CHAPTER VII.

THE ISRAELITISH EXILES IN BABYLONIA.

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ABOUT the year 580 B.C. Judæa presented a sad spectacle. Jerusalem and Solomon's temple lay in ruins. Nebuchadnezzar had thrice caused a number of the chief inhabitants of the land to be carried away.* The remainder, although still many in number, formed but a pitiful remnant of the former kingdom of Judah. Part of them had grown wild and led the lives of freebooters. Others busied themselves with agriculture, but they had much to suffer from the bands of Chaldean soldiers that roved about the land, and from the neighbouring tribes, who took advantage of Israel's a basement to extend their territories. § After the murder of Gedaliah, who at first stood at their head as the governor appointed by the Babylonish king,|| they appear have had no regular government. They were also deprived of almost all spiritual guidance. It is true, a few prophets still raised their voices among them after the fall of Jerusalem,¶ but these men do not appear to have made much impression: if we remember how the grey-haired Jeremiah was treated by his countrymen, first in Judæa and afterwards in Egypt, we could scarcely expect it. The priests of Jahveh had almost all been carried away, and, after the destruction of the temple, would have had much less influence than before. In a word, the hope that those who were left in Judæa would work the regeneration of Israel** was of short duration; even in those who cherished it at first, subsequent events gradually weakened and at last stifled it altogether.

* 2 Kings xxiv. 14-16, xxv. 11; Jer. lii. 28-30.

§ Lam. v. 1 seq.

+ Jer. xl. 7 seq.

|| Above, pp. 55 seq.

2 Kings xxv. 12; Jer. lii. 16. Obadiah (comp. Hk. O. II. 339 seq.), and, probably some years after him, the author of Isa. xxiv.-xxvii. (comp. 1. c. II. 145 seq.).

** Ezek. xxxiii. 23--29.

This time also the light was to arise in the East. We do not know with certainty the number of the exiles carried off by Nebuchadnezzar: the returns given in the Old Testament are evidently incomplete.* But that their number was very considerable, can be gathered from the number of those who afterwards went back. For their intrinsic worth, even more than for their numerical strength, these exiles had a right to be regarded as the real representatives of the kingdom of Judah and thus of all Israel. The repeated rebellions against the Chaldeans were kindled by the Judæans of the highest rank. Upon them in the first place, therefore, the conqueror's revenge necessarily fell. A few men of high position were even punished with death,† but by far the most of them were condemned to banishment. To the first body of exiles there belonged, as will shortly appear more fully, prophets, opponents of Jeremiah, and priests. After the fall of Jerusalem it was again the most enlightened who were sent into exile. It was therefore the kernel of the nation that was brought to Babylonia.

Our information as to the social condition of the exiles is very defective. Even to the question, where they had to settle, we can only return an imperfect answer. We meet with a colony of exiles, companions of Jeconiah, at Tel-abîb, in the neighbourhood of the river Chebar, usually supposed to be the Chaboras, which runs into the Euphrates not far from Circesium, but considered by others to be a smaller river nearer to Babylon. ‡ It lay in the nature of the case, that the second and third company of captives received another destination. Even had it been possible, prudence would have opposed their settling in the immediate vicinity of their predecessors. We are not surprised, therefore, that Ezekiel, who lived at Tel-abîb, does not mention their arrival there. Where they did go we are not told. The * 2 Kings xxiv. 14-16, xxv. 11 (Jer. lii. 15); Jer. lii. 28-30. Comp. Note I. at the end of this Chapter.

+ 2 Kings xxv. 18-21 (Jer. lii. 10 b, 24-27).

Ezek. iii. 15, i. 3, &c. Comp. Hk. O. II. 258, n. 2, and Schenkel's Bibel-lexikon,

I. 508 sq., II. 558, also 247.

historian says "to Babylon,"* to which place, according to him, the first exiles (597 B.C.) were also brought;† probably he does not, in either passage, mean only the capital of the Chaldean kingdom, but rather the province of that name, to which the city of course belonged. But wherever they may have settled, the exiles had to live. How did they support themselves? Some undoubtedly tilled the land or pursued their former handicrafts. But all would not be in a position to do this. These were naturally led to take part in the trade that was carried on, upon a large scale, in their new dwelling-place. At first they could have occupied only subordinate parts in it. But we may assume it to be probable that they speedily showed their natural aptitude for commerce, and that many of them soon managed to acquire some wealth.

It follows from this that they enjoyed a certain amount of liberty in the land of their exile. Such was indeed the fact. Probably they were not all upon an equally favourable footing in this respect. The instigators of the rebellion would for some time be subjected to a strict surveillance, and perhaps even had to work as slaves. But there was no occasion to treat the whole of the exiles in this way. Nebuchadnezzar's purpose, the prevention of fresh disturbances, having been attained by their removal from Judæa, he could now leave them to develop their resources. It was even for the interest of the districts in which they settled, that their development should not be obstructed. Many unnecessary and troublesome conflicts were avoided, and the best provision was made for the maintenance of order, by leaving them free, within certain limits, to regulate their own affairs. So the elders of the families and tribes remained in possession of the authority which they had formerly exercised. § Nay, it would not surprise us if the foundations

2 Kings xxv. 7 (Jer. lii. 11), of Zedekiah; Jer. xxxix. 9, xl. 1, 4, of the rest of the exiles.

2 Kings xxiv. 15, 16.

Ezek. viii. 1, tiv. 1, xx. 1.

Comp. 2 Kings xxiv. 14, 16; also Jer. xxix. 5.

were already laid of the organization which we meet with centuries afterwards in Babylonia. Then the Jews who were established there formed an independent community, governed by a chief of their own, the Resh Galutha ("head of the exiles"), just as at Alexandria an officer chosen from among them, the Alabarch, represented them before the magistrates of the land, and was, as it were, responsible for them. If this organization was at least prepared as early as the first years of the captivity, then we can easily comprehend how it is that, at the return under Cyrus, Zerubbabel, a descendant of David, and Joshua, a priest, place themselves at the head of the exiles and exercise their authority without meeting with contradiction. We may then see in this a proof that the families of distinction, the princes and the chief of the priests, were acknowledged by the Chaldeans as the natural leaders of their fellow-countrymen, and were not obstructed in the exercise of their power.

But we will abstain from farther conjectures on this subject. However full of interest it may be, a deeper study of it is not absolutely necessary for the right comprehension of the religious condition of the exiles, with which we now have to do.

As was to be expected, we find among the captives the same diversity of convictions that existed in the kingdom of Judah after Josiah's death.* It is sometimes imagined that the calamities which befell the nation under Jehoiakim and his successors, brought about an immediate change in its relation to Jahvism. These misfortunes, and especially the final catastrophe, were foretold by the prophets, and thus confirmed the prophets' unfavourable opinion of the religious and moral condition of the kingdom: must not their effect have therefore been that many men repented and entered upon the path into which Jeremiah, for example, desired to lead them? But this expectation, however natural it may be to all appearance, is not confirmed by the evidence of history, and, in fact, has no adequate foundation. To be able to regard the fall of Jerusalem as a judgment of

* Above, pp. 55 seq.

Jahveh upon his faithless people, as Jeremiah did, it was necessary that the Judæans should start from the same premises as the prophet. But, as we perceived before, this was not the Their standpoint was a different one, and consequently their view of the events also differed from his. We can prove this from the documents themselves.

case.

It is evident, in the first place, that the worship of the strange gods remained in existence.* Jeremiah had to continue the struggle against idolatry in Egypt. The Judæans who had emigrated thither still kept up the worship of "the queen of heaven," and were not at all ashamed of it. When the prophet pointed to the disasters which had afflicted their native land on the very account of their infidelity to Jahveh, they were not at a loss for an answer. "All that hath gone forth out of our mouth"-they said+-"all our vows we will certainly perform, burning incense unto the queen of heaven and pouring out drink-offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem: then (when we did this) we had plenty of bread, and it was well with us, and we saw no evil. But from the time that we left off to burn incense and pour out drink-offerings unto the queen of heaven, we have wanted all things, and have perished by the sword and by the famine." It will be observed that these men, as well as Jeremiah, regarded and explained the events from their own religious point of view. Things were no better among the exiles in Babylonia. One of their number, the prophet Ezekiel, reproaches them repeatedly with their idolatry, and especially adverts, with deep abhorrence, to the sacrifice of children to Molech. Nay, he even puts these words into their mouths: "we shall be as the nations, as the families of the countries, serving wood and stone."§ There are reasons for taking this description to be somewhat exaggerated, but it

* Comp. above, pp. 57 seq., where the testimony of both Jeremiah and Ezekiel is given. § Chap. xx. 32.

+ Jer. xliv. 17, 18.

Above, pp. 58 seq.