Editing Babylonian captivity (section)

==Biblical accounts of the exile==
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[[File:Clay tablet. The Akkadian cuneiform inscription lists certain rations and mentions the name of Jeconiah (Jehoiachin), King of Judah and the Babylonian captivity. From Babylon, Iraq. C. 580 BCE. Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin.jpg|thumb|Clay tablet. The Akkadian cuneiform inscription lists certain rations and mentions the name of Jeconiah (Jehoiachin), King of Judah, and the Babylonian captivity. From Babylon, Iraq. Reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, {{circa|580 BCE}}. Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin]]

In the late 7th century BCE, the [[Kingdom of Judah]] was a [[client state]] of the [[Assyria]]n empire. In the last decades of the century, Assyria was overthrown by Babylon, an Assyrian province. [[Late Period of ancient Egypt|Egypt]], fearing the sudden rise of the [[Neo-Babylonian empire]], seized control of Assyrian territory up to the [[Euphrates river]] in Syria, but Babylon counter-attacked. In the process [[Josiah]], the king of Judah, was killed in a battle with the Egyptians at the [[Battle of Megiddo (609 BC)|Battle of Megiddo (609 BCE)]].

After the defeat of [[Pharaoh]] [[Necho II|Necho's]] army by the Babylonians at [[Carchemish]] in 605 BCE, Jehoiakim began paying tribute to [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] of Babylon. Some of the young nobility of Judah were taken to Babylon.

In the following years, the court of Jerusalem was divided into two parties, one supporting Egypt, the other Babylon. After Nebuchadnezzar was defeated in battle in 601 BCE by Egypt, Judah revolted against Babylon, culminating in a [[Siege of Jerusalem (597 BC)|three-month siege of Jerusalem]] beginning in late 598 BCE.<ref>Geoffrey Wigoder, ''The Illustrated Dictionary & Concordance of the Bible'' Pub. by Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. (2006)</ref> Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, died during the siege<ref>Dan Cohn-Sherbok, ''The Hebrew Bible'', Continuum International, 1996, p. x. {{ISBN|0-304-33703-X}}</ref> and was succeeded by his son Jehoiachin (also called [[Jeconiah]]) at the age of eighteen.<ref>{{bibleref2|2Kings|24:6–8|9|2Kings 24:6–8}}</ref> The city fell on 2 [[Adar]] (March 16) 597 BCE,<ref>Philip J. King, ''Jeremiah: An Archaeological Companion'' (Westminster John Knox Press, 1993), p. 23.</ref> and Nebuchadnezzar pillaged Jerusalem and its [[Solomon's Temple|Temple]] and took Jeconiah, his court and other prominent citizens (including the prophet [[Ezekiel]]) back to Babylon.<ref name="Biblical World 1999. pg 350">The Oxford History of the Biblical World, ed. by Michael D Coogan. Pub. by Oxford University Press, 1999. p. 350</ref> Jehoiakim's uncle Zedekiah was appointed king in his place, but the exiles in Babylon continued to consider Jeconiah as their [[Exilarch]], or rightful ruler.

Despite warnings by [[Jeremiah]] and others of the pro-Babylonian party, Zedekiah revolted against Babylon and entered into an alliance with Pharaoh [[Apries|Hophra]]. Nebuchadnezzar returned, defeated the Egyptians, and again [[Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)|besieged Jerusalem]], resulting in the city's destruction in 587 BCE. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city wall and the Temple, together with the houses of the most important citizens. Zedekiah and his sons were captured and the sons were executed in front of Zedekiah, who was then blinded and taken to Babylon with many others (Jer 52:10–11). Judah became a Babylonian province, called [[Yehud (Babylonian province)|Yehud]], putting an end to the independent Kingdom of Judah. Because of the [[missing years (Jewish calendar)|missing years in the Jewish calendar]], rabbinic sources place the date of the destruction of the First Temple at 3338 [[Anno mundi|AM]] (423 BCE)<ref>[[Rashi]] to [[Talmud Bavli]], avodah zara p. 9a. [[Josephus]], [[Seder HaDoroth]] year 3338</ref> or 3358 AM (403 BCE).<ref>[[malbim]] to Ezekiel 24:1, [[abarbanel]] et al.</ref>

[[File:Nuremberg chronicles f 63v 1.png|thumb|Illustration from the ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle]]'' of the destruction of Jerusalem under the Babylonian rule]]

The first governor appointed by Babylon was [[Gedaliah]], a native Judahite; he encouraged the many Jews who had fled to surrounding countries such as [[Moab]], [[Ammon]] and [[Edom]] to return, and he took steps to return the country to prosperity. Some time later, a surviving member of the royal family assassinated Gedaliah and his Babylonian advisors, prompting many refugees to seek safety in Egypt. By the end of the second decade of the 6th century BCE, in addition to those who remained in Judah, there were significant Jewish communities in Babylon and in Egypt; this was the beginning of the later numerous Jewish communities living permanently outside Judah in the [[Jewish Diaspora]].

According to the [[book of Ezra]], the Persian [[Cyrus the Great]] ended the exile in 538 BCE,<ref name="rennert">{{cite web|url=http://www.biu.ac.il/js/rennert/history_4.html |title=Second Temple Period (538 BCE. to 70 CE) Persian Rule |publisher=Biu.ac.il |access-date=2014-03-15}}</ref> the year after he captured Babylon.<ref>''Harper's Bible Dictionary'', ed. by Achtemeier, etc., Harper & Row, San Francisco, 1985, p. 103</ref> The exile ended with the return under [[Zerubbabel]] the Prince (so-called because he was a descendant of the royal line of [[David]]) and Joshua the Priest (a descendant of the line of the former High Priests of the Temple) and their construction of the Second Temple in the period from 521 to 516 BCE.<ref name="rennert"/>