Biblical Hebrew Blog by ClassicalHebrew.com

 Yahweh in the Exile

Ezekiel’s vision of the presence of God in Babylon had been an important step in rejuvenating the religion of Yahweh in the exile. The presence of God no longer rested in a temple or resided within the kingdoms of men, but he was omnipresent. Yahweh had followed his people into Babylon and he had called to himself a prophet from out of his people. Contact had been established.

A New Jerusalem in Babylon

The Jews from Judah were grouped together and settled into a place referred to by a cuneiform text dated to 498 BCE as the “al Yahuda” the “city of the Judahites” in Babylon. From other texts we know already that deportees normally retained the names of their old towns- for example the cities of Ashkelon and Gaza reappeared in Babylon with the arrival of Philistine slaves, as too with the new city of Tyre with the arrival of the Phoenicians. Knowing this, it is not too far to assume that the “city of the Judahites” is nothing less then a referral to the people of Judah living in the New Jerusalem in Babylon! In fact this same phrase “city of the Judahites”, is clearly used in reference to Jerusalem when they mention how they besiege and destroyed the city all those years ago!

 This helps us visualize the new environment of the Judean deportees in exile. They were settled together, meaning that they could rebuild a sense of community again. Furthermore we know that the royal family and the priesthood were taken into captivity- meaning that to a degree we can assume that the royal and religious hierarchies were also involved in the rebuilding work that took place in the New Jerusalem in Babylon and that there was a religious framework in place to help the community through their present-day crisis.

An Old King Freed

Not only were the Jews living together with a religious framework in place but also there was positive news about their imprisoned king, king Jehoiachin. Now king Jehoiachin had been captured and exiled when Nebuchadnezzar first came against Jerusalem in 597BCE. However after 37 years of being in prison he received a royal pardon from the king and was invited to eat and dine at the Kings table daily. This story told in the bible and confirmed from cuneiform texts tells us of the hope this community must have began to establish that one day, religiously and politically, they would be free again.