Ishtar Gate at Berlin Museum By Rictor Norton – https://www.flickr.com/photos/24065742@N00/151247206/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1409322

Most readers of the Bible do not have much exposure to the history of the region 2,600 years ago, but this time is critical for much of the Hebrew Scriptures (or Old Testament). One of my Hebrew Bibles professors used to joke that if you were taking an exam on the Hebrew Scriptures and did not know the answer that the Babylonian exile was a solid guess. This is the time period that the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel address and it is where 2 Kings concludes the Deuteronomic History[1] and shortly before 2 Chronicles ends its narration.[2] This becomes a time of redefinition for the Jewish people where the stories and writings are collected together to form a unified tradition to hand on to their descendants away once the temple, Jerusalem, and the Davidic kings no longer reign.

When talking about the Babylonian Empire in relation to scripture, it is actually the Second Babylonian Empire or the Neo Babylonian Empire. The Babylonians were also known as Chaldeans in scripture and historical references, and you will occasionally see this time referred to as the Chaldean Empire. Babylon begins its rise after the coronation of King Nabopolassar in 626 BCE and the rise of Babylonian power coincides with the collapse of the Assyrian Empire in 612 BCE.[3] In 605 BCE King Nebuchadrezzar II (or Nebuchadnezzar II) succeeded his father Nabopolassar as king. Shortly before his father’s death Nebuchadrezzar II won a critical victory over Pharoah Neco II’s Egyptian Army at the battle of Carchemish ensuring Babylonian power over the Levant (the region bordering the Eastern Mediterranean Sea which includes Israel/Judah).

Neo-Babylonian_Empire_under_Nebuchadnezzar_II By IchthyovenatorSémhur (base map) – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=105732621

In 601 BCE Babylon marched into Egypt to counter rising Egyptian influence in the Levant and this campaign ultimately failed in 599 BCE but did end Egyptian power in the Levant. During this war King Jehoiakim (or Jehoiakim) in Judah allied his country with Egypt[4] and Nebuchadrezzar after leaving Egypt turned his forces towards Jerusalem. In 598/597 BCE Jerusalem surrenders to Babylon, King Jehoiakim is taken captive to Babylon along with many of the elites of the land. This is the exile that Ezekiel is experiencing as he prophesies, and this is also the setting at the beginning of the book of Daniel. King Zedekiah is left in charge of Jerusalem as a puppet king of the Babylonian empire.

Egypt continued to be a regional force and both Jeremiah and Ezekiel point to the influence of Egypt in the decision of King Zedekiah to refuse to pay tribute in 589 BCE. In 587 BCE Ammon, Edom, and Moab all come together to form a mutual alliance against Babylon, but in 586 Babylon responds. Jerusalem is destroyed, and the Kingdom of Judah ends in 586 BCE with the survivors being taken captive in Babylonia. After the defeat of Judah, Babylon would continue to be militarily active ensuring the submission of the region under Babylonian control and repelling Egyptian influence. The Babylonian Empire would maintain control over the region until they were conquered by Cyrus the Great and the Persian Empire in 539 BCE.

[1] The books starting in Joshua and running through 2 Kings in most Christian bibles (excluding Ruth) which called the Deuteronomic history by scholars because they theologically follow the book of Deuteronomy.

[2] 2 Chronicles has two final verses which point to the end of the Babylonian exile under the Persian King Cyrus.

[3] The Assyrian Empire is responsible for the capture of Samaria and the ending of the Kingdom of Northern Israel in 721 BCE.

[4] Jehoiakim had been appointed by Pharoah Neco II so Judah’s alliance with Egypt against Babylon is not surprising.