To make his point more clearly, he broke off the wooden yoke that Jeremiah had been wearing as a symbol of the yoke of Babylon that the Jews should submit to. He prophesied that God would free them from Babylonian rule in 2 years. While Jeremiah was telling the Jews to submit to Nebuchadnezzar, Hananiah had a different message. Well, to understand the context a little better, we need to learn about a false prophet, Hananiah (not Shadrach, a different one). Okay, now that you know more than you ever wanted to about Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, and Zedekiah, you might be wondering how the famous scripture fits into all of this. They murdered Gedaliah, thus ending any kind of Jewish self-rule. That didn't go over well with the Royal Family. Gedaliah agreed with Jeremiah that they should submit to Babylon. Jeremiah was released from prison and put under Gedaliah's care. An Ethiopian, Ebed-melech, rescued him and convinced King Zedekiah to put him in a safer prison.Īfter Jerusalem fell, Nebuchadnezzar placed Gedaliah as the governor of Judah to rule over the few Jews left behind in Jerusalem. He was arrested for desertion and placed in a pot to die. For a brief moment when it looked like Jerusalem would be free from the siege and get relief from Egypt, Jeremiah fled. He sure sounds like a defeatist, right? Or at least a Babylonian sympathizer? It appeared that way to the Jews. He said that it was God's will that they were under Babylonian rule and the Jews should submit to Nebuchadnezzar ( fine, I'll keep typing it). Then a bunch of foreign emissaries came to Jerusalem to plot a revolt against the Babylonian king ( I'm tired of typing Nebuchadnezzar over and over). Where is Jeremiah in all of this? When Zedekiah first become the new king, Jeremiah urged him to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar. They even had a prophet, Ezekiel, who kept their spirits up that one day they would be able to go back home. The Jews were still able to keep their national identity and religious practices. The Jews were not happy.īut here's the good news. For more information on possible date departures, click here.Īs you can imagine, being a part of a vassal state would not be great, but being forced out of your homeland and held captive in a foreign land would be much worse. Different scholars don't agree on when they left exactly. Note: For those who read the Book of Mormon, it was around this time that Lehi and his family fled Jerusalem, built a boat, and sailed to the Americas. He brought everyone back to Babylon-well almost everyone. So once again Nebuchadnezzar sent his army to Jerusalem, only this time he decided to fix the problem once and for all. I'm going to go with Egypt."* Nebuchadnezzar was like, "Are you freaking kidding me? Do I have to storm Jerusalem again?"* Nebuchadnezzar put in a new king over Judah, Zedekiah, who paid the tribute for 10 years until he said, "Yeah, I'm done. Daniel's name was changed to Belteshazzar. You might recognize his friends as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Note: Daniel's and his companions' names would be changed in Babylon. You, your family, and your employees are moving to Babylon, including Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah." * That's when what is known as the Babylonian Captivity began. Nebuchadnezzar said to King Jehoiakim, "Pack your bags. His son, Jehoiachin, gave Jerusalem over to Nebuchadnezzar. He sent his army to Jerusalem, but before they got there, Jehoiakim died. The king of Judah, Jehoiakim, was like, "You know that tribute I'm supposed to pay to Babylonia? Yeah, I'm not doing that."* The king of Babylonia, Nebuchadnezzar II, was mad. Eventually, in 605 B.C., they fell under the rule of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. This created a division among the Judeans, those in the Egyptian camp and those in the Babylonian camp. Both Egypt and Babylon wanted to take control. Eventually, they became a vassal state to Assyria.Ī New Sheriff in Town When the Assyrian Empire fell, it created a power vacuum. They formed an alliance with Egypt hoping to keep Assyria from taking them over, but it didn't work. Judah saw themselves as staying true to King David and King Solomon and tried to gain control over Israel for 60 years. Most scholars see its beginnings as a result of the United Kingdom of Israel splitting into two. I don't want to go too deep into the history of Judah, but let's just say it had a tumultuous history. Judah is the Southern Kingdom where the tribes of Benjamin and Judah lived.Israel is the Northern Kingdom where the 10 tribes lived.Now, in case you are like me and can't keep them straight, here is a quick summary of the difference between Israel and Judah. Jeremiah was born in the little village of Anathoth in Judah. Have you ever wondered why Jeremiah said this? What was going on behind the scenes? Well, I decided to do a little research, and here's what I found.
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