seems to be a first installment of the captivity of Judah is expressly affirmed
by the Chronicler who says: "Against him (Jehoiakim) came up Nebuchadnezzar ....
and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon" (2 Chronicles 36:6). However
the facts really stand, the historian adds to the record of the death of Jehoiakim
and of the succession of Jehoiachin the significant comment: "And the king of
Egypt came not again any more out of this land; for the king of Babylon had taken,
from the brook of Egypt unto the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king
of Egypt" (2 Kings 24:7).
7. Siege and Surrender of Jerusalem under Jehoiachin, 597 BC:
Jehoiachin who succeeded Jehoiakim reigned only three months, the same length
of time as his unfortunate predecessor Jehoahaz (2 Kings 23:31). The captivity
of Jehoahaz in Egypt and the captivity of Jehoiachin in Babylon are lamented in
a striking elegy by Ezekiel, who compares them to young lions, the offspring of
the mother lioness Israel, which learned to catch and their prey and devoured
men, but were taken in the pit of the nations and put in rings, so that their
roar was no more heard in the mountains of Israel (Ezekiel 19:1 - 9). Nebuchadrezzar
came in person while his servants were besieging Jerusalem, and Jehoiachin surrendered
at discretion. So the king and his mother and his servants and his princes and
his officers were carried off with the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand
captives. `None remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. He
carried out thence all the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and the treasures
of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold, which Solomon
king of Israel had made in the temple of Yahweh, as Yahweh had said.
8. First Deportation, 597 BC:
And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths
a thousand, all of them strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon
brought captive to Babylon. And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's
father's brother, king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah' (2 Kings
24:10 - 17). From Jehoiachin dates the carrying away into Babylon, the year being
597 BC. The unfortunate monarch lived in exile in Babylon 38 years, and seems
to have retained the respect and loyalty of the exiles among whom he dwelt.
The Baskets of Figs:
It was with reference to the deportation of the princes and craftsmen and smiths
that Jeremiah had his vision of the baskets of figs--one containing figs very
good, like the first ripe figs; the other very bad, so bad they could not be eaten
(Jeremiah 24:1 - 3). The good figs were the captives of Judah carried away into
the land of the Chaldeans for good; the bad figs were the king Zedekiah and his
princes and the residue of Jerusalem, upon whom severe judgments were yet to fall
till they were consumed from off the land (Jeremiah 24:4 - 10).
9. The Ministry of Ezekiel, 592-570 BC:
Among the captives thus carried to Babylon and placed on the banks of the Chebar
was the priest-prophet Ezekiel. Five years after the captivity he began to have
his wonderful "visions" of God, and to declare their import to the exiles by the
rivers of Babylon. To the desponding captives who were engrossed with thoughts
of the kingdom of Judah, not yet dissolved, and of the Holy City, not yet burned
up with fire, Ezekiel could only proclaim by symbol and allegory the destruction
of city and nation, till the day when the distressing tidings reached them of
its complete overthrow. Then to the crushed and despairing captives he utters
no lamentations like those of Jeremiah, but rather joyful predictions of a rebuilt
city, of a reconstituted kingdom, and of a renovated and glorious temple.
10. Jeremiah's Ministry in Jerusalem, 597-588 BC:
Although the flower of the population had been carried away into Babylon and the
Temple had been despoiled of its treasures, Jerusalem and the Temple still stood.
To the inhabitants who were left behind, and to the captives in Babylon, Jeremiah
had a message. To the latter he offered counsels of submission and contentment,
assured that the hateful and repulsive idolatries around them would throw them
back upon the law of their God, and thus promote the work of moral and spiritual
regeneration within them. `Thus saith Yahweh, I will give them a heart to know
me, that I am Yahweh: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; for
they shall return unto me with their whole heart' (Jeremiah 24:5 , 7). To "the
residue of Jerus" his counsels and predictions were distasteful, and exposed him
to the suspicion of disloyalty to his people and his God. None of his warnings
was more impressive than that symbolically proclaimed by the bands and bars which
the prophet was to put upon his neck to send to the kings of Edom and Moab and
Ammon and Tyre and Sidon, who seem to have had ideas of forming an alliance against
Nebuchadrezzar. Zedekiah was also urged to submit, but still entertained hopes
that the king of Babylon would allow the captives of Judah to return. He even
himself went to Babylon, perhaps summoned thither by his suzerain (Jeremiah 51:59).
With an Egyptian party in Jerusalem urging an alliance with Egypt, and with a
young and warlike Pharaoh on the throne, Hophra (Apries), Zedekiah deemed the
opportunity favorable for achieving independence, and entered into an intrigue
with the Egyptian king. So Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon (2 Kings
24:20).
11. Zedekiah's Rebellion and the Siege of Jerusalem, 588-586 BC:
It was a bold throw, but Nebuchadrezzar would brook no such disloyalty from his
vassals. He marched at once to the West, and committed to Nebuzaradan the task
of capturing Jerusalem, while he himself established his headquarters at Riblah,
in Syria, on the Orontes. Meanwhile the Pharaoh with his army crossed the frontier
to the help of his allies, and compelled the Chaldeans to raise the siege of Jerusalem
and meet him in the field (Jeremiah 37:5). But here his courage failed him, and
he retired in haste without offering battle. Nebuzaradan now led back his army
and the siege became closer than before.
Jeremiah "Falling Away to the Chaldeans"
During the breathing-space afforded by the withdrawal of the Chaldeans, Jeremiah
was going out of the city to his native Anathoth, some 4 miles to the Northeast
across the ridge, on family business (Jeremiah 37:11 - 15). His departure was
observed, and he was charged with falling away to the Chaldeans, and cast into
an improvised dungeon in the house of Jonathan the scribe. While there the king
sent for him and asked, "Is there any word from Yahweh?" And Jeremiah answered
fearlessly, "There is. Thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon."
For a time Jeremiah, by the favor of Zedekiah, enjoyed after this a greater measure
of freedom; but as he continued to urge in hearing of all the people the duty
of surrender, his enemies vowed that he should be put to death, and had him cast
into a foul empty cistern, where he ran the risk of being choked or starved to
death. Once again the king sought an interview with the prophet, giving him private
assurance that he would not put him to death nor allow his enemies to do so. Again
the prophet counseled surrender, and again he was allowed a measure of freedom.
12. Destruction of Jerusalem, 586 BC:
Flight, Capture, and Punishment of Zedekiah
But the end of the doomed city was at hand. In the 11th year of Zedekiah, 586
BC, in the 4th month, the 9th day of the month, a breach was made in the city
(Jeremiah 39:1 , 2), and the final assault completed the work that had been done
by months of famine and want. Zedekiah and his men of war do not seem to have
waited for the delivery of the last assault. They fled from the city by night
"by the way of the king's garden, through the gate betwixt the two walls," and
made eastward for the Arabah. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them, and
overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They took him prisoner and brought
him to Nebuchadrezzar at Riblah, where the king of Babylon first slew the son
of Zedekiah, and then put out his eyes. With the sons of the captured monarch
were slain all the nobles of Judah. This time neither city nor temple nor palace
was spared. Nebuzaradan "burnt the house of Yahweh, and the king's house; and
all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burnt he with fire" (2 Kings
25:9). His soldiers, too, broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about. The treasure
and the costly furnishings of the Temple, in so far as they had escaped the former
spoliation, were carried away to Babylon. The ruin of Jerusalem was complete.
The Book of Lamentations utters the grief and shame and penitence of an eyewitness
of the captures and desolation of the Holy City: "Yahweh hath accomplished his
wrath, he hath poured out his fierce anger; and he hath kindled a fire in Zion,
which hath devoured the foundations thereof. The kings of the earth believed not,
neither all the inhabitants of the world, that the adversary and the enemy would
enter into the gates of Jerusalem. Woe unto us! for we have sinned. For this our
heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim; for the mountain of Zion, which
is desolate: the foxes walk upon it" (Lamentations 4:11 , 12 ; 5:16 , 18).
13. Second Deportation of Inhabitants, 586 BC:
"So Judah," says the prophet who had been through the siege and the capture (if
not rather the editor of his prophecies), "was carried away captive out of his
land" (Jeremiah 52:27). The statements of the numbers carried away are, however,
conflicting. In Jeremiah 52:28 - 30 we read of three deportations: that of 597
BC when 3,023 Jews were carried off; that of 586 BC when Nebuchadrezzar carried
off 832 persons; and one later than both in 581 BC, when Nebuzaradan carried away
captive of the Jews 745 persons--a total of 4,600.
14. Third Deportation, 581 BC:
(1) Number and Quality of Exiles:
In 2 Kings 24:15 , 16 it is said that in 597 Nebuchadrezzar carried to Babylon
8,000 men. Dr. George Adam Smith taking all the data together estimates that the
very highest figures possible are 62,000 or 70,000 men, women and children, less
than half of the whole nation (Jerusalem, II, 268-70). In 597 BC, Nebuchadrezzar
carried off the princes and nobles and craftsmen and smiths, leaving behind the
poorest sort of the people of the land (2 Kings 24:14).
(2) The Residue Left:
In 586 BC Nebuzaradan carried off the residue of the people that were left in
the city, but he "left of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen"
(2 Kings 25:12). "They were, as the Biblical narratives testify, the poorest of
the land, from whom every man of substance and energy had been sifted; mere groups
of peasants, without a leader and without a center; disorganized and depressed;
bitten by hunger and compassed by enemies; uneducated and an easy prey to the
heathenism by which they were surrounded. We can appreciate the silence which
reigns in the Bible regarding them, and which has misled us as to their numbers.
They were a negligible quantity in the religious future of Israel: without initiative
or any influence except that of a dead weight upon the efforts of the rebuilders
of the nation, when these at last returned from Babylonia" (Jerusalem, II, 269-70).
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15. Gedaliah, Governor of Judah:
Over those who were left behind, Gedaliah was appointed governor, with his residence
at Mizpah, where also a Babylonian contingent remained on guard. Jeremiah had
the choice of being taken to Babylon or of remaining in Judah. He preferred to
remain with the residue of the people under the care of Gedaliah. With the murder
of Gedaliah by Ishmael, a traitorous scion of the royal house, who in turn had
to flee and made good his escape, it looked as if the last trace of the former
kingdom of Judah was wiped out.
(1) Jeremiah and the Flight to Egypt:
Against the counsel of Jeremiah, the remnant, led by Johanan the son of Kareah,
resolved to take refuge in Egypt and insisted that Jeremiah and his friend Baruch
should accompany them. It is in Egypt, amid disappointment and misrepresentation
which he had to endure, that we have our last glimpse of the prophet of the downfall
of Judah.
(2) Descendants of the Fugitives, 471-411 BC:
Of the descendants of those settlers in Egypt remarkable remains have been discovered
within the last few years. They consist of Aramaic papyri which were found at
Assouan, the ancient Syene, and which belong to a time not more than a century
after the death of Jeremiah. The documents are accounts and contracts and deeds
of various kinds, from which we gather that in the 5th century BC there were Jews
keeping themselves apart as they do still, worshipping Yahweh, and no other God,
and even having a temple and an altar of sacrifice to which they brought offerings
as their fathers did at Jerusalem before the destruction of the Temple. These
papyri give us valuable glimpses of the social condition and religious interest
of the settlers. See DISPERSION. |
16. The Exiles in Babylon:
Their Social Condition, 464-405 BC: Of the Jewish captives carried off by Nebuchadrezzar
and settled by the rivers of Babylon, we learn something from the prophecies of
Daniel which are now generally believed to belong to the Maccabean period, and
much from the prophecies of Ezekiel, from the Psalms of the Captivity, and from
the Second Isaiah, whose glowing messages of encouragement and comfort were inspired
by the thought of the Return. From Haggai and Zechariah we see how the work of
rebuilding the Temple was conceived and carried out. Of the social condition of
the Exiles an interesting revelation is given by the excavations at Nippur. From
cuneiform tablets, now in the Imperial Ottoman Museum at Constantinople, preserved
among the business archives of the wealthy firm of Murashu, sons of Nippur, in
the reign of Artaxerxes I and Darius II (464- 405 BC), there can be read quite
a number of Jewish names. And the remarkable thing is that many of the names are
those known to us from the genealogical and other lists of the Books of Kings
and Chronicles and Ezra and Nehemiah. Professor Hilprecht (The Babylonian Expedition,
IX, 13) infers from an examination of these that a considerable number of the
Jewish exiles, carried away by Nebuchadrezzar after the destruction of Jerusalem,
were settled in Nippur and its neighborhood. Of this fact there are various proofs.
The Talmudic tradition which identifies Nippur with Calneh (Genesis 10:10) gains
new force in the light of these facts. And "the river Khebar in the land of the
Chaldeans," by which Ezekiel saw his vision, is now known from inscriptions to
be a large navigable canal not far from Nippur (ibid., 27,28).
17. The Rise and Development of Judaism:
The influence of the Captivity as a factor in the development of Judaism can hardly
be overestimated. "The captivity of Judah," says Dr. Foakes-Jackson (Biblical
History of the Hebrews, 316) "is one of the greatest events in the history of
religion. .... With the captivity the history of Israel ends, and the history
of the Jews commences." Placed in the midst of heathen and idolatrous surroundings
the Golah recoiled from the abominations of their neighbors and clung to the faith
of their fathers in the God of Abraham. Exposed to the taunts and the scorn of
nations that despised them, they formed an inner circle of their own, and cultivated
that exclusiveness which has marked them ever since. Being without a country,
without a ritual system, without any material basis for their life as a people,
they learned as never before to prize those spiritual possessions which had come
down to them from the past. They built up their nationality in their new surroundings
upon the foundation of their religion. Their prophets, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, had
encouraged and stimulated them with the assurance of spiritual blessings, and
the promise of restoration. For their whole social and domestic and spiritual
life there was needed some steady and continuous regulative principle or scheme.
The need of this threw their leaders and thinkers back upon the Law of Moses.
The rabbi and the scribe took the place of the sacrificing priest. The synagogue
and the Sabbath came to occupy a new place in the religious practice of the people.
These and other institutions of Judaism only attained to maturity after the Return,
but the Captivity and the Exile created the needs they were meant to supply. While
the prophets were clear and explicit in setting forth the Captivity, they were
not less so in predicting the Return. Isaiah with his doctrine of the Remnant,
Micah, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and others gifted with the vision of God,
cheered the nation, each in their day, with the hope of restoration and return,
not for Judah only but for Israel as well. Vineyards were to be planted again
upon the mountains of Samaria as well as in the valleys of Judah. Jeremiah had
even predicted the length of the period of the Exile, when he declared that the
inhabitants of the land should serve the king of Babylon for seventy years (Jeremiah
25:12 ; 29:10).
18. The Return by Permission of Cyrus, 538 BC:
It was in Cyrus, who brought about the fall of Babylon and ended the New Babylonian
Empire in 539 BC, that the hopes of the exiles came to be centered. He was "the
battle- axe" with which Yahweh was to shatter Babylon (Jeremiah 51:20), and as
he proceeded on his path of victory the unknown Seer whom we call the Second Isaiah
welcomed him as the liberator of his people. "Thus saith Yahweh .... of Jerusalem,
She shall be inhabited; and of the cities of Judah, They shall be built, and I
will raise up the waste places thereof; that saith to the deep, Be dry, and I
will dry up thy rivers; that saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform
all my pleasure, even saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built; and of the temple,
Thy foundation shall be laid" (Isaiah 44:26 - 28).
19. Rebuilding of the Temple, 536 BC:
Within a year of the entry of Cyrus into Babylon an edict was issued (2 Chronicles
36:22 , 23 ; Ezra 1:1), granting permission to the exiles to return and build
a house for the Lord in Jerusalem. He also brought forth the vessels of the Temple
which Nebuchadrezzar had carried away and handed them over to Sheshbazzar, the
prince of Judah; and Sheshbazzar brought them with him when they of the Captivity
were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.
Particulars of the Return are given in the Books of Ezr and Neh, and in the prophecies
of Haggai and Zechariah. Of the exiles 42,360 returned under Sheshbazzar, besides
slaves; and under Jeshua the son of Jozadak the priest, and Zerubbabel, the son
of Shealtiel, first an altar was built and then the foundations of the Temple
were laid. In consequence of the opposition of the Samaritans, who were refused
any share in the restoration of the Temple, the work of rebuilding was greatly
hindered, and came to a stop. It was then that Haggai and Zechariah urged the
resumption of the work and partly by denouncing the niggardliness of the people
and partly by foreshadowing the glorious future in store for the Temple, hastened
forward the enterprise.
Completed 515 BC:
At length in the month Adar, in the 6th year of Darius (515 BC) the work was completed
and the Passover celebrated within the courts of the restored Sanctuary (Ezra
6:15-).
20. Reforms and Labors of Ezra and Nehemiah, 445 BC:
For some decades the history is silent, and it was in 458 BC that Ezra set out
for Jerusalem taking 1,800 Jews along with him. He found that the returned Jews
had become allied in marriage with the people of the land and were in danger of
losing their racial characteristics by absorption among the heathen (Ezra 9).
It was due no doubt to his efforts and those of Nehemiah, supported by the searching
and powerful utterances of Malachi, that this peril was averted. Thirteen years
later (445 BC) Nehemiah, the cupbearer of Artaxerxes, having heard of the desolate
condition of the Holy City, the place of his fathers' sepulchers, obtained leave
of his master to visit Jerusalem. With letters to the governors on the route and
to the keeper of the king's forest, he set out, and came safely to Jerusalem.
Having himself inspected the walls he called the people to the work of repairing
the ruins, and despite the taunts and calumny and active hostility of the Samaritan
opposition he had the satisfaction of seeing the work completed, the gates set
up and the city repopulated. Nehemiah and Ezra then gathered the people together
to hear the words of the Law, and at a solemn convocation the Law was read and
explained to the assembly. Thereafter a covenant was entered into by the people
that they would observe the Law of Moses and not intermarry with the heathen nor
traffic on the Sabbath, but would pay a third of a shekel annually for the services
of the Temple and would bring first-fruits and tithes (Nehemiah 10:28).
21. Modern Theories of the Return:
The course of the history as here set forth has been disputed by some modern scholars,
who hold that there was no return of the exiles under Cyrus and that the rebuilding
of the Temple was the work of the Jews who remained behind in Judah and Jerusalem
(EB, article "Ezra-Nehemiah"). This view, held by the late Professor Kosters of
Leyden and supported by Professor H. P. Smith and other scholars, proceeds largely
upon the rejection of the historical character of the Book of Ezra-Nehemiah. The
historical difficulties which are found in the book are by no means such as to
warrant us in denying the fact of the Return and the work of Ezra in connection
with Nehemiah. As regards the Return, the course of the narrative is too well
supported by documents which bear upon them the stamp of historical truth to be
rashly disputed. Moreover, it seems highly improbable that an enterprise requiring
such energy and skill and faith should have been undertaken, without stimulus
from without, by the residue of the people. We have already seen how little initiative
was to be expected of the poorest of the people; and the silence of Haggai, on
the subject of the Return, is no argument against it. That the Judaism of Palestine
required invigoration by an infusion of the zeal and enthusiasm which grew up
in the Judaism of Babylonian, is manifest from the story of the Captivity.
22. Importance of the Period Ezra-Nehemiah:
From the age of Nehemiah and the period immediately preceding it came influences
of the utmost moment for the future. "Within these hundred years," says the late
Dr. P. Hay Hunter in After the Exile (I, xvi), "the teaching of Moses was established
as the basis of the national life, the first steps were taken toward the formation
of a canon of Scripture. Jewish society was moulded into a shape which succeeding
centuries modified, but did not essentially change. During this period the Judea
of the days of our Lord came into being. Within this period the forces which opposed
Christ, the forces which rallied to His side, had their origin. This century saw
the rise of parties, which afterward became sects under the names of Pharisees
and Sadducees. It laid the foundation of Rabbinism. It fixed the attitude of the
Jews toward the Gentiles. It put the priesthood in the way to supreme authority.
It gave birth to the Samaritan schism."
Figurative uses. See CAPTIVE. |
LITERATURE
Schrader, COT, I; McCurdy, HPM, I, 281, II, 249,
III; C. F. Barney, Notes on Heb Text of Bks of Kings; Foakes-Jackson, Biblical
Hist of the Hebrews, 260-412; G. A. Smith, Jerusalem, II, 223-349; Cambridge Biblical
Essays, 93-135; P. Hay Hunter, The Story of Daniel and After the Exile; EB, article
"Ezra-Nehemiah"; Nicol, Recent Archaeology and the Bible, 239-78; H. P. Smith,
Old Testament Hist, 219-412; Kittel, History of the Hebrews, II, 329.
T. Nicol.W
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reference, bible study, captivity, define, exile, israel,
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