And then, what had been the bustling, lively and vibrant Jewish nation was no more. (Lev. This blog is about why and how we should centre our lives around Jesus, through looking at specific Bible passages and relating them to daily life. Why Were The Jews Exiled To Babylon? This happened in three waves. In 605 BC, the Babylonians first gained power in Judah (see 2 Kings 24:1). Ezekiel was one of the exiled Israelites in, or near Babylon at the time he prophesied . What circumstances led to the exile of the Israelites in Babylon? All the men of valor, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths, one thousand, all strong and fit for war, and these the king of Babylon brought into exile to Babylon. The Sabbath rest was not only every seventh day; it was also every seventh year. In the year 3338 (423 BCE), Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, lay siege to Israel and laid it to waste. The king of Babylon made Zedekiah king, but after a few years he too rebelled against the Babylonian king. It is an important period of biblical history because both the captivity/exile and the return and restoration of the Jewish nation were fulfillments of Old Testament prophecies. (Ezra 1:1) Why were the Jews exiled? According to the Bible, the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel (which means, "may God strengthen him" in Hebrew) was exiled to Babylon at age 25 with 3,000 other upper class jews exiled by the Babylonian armies. The salient feature of the exile, however, was that the Jews were settled in a single place by Nebuchadnezzar. The Israelites also persecuted the prophets of Yahweh such as Jeremiah when he challenged them about their way of life. You can't be complete without Jesus. And the highest joy possible in life is experienced through treasuring Christ above all other things. (xi) The Babylonian army marched on to Jerusalem and King Jehoiachin was forced to surrender in 597 BC leading to the first deportation of the exile to Babylon. (xii) The Babylonians installed Zedekiah as their vassal in Judah who later rebelled against the king of Babylon. A glorious kingdom flourished but then began to falter as Israel's kings persisted in disobeying God's will. and the first deportation of the best of the land into slavery on foreign soil. They had been in the Promised Land for roughly 800 years, and for 490 years, they disobeyed his Sabbath rest. ... (most of the people who had survived the first deportation were deported as exiles to Babylon). The Jews had disobeyed God’s law of obeying the Sabbath. ... "God fulfilled the promise of nationhood by leading the Israelites to victory against the Canaanites and the Philistines. The desolation began with the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon in 606 B.C. He killed most of the people and took most of the rest prisoners to Babylon. The Babylonian captivity or Babylonian exile is the period in Jewish history during which a number of people from the ancient Kingdom of Judah were captives in Babylon, the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.After the Battle of Carchemish in 605 BCE, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon besieged Jerusalem, resulting in tribute being paid by King Jehoiakim. My understanding has been that the 70 years Israel spent in exile in Babylon had to do with the Sabbath years that the Lord had commanded them to observe when they came into the Promised Land. Until then, the Holy Temple stood in the heart of Jerusalem, and G‑dliness and miracles were still apparent and abundant. Answer: The Babylonian captivity or exile refers to the time period in Israel’s history when Jews were taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. University of California, Berkeley, Lecturer in Akkadian Laurie E. Pearce explores the evidence in her article “How Bad Was the Babylonian Exile?” in the September/October 2016 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. Captivity of the Israelites. This time the king of Babylon came and destroyed the city of Jerusalem, including the temple. For seventy years the Israelites were in captivity in Babylon. So finally, God did what He had said even before the Israelites were in Israel: they were taken captive and led to another country, Babylon. Babylon was the first exile. We continue with an examination of the last years of Judah as a kingdom. It is clear that the wealthy and professional Jews in Babylon regarded themselves as the true Jewish people. The Downfall of Judah—Exile to Babylon. In this series The Good News examines archaeological finds that confirm and clarify the historical record of the Bible. Indeed, history shows us that the words of Jeremiah turned into fact as they were fulfilled down to the last detail. When king Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon destroyed Solomon's Temple (The First Temple) in 586 BCE, the Jews were exiled to Babylon but were allowed to return by Cyrus the Great in 537 BCE.