Judah's revolts against Babylon (601–586 BCE) were attempts by the

Kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah ( he, , ''Yəhūdā''; akk, 𒅀𒌑𒁕𒀀𒀀 ''Ya'údâ'' 'ia-ú-da-a-a'' arc, 𐤁𐤉𐤕𐤃𐤅𐤃 ''Bēyt Dāwīḏ'', " House of David") was an Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Ce ...

to escape dominance by the

Neo-Babylonian Empire The Neo-Babylonian Empire or Second Babylonian Empire, historically known as the Chaldean Empire, was the last polity ruled by monarchs native to Mesopotamia. Beginning with the coronation of Nabopolassar as the King of Babylon in 626 BC and being ...

. Resulting in a Babylonian victory and the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah, it marked the beginning of the prolonged hiatus in Jewish self-rule in

Judaea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous sou ...

until the

Maccabean Revolt The Maccabean Revolt ( he, מרד החשמונאים) was a Jewish rebellion led by the Maccabees against the Seleucid Empire and against Hellenistic influence on Jewish life. The main phase of the revolt lasted from 167–160 BCE and ended ...

of the 2nd century BCE. Babylonian forces captured the capital city of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

and destroyed

Solomon's Temple Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple (, , ), was the Temple in Jerusalem between the 10th century BC and . According to the Hebrew Bible, it was commissioned by Solomon in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited by the ...

, completing the fall of Judah, an event which marked the beginning of the

Babylonian captivity The Babylonian captivity or Babylonian exile is the period in Jewish history during which a large number of Judeans from the ancient Kingdom of Judah were captives in Babylon, the capital city of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, following their defea ...

, a period in

Jewish history Jewish history is the history of the Jews, and their nation, religion, and culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions, and cultures. Although Judaism as a religion first appears in Greek records during the Hellenisti ...

in which a large number of Judeans were forcibly removed from Judah and resettled in

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

(rendered in the Bible simply as "Babylon").

Background

Egypt was the regional power until the

Battle of Charchamesh The Battle of Carchemish was fought about 605 BC between the armies of Egypt allied with the remnants of the army of the former Assyrian Empire against the armies of Babylonia, allied with the Medes, Persians, and Scythians. This was while Nebu ...

around 606 BCE. Later, Babylonia came and ended the Egyptian rule, established its own dominance, and made Judah its vassal.

First revolt

According to the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''

Jehoiakim Jehoiakim, also sometimes spelled Jehoikim; la, Joakim was the eighteenth and antepenultimate king of Judah from 609 to 598 BC. He was the second son of king Josiah () and Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. His birth name was Eliakim.; ...

decided to stop the payments and went to war with Babylonia. Unfortunately for Judah,

Moab Moab ''Mōáb''; Assyrian: 𒈬𒀪𒁀𒀀𒀀 ''Mu'abâ'', 𒈠𒀪𒁀𒀀𒀀 ''Ma'bâ'', 𒈠𒀪𒀊 ''Ma'ab''; Egyptian: 𓈗𓇋𓃀𓅱𓈉 ''Mū'ībū'', name=, group= () is the name of an ancient Levantine kingdom whose territ ...

Ammon Ammon (Ammonite: 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''ʻAmān''; he, עַמּוֹן ''ʻAmmōn''; ar, عمّون, ʻAmmūn) was an ancient Semitic-speaking nation occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Arnon and Jabbok, in p ...

and

Chaldea Chaldea () was a small country that existed between the late 10th or early 9th and mid-6th centuries BCE, after which the country and its people were absorbed and assimilated into the indigenous population of Babylonia. Semitic-speaking, it was ...

went to war against it alongside Babylonia ().

First siege of Jerusalem

Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar II (Babylonian cuneiform: ''Nabû-kudurri-uṣur'', meaning "Nabu, watch over my heir"; Biblical Hebrew: ''Nəḇūḵaḏneʾṣṣar''), also spelled Nebuchadrezzar II, was the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling ...

besieged Jerusalem in 597 BCE, and managed to capture the city and King

Jehoiachin Jeconiah ( he, יְכָנְיָה ''Yəḵonəyā'' , meaning " Yah has established"; el, Ιεχονιας; la, Iechonias, Jechonias), also known as Coniah and as Jehoiachin ( he, יְהוֹיָכִין ''Yəhōyāḵīn'' ; la, Ioachin, Joac ...

Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle The Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle, also known as Jerusalem Chronicle, is one of the series of Babylonian Chronicles, and contains a description of the first eleven years of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II. The tablet details Nebuchadnezzar's military ca ...

along with all of the aristocracy of Jerusalem. He then looted the treasures of the temple, including the golden implements. Nebuchadnezzar exiled 10,000 of the officers, the craftsmen, and 7,000 soldiers, after which he appointed Jehoiachin's uncle, Mattaniah, as king of Judah. Later, Mattaniah changed his name to Zedekiah.

Second revolt

In July 587 BCE, Zedekiah rebelled against Babylonia, making an alliance with Egypt, and Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem again, starving the people (). Later, the Babylonian troops managed to get inside the walls and conquer the city, yet Zedekiah and some of his troops managed to escape to Jericho, where they fought against the Babylonians (called Chaldeans by the Bible), who captured Zedekiah and his sons and brought them in chains to Babylonia, where Zedekiah's children were executed in front of him. On the seventh of Av, Nebuzaradan, captain of Nebuchadnezzar's body guard, burned down Solomon's Temple, destroyed the walls of Jerusalem, and exiled the rest of the Jews to Babylonia. He appointed Gedalia as the administrator of the Jews that weren't exiled from Judah. Judah ceased to exist a year later, in 586 BCE. Gedalia was murdered in 582 BCE.

Bibliography

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''

2 Kings The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of Israel also including the books ...

24– 25,

Book of Jeremiah The Book of Jeremiah ( he, ספר יִרְמְיָהוּ) is the second of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, and the second of the Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. The superscription at chapter Jeremiah 1:1–3 identifies the book ...

Book of Ezekiel The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Latter Prophets in the Tanakh and one of the major prophetic books, following Isaiah and Jeremiah. According to the book itself, it records six visions of the prophet Ezekiel, exiled in Babylon, during th ...

2 Chronicles 36 2 Chronicles 36 is the thirty-sixth (and the final) chapter of the Second Book of Chronicles the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or of the second part of the Books of Chronicles in the Hebrew Bible. The book is compiled from older sources ...

References