Fall of Judah FINAL

• Isaiah and Jeremiah
• Assyrians are the "Romans" of the ancient Near East
• Dominant power from 900-600 BC
• When Israel withheld tribut, Sargon II besieged and then sacked Israel's capital of Samaria
• The Northern tribes disappeared through intermarriage with Assyrians and native population

• The northern tribes who intermarried with Assyrians
• Named after their capital, Samaria
• A despised ethnic group that will reappear in the Gospels of the New Testament

• Judah escaped a similar fate of the Samaritans by paying a huge tribute to the Assyrians
• Therefore, God's people are known as Judeans or Jews

• The Greatest of Isaiah: After the fall of the north, prophesy intensified in the South
• Southerners naively assumed David's kingdom could never fall
• This overconfidence led to complacency and moral decay

Due to differences in setting, style, vocabulary, and theology, scholars believe Isaiah is an anthology of prophecies from the "Isaiah School" covering a period of over 200 years

• Isaiah of Jerusalem: 740-700 BCE Ch. 1-39 (Assyria)
• Second Isaiah: 587-537 BCE Ch. 40-55 (Babylon)
• Third Isaiah: 537-After Exile Post Exilic (Judah)

Apostasy, religious hypocrisy, and oppression of poor

• A contemporary of Amos and Hosea but a prophet to the South
• Parable of the Vineyard: uses the parable to a great effect
• A Remnant Shall Return: God's people are no longer equated with the nation, but with the faithful

Praise, Confession, Proclamation, and Commitment

• In response to the preachings of Isaiah and Micah
• He sought political independence from Assyria
• The warrior king Sennacherib ravaged Judah in 701 BCE
• Judah paid a huge tribute and became a vassal; Jerusalem was spared

• A 1,500 foot tunnel through sheer rock that brings water from spring outside Jerusalem
• A remarkable feat of 8th c. BCE engineering

• Following the death of Hezekiah and "First Isaiah," religious reform waned and apostasy returned
• During the reign of king Josiah, a religious reform was sparked by discovery of book of Deuteronomy during Temple renovation
• These reforms were backed by a cluster of prophets: Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, and Jeremiah
• Unfortunately, King Josiah was killed in battle and Jeremiah stood alone as the Babylonian empire was on the rise

• Jeremiah
• Out of great anguish, he confronts a nation that won't hear or heed warnings
• Knowing the end is coming, Jeremiah looks forward to a new convenant

• King Nebuchadnezzar reduces Jerusalem and the temple to rubble
• Without a temple, nation, or king, the spiritual crisis of exile begins

Ezekiel and Isaiah II

• Everything that had defined Hebrew religion was gone
• The Davidic Monarchy
• The Temple
• The Nation

• The best and the brightest were exported to Babylon
• Some, like Jeremiah, escaped to Egypt beginning the Diaspora ("Scattering" abroad)
• Only the poor and powerless remained

• Without familiar forms of religion, new spiritual resources developed
• The synagogue: ("assembly") small gathering for study and prayer
• Many of the Psalms were written during this period ("How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?")
• Prophets like Ezekiel and II Isaiah helped make sense of the tragedy

• A prophet of judgment before Jerusalem's fall then hope
• Embodies the prophetic paradox: "Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable"

• His vivid visions and highly symbolic language e.g. "Chariot Throne"
• He anticipates the apocalyptic language (highly picturesque and symbolic) of Daniel and the Revelation
• His emphasis on personal responsibility instead of "corporate solidarity" the many being punished for the sins of the few
• By challenging the Mosaic principle of inherited guilt, Ezekiel offered the exiles an alternative view of divine justice and the possibility of personal hope

• Ezekiel's most famous vision of hope for the exiles, inspired by a battlefield full of skeletons
• The vision promises new life for exiles in despair and a return to their land
• With his emphasis on personal responsibility and the hope of a spiritual resurrection, Ezekiel brought hope to the exiles

II Isaiah

• From the Assyrian crisis to the Babylonian exile, there is an abrupt shift forward of 150 years
• Preaches hope and consolation to the exiles
• Yahweh is the Lord of History

• Yahweh's anointed for setting His people free
• Yahweh will lead his people on a "New Exodus" back to their homeland

• Yahweh's "servant" and a "light to the nations"
• She will be a "Suffering Servant" as described in the 4 Servant Songs
• The servant is sometimes the nation, sometimes an individual (the prophet)
• The NT sees Jesus as fulfilling this prophecy

II Isaiah's prophecy that brings a message of comfort and hope to the exiles

• Sustain the exiles in Babylon
• Soon Yahweh will use Cyrus of Persia to bring them home

"How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?"

The New Covenant

• Yahweh is Omnipresent
• Personal Responsibility
• Hope of Spiritual Resurrection

Yahweh is the Lord of History

Israel is a light to the nations

Suffering can serve God's Purpose

• Conquered Babylon in 538 BCE
• II Isaiah calls him "God's Anointed," the one whom liberation comes

• Allowed exiles to return to their homeland
• Tolerated religious and cultural autonomy
• Jewish exiles first return in 538

• They were locally autonomous but ruled by emperor's appointee
• This allowed for the Restoration of Jewish religion, not the Jewish nation

• But after 50 years, many others were "at home" in Babylon or Egypt as part of the Diaspora
• In the end, about 400,000 exiles returned in 538 BCE to Palestine to rebuild the Temple

• Opposition from the Samaritans (remnants of the northern kingdom) mounted, the people grew discouraged
• Into this critical situation stepped the prophets Haggai and Zechariah demanding that the rebuilding of the Temple continue

• Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi
• Emphasized rebuilding and purifying the Temple

• They are concerned for the Temple and the role of the Priesthood
• With the shift from monarchy to priestly theocracy, religious instruction passes from the prophets to the priests
• About 400 BCE, the prophets fall silent and Judaism becomes a "religion of the book," the Torah

• Temple finished in 515 BC
• Ezra and Nehemiah: two key figures in the Restoration

• An expert in the Jewish law, now being committed to writing
• In 458 BC, returned to Jerusalem and led renewal of covenant

Persian government who rebuilt walls of city in 5th c BCE

• Temple rebuilt, securing worship
• Walls rebuilt, securing city
• Mosaic covenant renewed, securing Jewish identity
• Ethnic identity increasingly important as Judah became part of the empire
• Great emphasis on proper ritual like dietary

After the exile, the written scriptures, rabbinic teaching, and Jewish ritual define Jewish identity