History Forum / General / General Topics / February 2007

THE RETURN FROM BABYLON

It was these visions of a divinely assured return to Zion which kept alive
the sense of national cohesion among the Jewish exiles in Babylon. Unlike
other nations conquered by the Chaldeans and transplanted to new
surroundings, they refused to become rooted in the land of their captivity.
"If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. Let my
tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I remember thee not; if I set not
Jerusalem above my chiefest joy " (Psalm CXXXVII, , 6). Their loyalty was
rewarded when, after his conquest of Babylon, Cyrus, King of Persia, allowed
the Jewish exiles to return to Palestine and reconstruct the Temple in
Jerusalem. Some 42,000 returned, led by a scion of the old Jewish royal
family. They found their native land in a state of utter desolation, but
immediately set to work, under prophetic guidance, to rebuild the ruins of
Jerusalem and the other towns of Judaea and to reconstruct the Temple. Three
further waves of re-immigration followed during the next century. In spite
of the opposition of the local Persian officials and the intrigues of the
Samaritans and Ammonites who had usurped the land during the exile of the
Jews, the "remnant of the captivity", supported by the sympathy of the
Persian kings, succeeded in reconstructing the Jewish polity, the economic
and political order of the country being re-organised in accordance with
Biblical precept. In the words of Nehemiah, "everyone with one of his hands
wrought in the work and with the other held his weapon So we wrought in the
work; and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning until
the stars appeared" (Nehemiah IV, ii, i5).

The period that followed was one of  great economic and cultural
development. New cities were built, including many fortresses. An effective
measure of local self-government was introduced, the townships being
invested with authority for controlling economic activities and supervising
the administration of religious, educational and charitable institutions.
The Jews also had the right to levy taxes and strike their own coinage. A
Jewish police force was organised, law-courts were set up and teachers and
physicians appointed throughout the country. Agriculture prospered again as
in olden days. The papyri discovered in the Zenon Archives at Fayoum in
Egypt reveal the economic expansion of Palestine during that period. A large
number of new Jewish communities sprang up in the Sharon, Galilee and
Transjordan. Jerusalem resumed its former place as the political and
cultural centre, the High Priests becoming the virtual rulers as well as the
spiritual leaders of the nation. This form of Jewish home rule continued
after the destruction of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great and the
consequent transition of Palestine to Ptolemaic and Seleucid rule. As in
former periods of peace and prosperity, a remarkable spiritual and
intellectual development set in. The Biblical Canon, comprising the eternal
creations of the Jewish genius in the land of its origin - the historical
and prophetic books, the Psalms and Proverbs, the Book of Job and the Song
of Songs - was compiled and edited. At the same time, a great many poetical
and historical books were composed, some of them like Chronicles, Ezra and
Nehemiah being included in the Canon, others like the Books of Enoch, Tobit
and Ecclesiasticus being relegated to apocryphal rank.

Next: THE MACCABEAN ERA AND THE END OF' THE JEWISH STATE

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Dan