“The Babylonian Exile shaped the future”

by Doug Mason 6 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Doug Mason

  The theme of my Study, “The Babylonian Exile shaped the future”, is simple:

  (1) The Hebrews considered themselves to be “God’s Chosen People”, yet Israel had been dispersed by the Assyrians and Judah was dominated by Egypt and then by Babylon.

  (2) In response to Judah’s captivity, its prophets promised the nation that God would restore them to their rightful position and that God would forever maintain the throne of David.

  (3) When exiles returned from Babylon, they set about creating a nation that was faithful to God.

  (4) Centuries passed but the Hebrews remained oppressed by successive Gentile powers. In response, the Jews anticipated imminent divine intervention.

  (5) Followers of Jesus Christ applied the prophets’ promises to their leaders and to themselves, anticipating an imminent divine intervention.

  (6) In every succeeding century, people kept expecting divine intervention during their life.

  In this way, the neo-Babylonian Exile casts its shadow forward throughout history.

  It is available at: http://www.jwstudies.com/The_Babylonian_Exile_shaped_the_future.pdf

  Doug
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  fulltimestudent

  (1) The Hebrews considered themselves to be “God’s Chosen People”, yet Israel had been dispersed by the Assyrians and Judah was dominated by Egypt and then by Babylon.

  There's little doubt in my opinion that the exile and a period of captivity was significant in the development of Jewish theology. The elite were kept captive and fed and had nothing else to do during the exile than to eat and drink and talk. The final part of the exile also brought the Jews into contact with Zoroastrianism and that surely added to the after dinner chatter, fueled by whatever passed for good wine in those days.

  And to re-phrase your first point ...

  The Jews had a big spiritual problem in their experience. Its not much good having 'the true God' as your own God ,if that true God keeps getting his arse kicked by all the false Gods.

  It seems the only reason they came up with to explain their God's failure to protect them was that they had not been faithful enough. Hence, the probability that the final section of Deuteronomy included all the warnings that said, 'Be obedient or else,' was written at this time.
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  peacefulpete

  fulltimestudent has made some good points, the cosmopolitanizing of the Jewish elite really did begin with the Babylonian/Persian period. The ancient Semetic Yahwist cults were diverse and tribal in scope. The educated who imagined themselves reformers essentially invented a universalizing history of united kingship and pure monotheistic cult. Yahweh gradually evolved from a tribal deity on a sacred mountain to an all powerful, all wise, mysterious deity living apart from and unaffected by the world below. The faith in their god survived by changing their god not their faith. If you think about it, it is a much easier approach.
  
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  Mephis

  Look forward to reading this Doug.
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  Phizzy

  Thanks Doug, downloaded to read later. But just thinking about it, before reading, the way you are looking at the subject is looking through the right end of the telescope.
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  Mephis

  As ever, immaculately sourced and thoroughly researched. Thanks Doug. The apocalyptic heritage aspect is especially interesting to me. Loved the 'coming soon' dominoes :D
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  never a jw

  Thanks, this is food at the proper time. My favorite subject regarding biblical studies.