In this final session of our series on the Kings of the Old Testament, we place the return of the Jews from the Babylonian Exile within the broader context of world history. Especially, we focus on the role of the Persians in world history, and how God used this empire in Biblical History.
Finally, we look to the prophetic books and were they fit within the history of the Kings.
Listen online [here] - part 1!
Listen online [here] - part 2!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Kings
of the Old Testament
Adult
Faith Formation Series, May/June 2022
Session 6:
The Return from the Exile
Class Schedule, Tuesdays from 7
to 8pm
May 17th –
Introduction: Goals for this Course, Historical Background, Biblical Books
May 24th – Saul and
David (1 and 2 Samuel)
May 31st – Solomon and
the Divided Kingdom (1 and 2 Kings)
June 7th – The Divided
Kingdom up to the Assyrian Invasion of Israel (Elijah and Elisha)
June 14th – Kings of
Judah up to the Babylonian Captivity (and 1 and 2 Chronicles)
June 21st – No Class,
Preparing for Ordination of Bishop Elect Fleming
June 28th – The Return
to Jerusalem (and Historical Context)
I. Review of the books of Samuel, Kings, and
Chronicles
A. The
Book of Samuel. Originally one book, was
divided into two with the introduction of Greek scrolls in the Hellenistic
period (around 300 BC). The division occurs at the end of Saul’s reign and the
beginning of David’s. The contents relating to the time of Samuel were probably
written by Samuel (as also perhaps the book of Judges). The later portion of 1
Samuel and all of 2 Samuel were probably written by Nathan and Gad – thus, the contents
book would have been completed during the reign of David (about 1000 BC) with
the final form of the book being produced sometime into the period of the
Divided Kingdom (perhaps around 700 BC).
This
book tells the story, first of Samuel, then of Saul, and finally of David.
Especially important are the promises made to David, and the foreshadowing of a
future King (Messiah is not explicitly used) who will have a Kingdom which will
last forever. This book covers a time period of about 100 years (about 1070 BC
to 970 BC).
B. The
Book of Kings. Again, originally one book, but divided into two for the sake of
the shorter Greek scrolls. This division occurs at an unusual point – without
any particularly obvious logic to it (right in the middle of the reign of
Ahaziah (the son of Ahab and Jezebel) and during the ministry of Elijah. The
contents of this book were probably written by the various prophets throughout
the history of the Kingdom of ancient Israel – the story spans a period of
around 400 years (from the reign of Solomon into the time of the Babylonian
Exile, about 970 BC to 560 BC).
The
main figures of Kings are Solomon, Elijah, and Elisha (though Kings covers many
other important figures over such a long period of history). Especially
important are the account of the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the
rise of the role of the prophets, the rediscovery of the Law (especially by
Josiah), and the destruction of the Temple and Southern Kingdom of Judah by the
Babylonians.
C. The
Book of Chronicles. Once again, this was originally one book, and was divided
to fit the Greek scrolls. Interestingly, this book was probably meant to be
read together with Ezra-Nehemiah; and was most likely written by Ezra, the
priest scribe after the return from the Babylonian Captivity. This book covers
the history from Adam to the beginning of the return from Babylon (about 538
BC). The first nine chapters are simply the genealogies from Adam to David.
Then there is the more detailed telling of the stories of David, Solomon, and
the Kings of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The division into two books is made
in a logical place, at the beginning of Solomon’s reign.
Chronicles
emphasizes the importance of Temple worship and fidelity to the Law.
II. Brief
Overview of the History of the Kings of the Old Testament
[To keep the perspective:
Abraham is about 2000 BC, Moses about 1500 BC, David about 1000 BC, Temple
destroyed by Babylonians a little before 500 BC]
The
people asked Samuel for a king (around 1037 BC), and Saul was chosen. However,
because Saul was disobedient to the Lord’s command, the favor of God passed to
David. After Saul’s death in battle, David rules as king (around 1010-970 BC).
Solomon succeeds David and builds the Temple. Solomon’s son, Rehoboam is wicked
and the Northern Kingdom splits away – the period of the Divided Kingdom
begins, with Israel in the North and Judah in the South (about 931 BC).
There
are various good and bad kings – all those of the Northern Kingdom are bad,
especially Ahab who together with Jezebel persecutes Elijah (about 870 BC). The
Northern Kingdom falls to the Assyrian Empire, the people are dispersed and the
10 Lost Tribes are never reestablished (722 BC).
Although
there are some good kings in the Southern Kingdom (especially Hezekiah and
Josiah, both towards the end of the history of the Southern Kingdom), most
kings are wicked. The religious reform under Josiah (about 630 BC) is extremely
important, and was formative for the way the Jewish people understood
themselves and their history. Ultimately,
because of the infidelity of the rules and people, the Southern Kingdom fell to
the Babylonians, and the city of Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BC.
III. The
Prophetic Books in Relation to the Kings of the Old Testament
I. Key
Historical Notes
A. Divided
Kingdom from after Solomon (around 930 BC)
B. The
Fall of the Northern Kingdom to the Assyrians (about 722 BC)
C. The
Fall of the Southern Kingdom to the Babylonians (about 587 BC)
D. The
Return of the Jews to Judea (about 539 BC)
II.
Four Major Prophets
A.
Isaiah
Isaiah
was among the earlier of the prophetic books, written around 730 BC. However,
the prophet foresees the exile and even the return of the Jewish people which
will not occur for over 150 years!
[modern scholars do not think Isaiah could have written the whole book
of Isaiah, but we hold to the traditional view that the prophet could have
foreseen all these things and written in varying styles in order to relate to
the Jews at different points of their history – modern scholars would argue
that parts of Isaiah were written much later, even after the return from the
Exile]
Isaiah
is a prophet of the Southern Kingdom, before the time of the Assyrian invasion
of the North.
The
Fathers of the Church say that Isaiah is like an Evangelist, because his book
so clearly speaks of the mysteries of our Lord’s life.
B.
Jeremiah (Lamentations, Baruch)
Jeremiah
preached and wrote around the time of the 600 BC, but had the longest ministry
of any of the prophets (called in his young years [maybe as young as 14] and
ministering into old age)! He preached against the sins of the southern kingdom
and warned against the Babylonian invasion. He told the people to accept God’s
punishment and not fight the Babylonians – but they people refused. Thus the Temple
was destroyed. Tradition tells us that Jeremiah was taken captive by his own
people and brought to Egypt where he was killed. Jeremiah represents to us the
Lord Jesus in his sufferings.
The
book of Jeremiah is the longest book in the Bible.
C.
Ezekiel
Ezekiel
was called as a prophet while the people were in exile in Babylon. He is a
prophet of hope, to encourage the people in their great suffering – to tell
them that God will redeem them.
Ezekiel
also explains that the Temple wasn’t destroyed by the power of false gods, but
only because the True God allowed it as a chastisement to call the Chosen
People to conversion.
Ezekiel
is most famous for speaking of the resurrection, and also of the Temple of God.
D.
Daniel
Daniel
is a prophet of the time of Exile and also encourages the people to be faithful
in the midst of trials. Daniel is
apocalyptic – pointing to the end of time.
In some
ways, Daniel also foretells the future sufferings of the Jewish people during
the time of the Maccabees when Antiochus Epiphanies will attack Judea and
defile the Temple and kill many of the people (about 160 BC). [modern scholars
would say Daniel wasn’t written until the Maccabees]
III.
The 12 Minor Prophets: “Minor” only because their books are much shorter.
A.
Northern Kingdom (all before Assyrian Invasion): Amos, Jonah, Hosea.
B.
Southern Kingdom
1.
Before the fall of the Northern Kingdom: Joel, Micah
2.
After the fall of the Northern but before the fall of the Southern Kingdom:
Obadiah
3.
After the fall of the Southern Kingdom: Zephaniah, Nahum, Habakkuk
4.
After the return from Exile: Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
C. The
prophets who preach before an invasion generally call the people to repentance
and give warning of destruction for the sins of the people. The prophets who
preach during a time of exile generally speak words of encouragement so that
the people will not lose hope. The
prophets after the return from exile preach most explicitly the New Covenant
which will be established and how all the gentile nations will find salvation
through the Jews, since the Messiah will come through the Jewish people.
IV. The
Role of the Persians and then the Empire of the Greeks
Battle
of Thermopylae, 480 BC – 300 Spartans fight *a million* Persians (probably more
like 150,000). We put the story of the Greeks defending themselves against the
Persians (both here, and the battle of Salamis) as great victories for all that
is good against the eastern horde. However, setting aside that the Persians did
actually win at Thermopylae, and the fact that the failure to take the Greek
City-States was only a small setback in a distant outpost for an Empire that
was in the East and had primary focus of expansion to the far East – when we
consider the biblical narrative and presentation of the Persians (especially
compared to the Greeks later on), we may begin to question whose side we should
be cheering for.
In the
7th Century BC, the Assyrian Empire falls to the Babylonians. The
Assyrians had been unspeakably cruel, and had crushed all their opponents –
this is perhaps part of the reason for their fall, after they made a wasteland
of all the surrounding kingdoms, there was no “buffer” between Assyria and the
peoples of the East; finally, it was too much for a too far spread kingdom. Common penalties for revolt against the
Assyrians included plucking out tongues of the ruling class, enslaving the
peoples and mass deportation, destroying of cities, and especially the
suppression of all other religions and idols.
The
Babylonians continue the harsh policies of Assyria – as is seen in the cruelty
poured out upon Jerusalem. The Babylonians were quite advanced in mathematics,
astronomy, and science – interesting to think of how the Babylonian
mathematical system based on 60 (with smaller divisions of 12) is influential
even to our current day (60 seconds/minute, 60 minutes/hours, 24 [2x12]
hours/day, about 30 [half 60] days/month, and 12 months/year – and other things
like 12 inches/foot). Still, for all these cultural advances, they were cruel
and also superstitious.
Babylon
falls in 539 BC.
When Belshazzar
held a great feast and all were drunk, the king (really, he was the king’s son)
ordered that the sacred vessels of the Temple should be brought for them to
drink from. In the midst of this party,
the ghostly hand appears on the wall and writes in Aramaic:
“And
this is the writing that was inscribed: mene, mene, tekel, and parsin.
This is the interpretation of the matter: mene, God has numbered the
days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; tekel, you have been
weighed in the balances and found wanting; peres, your kingdom is
divided and given to the Medes and Persians... That very night Belshazzar the
Chaldean king was slain.”” (note, parsin
is plural of peres; also note the word play with paras,
“Persians”) -- Daniel 5
The
rise of Cyrus the Great (590-529 BC):
Perhaps the most important figure in secular world history! Cyrus was a
Persian, but did not inherit any great empire. Rather, he came as ruler of a very
small power, and in around 25 years made it into the greatest Empire known to
human history up to the time of Alexander the Great (who himself had inherited
a relatively powerful nation, and had a lot more in his favor than did Cyrus).
For our
purposes, the main point to emphasize about Cyrus and the Persians is their
relative tolerance of other cultures, languages, religions, and peoples. When
they conquered a nation, they did not kill the king or mutilate the lords, but
offered relatively gentle options for moving forward. The Persians did not force the Persian
language or religion upon conquered nations, nor did they practice mass
deportations – rather, they wanted the various peoples and nations to continue doing
what they already did best, but just put that to the service of the Persian
Empire (in addition to being for the benefit of the individual peoples).
This
policy was extremely popular throughout the know world, and was received as a
great relief to those nations and peoples who had been conquered by the
Babylonians – now, these peoples were permitted to return to their own lands,
their temples were to be rebuilt, their cultures were to be revived. It is said
that Cyrus did not even have to fight to take Babylon, the people themselves
opened the gates to him and received him with joy (perhaps this is an
exaggeration). Generally speaking, Cyrus and the Persians were received with
joy by all the many peoples who had be subjugated by the Assyrians and then the
Babylonians.
“Thus
says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to
subdue nations before him and ungird the loins of kings, to open doors before
him that gates may not be closed” (Isaiah 45:1)
“In the
first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord
spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a
proclamation throughout his realm and put it in writing: This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: The
Lord, the God of Heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has
appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his
people among you - may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in
Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in
Jerusalem. And the people of any place where they may still be living are to
provide them with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill
offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.” (Ezra 1:1-4)
Note
that, even after the Jews return to Jerusalem, they do not really have a “king”
in the former way. Rather, the rulers are appointed by the Persians who would
work with the Persians as governors.
Now we
see the conflict between the Persians and the Greeks in a somewhat different
light. Xerxes (the Persian who fought the Spartans etc) was the son of Darius
who had assumed Persian rule shortly after Cyrus. Cyrus himself had asserted
his authority over the nearby region, and had only asked that the Greeks would
recognize his rule – the Greeks would be permitted to continue as per usual
(even as so many other nations had before). But the Greeks were defiant and
resisted first Cyrus and then Darius and Xerxes. This led to the conflict.
(Note
also that the Spartans had killed the royal ambassadors of the Persians,
something unheard of! Further, while the
Spartans had a society based on war and battle, the Persian society was focused
on truth – the Persians were scandalized by the Greek markets were people
continually tried to cheat one another to “get a good deal.”)
Then,
if we look forward to Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), and the influence of
Hellenism upon the world, especially upon the Jews, we have a very different
picture from how the Persians were. While Cyrus and Darius insisted on the
rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem and the continuation of Jewish ritual
according to the Law, and while the Persians respected the
language/culture/religion of other nations, the Greeks forced false worship
upon the Jews and tried to force other peoples to adopt the Greek language/culture/religion.
It was
the Greek oppression after Alexander that led to the Maccabean Revolt in 167
BC.
Some
point out that many of the great accomplishments in human history, if they had
not been done by the particular person who accomplished them, would likely have
been done by someone else and usually even only shortly later. However, Cyrus
stands out as rather different – it seems unlikely that anyone else would have
accomplished all that he did, and then turn around with such an unusual policy
of tolerance (not just to the Jews, but to all nations).
In many
ways, were it not for Cyrus, it is hard to see how the Jewish religion would
have continued – and, therefore, it is hard to see how Christianity would have
developed, as well as modern Judaism and Islam. Although Cyrus is Eastern, and
although he fought the Greeks – his contributions to Western Society must not
be overlooked.
[obviously,
the Lord could have raised up someone else – our point here is to emphasize
that Cyrus really does seem to be unique in human history, and this indicates
(for us who have faith) the influence of God]
