40 - The Fall of Jerusalem

2 Kings 25:1-25:30

The reigns of David and Solomon are seen as the "golden age" of the kings:  the northern (Israel) and southern (Judah) kingdoms are (somewhat) united, the Temple is built, and the united kingdom has considerable power in the region.

But before long, under Solomon's son Rehoboam, the north and south separate.  The kings of Israel (the north) pretty consistently did what is "evil in the sight of the Lord," praying to other gods, erecting altars and sacred poles to the local gods.  Around 721 BCE, the north fell to the powerful Assyrians.  Many of the people of Israel were resettled to other areas.

In the south, in Judah, there was also much apostasy, although there were a few good kings, including Josiah (7th C. BCE), who was said to have found the scroll of Deuteronomy, and re-instituted proper worship, outlawing worship of anyone other than Yahweh.   There were periods during which Judah was a vassal state to Assyria or Egypt; it was a much weakened state by the late 7th C BCE.

Finally, we are told at the end of 2 Kings 24, Zedekiah became king of Judah.  He too "did what was displeasing to the Lord....Indeed, Jerusalem and Judah so angered the Lord that he expelled them from his presence."

Thus, by the account we read today, Babylon (now ascendant), in the person of King Nebuchadnezzar, conquered Jerusalem, and the Babylonian exile of at least part of the population of Judah began in approximately 586 BCE.

Fall of Jerusalem

The exile is as crucial an event in the history of the Hebrew people as the time in Sinai, crossing the Jordan into the promised land, and building the temple to YHWH.    Why is that?  Why had God done this to them?