End of Exile 538BC

NEHEMIAH – MARCH 2015

Looking to Nehemiah takes us back to when we read Ezra back in July, 2012.  I find that I need to organize my blogging so that I can find stuff!  This is not one of my strengths on the computer.

So, Ezra and Nehemiah are a sort of duet dealing with the end of the Exile.

A little about the Exile: The Chaldeans conquered Jerusalem in 597 BC.  Around 10,000 Jewish people were forced to move to Babylon, the capital of the Chaldean empire.  Not all of the people were deported: priests, professionals, craftsmen and the wealthy were chosen; ordinary folk were left in place.  The king Nebuchadnezzar divided the land among these people, so that they were better off than before. 

Each group considered itself to be the authentic Jewish people.

The Exile ended in 538 BC when the Persians conquered the Chaldeans.  The king was now Cyrus.  Some of the exiles chose not to return to Jerusalem.  And the people did not return en masse, rather in a trickle taking place over decades.

Note: The Diaspora was the scattering of the Jews to countries outside of Palestine after the Babylonian captivity.

After the return, the Jewish people, who had felt their exile had been brought on by their disobedience, were inclined to try to live more in accord with principle and the Law of Moses. 

Joyce Voysey