Jews in the Land of Israel By the Rivers of Babylon A Ray of Hope? Darkness Returns Darius Rebuilds the Temple: The Jews Go Home Postscript: A Babylonian Renaissance

The First Temple

A Traditional Perspective
Foreword: Trying to assign exact dates to events in ancient history is a tricky business. Little documentation has been found, and it is often contradictory, either due to political conflicts between nations or simply our lack of ability in interpreting the records. We will use here the traditional Jewish dating of the events of the Purim story, since it is only because of Jewish tradition that we have a holiday called Purim.

The backdrop of Purim is the history of the first and subsequent exiles, and how the Jews came to be a ". . . people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your realm" (Megillat Esther 3:8).

Jews in the Land of Israel

From the entry of the Jews into the Land of Israel around 1400 BCE until the destruction of the First Temple and subsequent exile, Judaism and the Land of Israel were inextricably intertwined. The Bible discusses the giving of the Torah as a prelude to entering their own land, where the commandments would be fulfilled and the Jews would play their special role as a model society - "a light unto the nations." This model society was designed to be fulfilled in Israel, and Israel only. So much so, that rabbis of the Talmud wrote that fulfilling the commandments outside of the Land was only really a sort of "practice" until they could be observed within the land.

Jewish history from the Exodus until the late 5th century BCE saw many changes in government. The period of the judges gave way to a unified monarchy, which then split into the twin kingdoms of Judah and Israel. After the northern kingdom of Israel was conquered by Assyria and scattered (the exile of the "Ten Tribes of Israel"), the gauntlet of Jewish history was passed to the Jews of Judea. Throughout all these political upheavals, two common threads unified the Jews - the Torah, and their land, whatever piece of it they ruled.

When Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judea around 441 BCE, people could not imagine what was in store for them. The prophet Jeremiah, the unlucky bearer of bad news, was ridiculed for his prophesies of doom.

By the Rivers of Babylon

After almost 20 years as a vassal state of Babylon, a period of struggling and intrigue against the foreign power, Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple and exiled the Jews of Israel to Babylon (586 BCE). The Jewish community was in shock and near despair. For the first time, it appeared that maybe their special role in history was null and void. Perhaps their God had deserted them.

Many years passed. Jeremiah, who had gone into exile with his people told them to "build homes and plant vineyards," but after 70 years, the Jews "would be remembered" by God. Their exile would not be final. The throne passed from Nebuchadnezzar to Merodach, then to Belshazzar. It was Belshazzar who threw a great party to celebrate the passing of 70 years of Babylon, with no respite for the Jews in sight. At his party, where he despoiled the Holy Temple Vessels, Daniel read the mysterious writing on the wall. Belshazzar was dead by morning, killed by Darius, the Mede, and beginning the Persian/Median empire.

A Ray of Hope?

Tomb of King Cyrus

The righteous King Cyrus of Persia, Ahasuerus's predecessor, authorized the Jews to return to Israel. His proclamation (371 BCE) marked 70 years after the first conquest of Judea, in accordance with what he thought was the prophecy of Jeremiah. Fewer than 50,000 adult males and their servants and families returned to Jerusalem at this point. They encountered difficulties with the local Samaritans, and other tribes that had settled in the land, as well as the small impoverished Jewish community that remained. The work on the Temple was hampered by many factors.