Daniel 1:1-4 “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. (2) And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the articles into the treasure house of his god. (3) Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king's descendants and some of the nobles, (4) young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans.”
In the above-quoted passage of scripture we have Daniel’s account of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon besieging Jerusalem in the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim, and eventually taking the city. Daniel goes on to inform us in this passage that some of the articles of the House of God were taken by the Babylonians, and he along with other Jewish elites were taken into Babylonian captivity. Historical records confirm this event, revealing to us that in the year 605 BC, the Egyptians were defeated by the Babylonians in battle, and in that same year King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon then proceeded to besiege Jerusalem. And so to avoid the destruction of Jerusalem, King Jehoiakim of Judah changed his allegiance from Egypt to Babylon. He paid tribute to the Babylonians in the form of Temple artifacts from the treasury and handed over some of the royal family and nobility as hostages. And so we see that this was the second in the series of exiling of Judah’s elites. King Jehoiakim then continued for the next four years as a vassal to the Babylonians[1].
2 Chronicles 36:5-8 “Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord his God. (6) Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him, and bound him in bronze fetters to carry him off to Babylon. (7) Nebuchadnezzar also carried off some of the articles from the house of the Lord to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon. (8) Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, the abominations which he did, and what was found against him, indeed they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. Then Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.”
Historical records reveal that in the year 601 BC, Babylon invaded Egypt once again. The invasion proved to be a failure, however, which resulted in the undermining of Babylonian control of the area. When King Jehoiakim of Judah saw that, he then switched allegiance back to the Egyptians for the next three years. In late 598 BC, the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II invaded Judah and again laid siege to Jerusalem, which lasted three months. The above-quoted passage of scripture is an account of that event. This passage states that Nebuchadnezzar bound Jehoiakim in bronze fetters to carry him off to Babylon, thus implying that more Jewish elites were taken into Babylonian captivity on this occasion also. And so we see that this was the third in the series of exiling of Judah’s elites. However, something happened to change King Nebuchadnezzar’s mind about King Jehoiakim, and instead of taking him into captivity, Nebuchadnezzar executed him along with other high-ranking Jewish officials and then commanded Jehoiakim's body "to be thrown before the walls, without any burial."[2] Scripture concurs with the historical account, for Jeremiah prophesied the following about King Jehoiakim, “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: "They shall not lament for him, Saying, 'Alas, my brother!' or 'Alas, my sister!' They shall not lament for him, Saying, 'Alas, master!' or 'Alas, his glory!' He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, Dragged and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem” (Jeremiah 22:18-19).
2 Chronicles 36:8-11 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, the abominations which he did, and what was found against him, indeed they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. Then Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place. (9) Jehoiachin was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months and ten days. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord. (10) At the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar summoned him and took him to Babylon, with the costly articles from the house of the Lord, and made Zedekiah, Jehoiakim's brother, king over Judah and Jerusalem. (11) Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
The above-quoted passage of scripture is an account of King Nebuchadnezzar's deposing of Jehoiachin as King of Judah. This passage declares that King Jehoiakim's son, Jehoiachin (also known as Jeconiah) reigned in the place of his father for a total period of three months and ten days. This passage goes on to tell us that at the turn of that same year, i.e. in the year 598 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar summoned King Jeoiachin and took him to Babylon, with the costly articles from the house of the Lord, and made Zedekiah, Jehoiakim's brother, King over Judah and Jerusalem. Scripture teaches us that the Queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths (i.e. Judah’s elites) were taken into exile along with King Jeconiah (Jeremiah 29:2). And so we see that this was the fourth in the series of exiling of Judah’s elites. Historical records confirm that a number of the Jewish population were exiled to Babylon at this time also[3].
Jeremiah 52:4-15 “Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around. (5) So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. (6) By the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. (7) Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled and went out of the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden, even though the Chaldeans were near the city all around. And they went by way of the plain. (8) But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him. (9) So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced judgment on him. (10) Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. And he killed all the princes of Judah in Riblah. (11) He also put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in bronze fetters, took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death. (12) Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. (13) He burned the house of the Lord and the king's house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, he burned with fire. (14) And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around. (15) Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive some of the poor people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen.”
We have seen in the previous passage that King Nebuchadnezzar installed Zedekiah as a puppet King over Judah. And so King Zedekiah served the Babylonians in that capacity for the next nine years. At the end of the nine years however, King Zedekiah decided to rebel against his Babylonian masters, and the above-quoted passage of scripture is an account of King Nebuchadnezzar's army putting down King Zedekiah's rebellion. This passage teaches us that King Nebuchadnezzar laid a siege against Jerusalem for two-and-a-half years and that eventually the city was taken. This passage goes on to tell us that after the rebellion had been put down, King Zedekiah and the rest of the craftsmen (Jewish elites) and some of the poor people, were exiled to Babylon. And so we see that this was the fifth and final in the series of exiling of Judah’s elite. Historical records confirm this event and reveal that the siege of Jerusalem between the years 589 and 587 BC was the last of Judah’s revolts against their Babylonian masters. Jerusalem fell after a 30-month siege, following which the Babylonians systematically destroyed both the city and the First Temple[4]. And so we see that between the years 609 and 587 BC, Judah underwent five forced removals of its mainly elite citizens. Earlier we estimated that approximately 60,000 Jews were taken into exile during Israel’s judgment. And so the question is asked, how many Jews were taken into exile during Judah’s judgment? Judah’s total population at the time was approximately 381,000[5]. And so if we were to apply Israel’s percentage of 13% of the population being taken into exile; that would equate to approximately 50,000 of Judah’s citizens being taken into exile. We have seen that Judah underwent five forced removals over 22 years. And so if we divide the total of 50,000 by five, we can assume that approximately 10,000 Jews were taken into Egypt in the first exile and approximately 40,000 Jews were taken into Babylon in the remaining four exiles. So what about the rest of Judah’s citizens? The prophet Jeremiah records that the Babylonians allowed the rest of the Jews to remain in Judah as vinedressers and farmers (Jeremiah 52:16). Jeremiah also teaches us that after Jerusalem was destroyed in the year 587 BC, the Lord encouraged the surviving Jews to remain in Judah and He would look after them. Nevertheless, there were some Jews who stubbornly refused to obey the Lord and migrated to Egypt, where most were destroyed because of their disobedience (Jeremiah 42:7-22). As an aside, it is important to note that, unlike Israel’s exile, Judah's exiled population was not replaced with foreign nationals. And so we see that approximately 13% of the southern kingdom's population was taken into exile, which means that the bulk of the southern kingdom Jews remained in Judah. Nevertheless, even though most of the Jews remained in the southern kingdom, they no longer governed their affairs, because they fell under the governorship of the various Gentile nations that exercised dominion over them. In other words from the year 609 BC, Judah ceased to exist as a sovereign nation.
Michael E.B. Maher
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