After the Fall
- How was Judah governed under Babylon?
- What happened to Jeremiah after Jerusalem fell?
- Was the name Ishmael (Israel’s brother) always despised by the Jews?
- What’s the connection between the fall of Jerusalem and the Exodus?
- What has Greece to do with the fall of Jerusalem?
- Who wrote the psalms?
- Who wrote about bones coming to life?
- Why did Isaiah write about Lucifer?
- Who was the creature of the night?
- What is the writing on the wall?
Nebuchadnezzar replaced Judah’s king with a governor,
Gedaliah, friend of Jeremiah and Baruch. But he was soon killed (2 Ki 25:22-26)
by Ishmael (a member of the royal family), probably because he
viewed Babylon favorably, as did Jeremiah (Jer 39, 40). Gedaliah ruled from Mizpah since
Jerusalem was gone. Civil war ensues with Ishmael’s faction fleeing to Ammon
and the remaining Judahites escaping to (rather than from) Egypt, against
Jeremiah’s advice (Jer 42). Jeremiah is taken to Egypt and writes the rest of
his essays there (Jer 43). The Greeks praised pharaoh Hophra’s attempts (with
their aid, Jer 46:21) against Babylon, but Jeremiah calls him just a noise (Jer
46:17).
News of Jerusalem’s fall reaches the Babylonian exiles (Ez
33:21). Psalmists write poems for their fallen home (Ps 137) Ezekiel prophecies
against Judah’s neighbors, including Tyre (Ez 26) whose rejoicing at the fall
of Jerusalem was short-lived. Obadiah prophesies against Edom which also failed
to help Jerusalem in its hour of need (Ob 1:11). Meanwhile, the Jewish faith and people
spread around the Babylonian empire, Daniel continues hs rise to power, and 70
years (Jer 29) run their course. Ezekiel views Israel as having become impure,
awaiting renewal (Ez 36), and offers a vision of dry bones coming to life (Ez
37). Ezekiel’s later visions (38, 39) contain the same sort of imagery as
Daniel and Revelation, promising that all, including redemption, is safe in God’s
hands. The visions culminate in an image of the renewed Temple, echoed centuries later in the
heavenly temple of Revelation. Almost 20 years after his vision of God leaving
the Temple (Ez 11:22), Ezekiel sees God’s return (43:1) to a new temple,
governed by a prince God has ordained as spiritual and civic leader (church and
state no longer separated when God unites them).
Nebuchadnezzar dies and King Jehoiachin of Judah is
released (2 Ki 25:27, Jer 52:31). Isaiah’s prophecies of Babylon’s fall (Is
13-14) begin to be fulfilled as Babylonian might decreases. Isaiah’s writing of
the daystar, Lucifer, falling (Is 14:12) are filled with familiar symbols of
local gods, including Lilith (Is 34:14), caller of demons, haunter of men, and creature
of the night. Meanwhile, regent Belshazzar (son of Nebuchadnezzar's successor Nabonidus who was out in the
desert worshiping the moon-god Sin) gives a famous party, and Daniel reads the writing on the wall (written by a
disembodied hand). God has Numbered, Weighed and Divided the kingdom, whereupon
Belshazzar is killed and the Medes take over, much welcomed in Nabonidus’ absence. More of Isaiah's prophecies (or those of his descendant in some
interpretations) reach fulfillment as a new age dawns (Is 40-45). The
suffering servant mentioned in Isaiah (49-55) may be seen as the nation in exile, or as particular people within the nation, though Christians see him
now as the Christ (Is 53).
Finally Cyrus king of Persia allows the Jews to go “home”
and rebuild their temple. They leave, carrying their temple goods and writings,
perhaps also including some new stories (Job maybe since Job 6:19 mentions important
trading posts of the era, and Nabonidus was worshipping the mood-god, Job
31:24-28) and new wisdom gained during their exile (some proverbs in the Bible
may date from Jewish scholars studying in Babylonian libraries, Prov 30,31).
Comments