Kings of the Jews: The Origins of the Jewish Nation

Return to Zion

KINGS OF THE JEWS 152 RETURN TO ZION Like their return from Egypt almost eight centuries earlier, the return of the Jews from Babylonia was in waves, beginning in 538 BCE. This new exodus also involved a hazardous trek of hundreds of miles. Sheshbazzar (who may have been a son of exiled King Jehoiachin, though never king himself) led the first contingent of returnees. The first governor of Judah under the Persians was Sheshbazzar ’s nephew, Zerubbabel. He and Jeshua, a descendant of Zadok, high priest during Solomon’s time, provided the initial leadership for the returnees. (Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel may have been different names of the same person.) Not long after the first exiles returned to Jerusalem, work on rebuilding the Temple began. A new foundation was laid in the ruins of the old and an altar for the worship of Yahweh was erected. However, expectations of an immediate glorious renaissance were to be disappointed. The number of returnees was at first too small to make much impact on the land, and shortages of construction materials had to be overcome. Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah remained largely in ruins. What had been the southern kingdom of the Jews had become a part of the Persian province of Samaria and was called Yehud. The Jewish homeland had dwindled in size from what it had previously been. During its time of troubles, its neighbors—the Philistines, Edomites, Ammonites and Moabites—had annexed some of its territory. For a long time, it was effectively limited to an area extending no further than thirty-five miles from Jerusalem . Difficulties arose too between the returnees and the offspring of those Judaeans who had not been driven into exile decades earlier. They had adjusted to their own situation over time. They had not experienced the spiritual renewal of the exiles and had not adapted to the important changes the practice of Judaism had undergone in exile. They were offended by the attitudes of the returnees who considered themselves the sole inheritors of the covenant with God. Nor did neighboring lands take well to the Persian-sponsored return of the exiles. They did what they could to obstruct the Temple’s reconstruction. Those problems soon forced suspension of the project. Almost thirty years passed following the return from Babylonia before the Temple was rebuilt, and then it was only after Persian King Darius I, apprised of the neglected wishes of his predecessor, Cyrus, interceded to order all concerned to “Allow the work of this House of God to go on.”[70] EXILE AND RETURN 153 The construction of the second Temple was seen as a renewal of the covenant between Yahweh and the Jews. At the joyful dedication celebration, twelve goats were among the animals sacrificed, one for each of the original tribes of the Jews. Whatever gratification and comfort the rebuilt Temple engendered, times were hard in the land. Crops failed. Ever-greater numbers fell into debt. Community spirit broke down. The divorce rate, not previously significant among Jews, soared. The prophet Malachi railed against sinfulness in the land. He censured those “who practice sorcery, who commit adultery, who swear falsely, who cheat laborers of their hire.”[71] He condemned those who took advantage of widows, orphans, and foreigners. Crime was rife. The religious laws of Judaism were more often breached than observed and its rituals were commonly neglected. The forecasts of the prophets notwithstanding, Judah had not again become a great land. It remained a small, impoverished, sparsely populated corner of a Persian province, under the administration of the Persian governor in Samaria. In due course, more Jews in exile were drawn to the call of Zion. But it was little more than a drifting in of small groups, families, and individuals as Jewish communities established themselves in what had become the Diaspora in various cities of the Persian Empire and Egypt. No great numbers were anxious to migrate to a land none of them remembered from personal experience. They retained their Jewish identity and remained religiously observant, but they believed life in the Diaspora, where some were to achieve high rank and position, to be more congenial, secure, and stable than living in Jerusalem would be. However, their reluctance to take up their lives in the reestablished Jewish homeland did not dampen their identity with it or their concern for what was happening there. Nehemiah, who rose to the rank of cup bearer and favorite of Persian King Artaxerxes, was distressed...