Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson

Author:David Pawson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2012-06-13T22:00:00+00:00

Three deportations

When the Babylonians overran Judah they did not wipe out everything, as the prophet Habakkuk had expected them to do. They were actually much gentler. They deported the people in three groups, at three separate times, each when Nebuchadnezzar was on the throne of Babylon.

The first group left in 606 BC. It included the royal court, in the belief that if the rulers departed, it would be easier to subdue the nation of Judah and keep it under Babylonian control. Included in that top layer was Daniel, who was taken away as a teenager with the royal court to Babylon and was to be an important figure in the exile.

But those who were left still attempted to gain their freedom from Babylon, so the aggressors came a second time in 597 and took away all the craftsmen and merchants in the hope that if they removed the people who made the money they could impoverish the people and finally bring them under control. Among the craftsmen was a priest called Ezekiel, who, like Daniel, figures large in the exile as well.

But still the remaining people rebelled, so finally armies from Babylon came in 587, razed the temple to the ground and destroyed everything. Jerusalem was left as a deserted ruin, Judah was virtually empty and the tribes of Judah and Benjamin were taken away to Babylon.

The exile of Judah lasted for 70 years, a time Jeremiah the prophet had prophesied to the exact year. His words were an encouragement to Daniel to pray that God would fulfil his promise.

Three returns

The exile ended just as God had promised, though there were in fact three returns to match the three deportations. The first was of 50,000 people in 537, when Cyrus was the Persian leader and Zerubbabel was leader of the Jews. He was one of the royal line, stretching back to King David, and so as such was part of the fulfilment of God’s promise that there would always be a descendant of David on the throne. Indeed, he is one of the ancestors in Jesus’ family tree listed in Matthew 1, which helped to legitimize Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah.

Just over 90 years later, in 458, there was a second return when Artaxerxes I was on the Persian throne. This time just 1,800 returned under Ezra. He was a priest who, for the first time, brought back the Levites to restore the structure of worship for the people of Israel. It wasn’t easy to persuade them to come. It was only after repeated appeals that Ezra was able to find 1,800 to join him on the long trek back to restore religious life.

Then, around 14 years later in 444, Nehemiah returned with a few craftsmen. His chief concern was to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem which had been destroyed by Babylon and without which the city was vulnerable to attack.

So in the three returns there is the rebuilding of the social life, the rebuilding of the religious life and the rebuilding of the physical life.

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