The exile brought about a number of significant changes to the way Judaism was practiced. Many of these changes still affect Judaism. Before the Babylonian exile, Jewish religious life revolved around the Temple in Jerusalem. When the Babylonians expelled the Jews from Judea, they destroyed the Temple completely.
This period, which actually begins in 597 but is traditionally dated at 586, is called the Exile in Jewish history; it ends with an accident in 538 when the Persians overthrow the Chaldeans. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the Chaldeans, only deported the most prominent citizens of Judah: professionals, priests, craftsmen, and the wealthy.
They had betrayed Yahweh and allowed the Mosaic laws and cultic practices to become corrupt; the Babylonian Exile was proof of Yahweh's displeasure. During this period, Jewish leaders no longer spoke about a theology of judgment, but a theology of salvation.
But the Jews in Babylon also creatively remade themselves and their world view. In particular, they blamed the disaster of the Exile on their own impurity. They had betrayed Yahweh and allowed the Mosaic laws and cultic practices to become corrupt; the Babylonian Exile was proof of Yahweh's displeasure.
The result was the rise of the synagogue among the Jews dispersed throughout the Babylonian Empire. The focus shifted from animal sacrifices, which could only be properly performed at the Temple, to the study and teaching of the Torah -- the Jewish Bible -- which became the focal point of worship in the synagogues.
When the Babylonians expelled the Jews from Judea, they destroyed the Temple completely . Jewish law stipulated that certain important aspects of Jewish religious life -- most notably animal sacrifice -- could only be performed at the Temple in Jerusalem.
Synagogue worship and rabbinical teaching continued to operate alongside the newly constructed Temple. For almost seven centuries, Jews came to Jerusalem to participate in the worship, sacrifices and other activities carried on at the Temple, while also engaging in worship in synagogues wherever Jewish communities existed.
The Babylonian Exile is the period of Jewish history in which the people of Judea were forced to leave their historic homeland and were relocated to other parts of the Babylonian Empire.
5 Monolateralism and Monotheism. Many scholars believe that the Jewish religion was monolateral before the Babylonian Exile. Simply put, that means that the Jewish people acknowledged the existence of other gods, but believed that they should only worship the god of Israel.
For almost seven centuries, Jews came to Jerusalem to participate in the worship, sacrifices and other activities carried on at the Temple, while also engaging in worship in synagogues wherever Jewish communities existed.
Zoroastrianism went beyond monolateralism, insisting that only one god exists. Whether the concept came to Judaism through Zoroastrians or not, the teaching -- known as monotheism -- is now the central tenet of Judaism.
Babylon will also see Hebrew script adopted (employed overwhelmingly thereafter), as opposed to the more formal Israelite lettering (as per Torah scrolls). In Daniel 3:13, in a temporary political twist of Jewish Babylonian fortunes, Nebuchadnezzar orders three Jewish administrators of Babylon who refuse to worship as per Babylon’s customs into ...
The Prophet Yechezkel is exiled in 586 BCE along with the Jewish people to Babylon, but all things considered, this is a relatively non–brutal exile. The exile is under Nebuchadnezzar II, who reigns from 605 BCE to 562 BCE and constructs the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, a Wonder of the Ancient World. Babylon will in due course incubate the ...
But, 200 years later, the Persian Empire will (unfortunately for the Jews) in turn fall to Alexander the Great.
Ezekiel will later write the Book of Ezekiel in Babylon, which, among other things, commands the Jews not to worship foreign gods, but allows them to become part of ( simpatico) Babylonian culture, which indeed they did, to the extent that most did not return to Judea when the conquering Persians allowed it.
The exile was unexplainable; Hebrew history was built on the promise of Yahweh to protect the Hebrews and use them for his purposes in human history. Their defeat and the loss of the land promised to them by Yahweh seemed to imply that their faith in this promise was misplaced.
This period, which actually begins in 597 but is traditionally dated at 586, is called the Exile in Jewish history; it ends with an accident in 538 when the Persians overthrow the Chaldeans. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the Chaldeans, only deported the most prominent citizens of Judah: professionals, priests, craftsmen, and the wealthy.
So Jewish history, then, has two poles during the exile: the Jew in Babylon and the Jews who remain in Judah. We know almost nothing of the Jews in Judah after 586.
The Chaldeans, following standard Mesopotamian practice, deported the Jews after they had conquered Jerusalem in 597 BC. The deportations were large, but certainly didn't involve the entire nation. Somewhere around 10,000 people were forced to relocate to the city of Babylon, the capital of the Chaldean empire.
Undeserving of suffering, Job, an upright man, is made to suffer the worst series of calamities possible because of an arbitrary test. When he finally despairs that there is no cosmic justice, the only answer he receives is that humans shouldn't question God's will.
The salient feature of the exile, however, was that the Jews were settled in a single place by Nebuchadnezzar.
Judah seems to have been wracked by famine, according the biblical book, Lamentations, which was written in Jerusalem during the exile. The entire situation seemed to be one of infinite despair. Some people were better off; when Nebuchadnezzar deported the wealthy citizens, he redistributed the land among the poor.