Fall
of
Judah
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- General Historical Situation
- Assyrian domination
- When Israel fell in 722 B.C.E.,
Judah was also brought into subjection as a vassal of Assyria - Judah paid tribute to
Assyria but was not destroyed by Assyria
- Assyria overextended itself and under a series of incompetent kings
the empire eventually began to crumble - Nineveh, the capital, fell in 612 B.C.E.
- It was during periods of Assyrian weakness that Judah was able to be
strong and engage in reform (e.g., under kings Hezekiah and Josiah)
- Babylonian domination
- Babylonian army crushed Assyrian empire and then began to move to
secure and expand Assyria's old empire
- Between 609-605 B.C.E. Egypt dominated Judah - however, after the
Babylonian army soundly defeated Egyptian forces in 605 B.C.E., Egypt pulled back to its
own borders and Babylon began to move toward Judah
- Jerusalem and Judah fell in 598/597 B.C.E. and the first deportation
occurred
- In 587/586 B.C.E. after Judah had rebelled against Babylon, the
Babylonian army again moved against Jerusalem - this time the city was completely
destroyed and a second group was deported to Babylon
- Some time after the destruction of Jerusalem, a third group was
deported perhaps as punishment for another rebellion when Gedaliah, the governor, was
assassinated
- Babylonian exile
- Babylonian deportation policy was to deport the cream of society and
leadership to Babylon believing the resulting vacuum in leadership would prevent a
conquered nation from rebelling - Judah apparently experienced three such deportations
because they continued to find leadership to lead them in rebellions
- For the exiles the quality of life depended on who was in power in
Babylon - although there was some degree of self-government and freedom of religion in
exile, oppression was still the order of the day
- Life in Judah Before the Fall
- General tendencies
- Religion - syncretistic
tendencies
- Worshiped other gods besides God
- The gods of the dominant world power were always popular because they
were obviously strong and influential and worshiping them was a good way to receive the
favorable attention of the world power
- Ba`al was popular because he was the god of fertility and the
economic health of the nation depended on fertility of the land - in addition, the worship
of Ba`al with its emphasis on sexuality and sympathetic magic may have been more
attractive than the worship of God who demanded a strict moral life
- Worshiped in places other than in the Temple in Jerusalem
- The high places were sites on mountains at which sacrifices were
offered to God and numerous other gods
- The high places sometimes were old traditional sites where the
patriarchs had worshiped God - thus the high places were not necessarily "pagan"
places - those who worshiped at some of the high places may have been trying to carry on
the traditional faith or have been trying to bring back the "good old days"
- Magic and superstition entered religion - this was especially true in
the realms of cults of the dead and astrology
- Economic and social
- Paying tribute to world powers had hurt the nation economically
- Usually it was the poor who had to suffer so the tribute could be
paid - the chasm between rich and poor became wider
- The rich kept and increased their wealth by taking advantage of the
poor
- Judean society was crumbling
- Self-centered theology
- Popular theology said God would never destroy Jerusalem because He
had chosen it and He lived there - such theology limited the freedom of God but was based
on past history (Jerusalem had been miraculously spared during the time of Hezekiah - 2
Kings 18:13-19:37)
- Judah believed they controlled God rather than that God controlled or
should control them - this viewpoint meant Judah was not open to hearing God's critique of
their beliefs and actions and changing its ways
- Two great reforms - both reforms occurred when world powers were
temporarily weak
- Reform of Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:3-8)
- Destroyed the high places and the bronze serpent Moses had made in
the wilderness (Num. 21:8-9) and celebrated Passover - the bronze serpent had apparently
become an object of worship or at least a magic charm and thus a snare to true faith
- Took advantage of Assyria's weakness and extended his sphere of
influence
- His other actions
- Bracing for a siege by Assyria, Hezekiah had a tunnel dug below Jerusalem to provide access to water
- the tunnel remains today as an engineering marvel
- During his reign God miraculously saved Jerusalem from Assyria (2
Kings 19:1-37) which reinforced the idea that Jerusalem would never fall
- When a Babylonian envoy came to visit, Hezekiah foolishly showed the
delegates all of his treasure - Isaiah condemned Hezekiah's actions stating that the
Babylonians would return some day to collect the treasure - Hezekiah was content that
Babylonian conquest would not occur in his days (2 Kings 20:12-19)
- Reform of Josiah (2 Kings 22:1-25)
- Probably began early in his reign (cf. 2 Chron. 34:1-33)
- Destroyed the high places which had been rebuilt after Hezekiah,
purged other cults out of Judah, and cleaned up the Temple in Jerusalem
- During the cleansing of the Temple, a book of law was discovered (621
B.C.E.) which added enthusiasm and direction to the reform - most believe the book was
some form of the Book of Deuteronomy
- Josiah also led the people in celebrating Passover again - apparently
Passover had not been celebrated for some time
- Josiah also carried out his reform in the old land of Israel
(northern tribes) - this action implies Josiah was extending his influence politically
while he was reforming religion at home
- Interestingly enough, at the same time Josiah was reforming Judah's
religion, other nations were doing the same thing - there seemed to be an uneasy feeling
in the world and a desire to return to ancient traditions in an effort to find security
- Neither reform made an impact on the faith of the people - external
methods of worship were changed but not inner faith - the reforms died when the sponsoring
kings died
- Theology of the Fall
- According to the Old Testament, the fall of Judah occurred because
the people of Judah abandoned God and His covenant and turned to other gods - as a result,
God punished His people with destruction - even the efforts of good kings like Hezekiah
and Josiah and prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah could not turn the people back to God and
save them from destruction
- Theological problems
- Destruction of Jerusalem - popular theology said God would never
destroy Jerusalem because He had chosen it - when God destroyed Jerusalem, theology had to
explain it
- Death of Josiah - Josiah was a great king who followed God - his
untimely death while defending Judah from Egypt contradicted Deuteronomic theology which
said that if a person followed God he/she would be blessed with long and successful life -
the death of Josiah raised deep theological questions about obedience to God and rewards
for following God
Above artwork by C. F. Vos from the Bible Picture Library of
Photo Art (c) Christian Computer Art, 1994-97
Artwork from the Bible Picture Library of Line Art (c) Christian Computer Art, 1994-97
