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20. “Comfort, Oh Comfort My People”: The Exile and Beyond
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20 “Comfort, Oh Comfort My People” The Exile and Beyond Primary Reading: Isaiah 40, 41, 44, 45, 49, 51, 53, 55, 63; Haggai 2; Ezra 9–10; Nehemiah 8, 13. Historical Background Nabunaid, or Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon, reigned from 556–539 B.C.E.; he directed that the moon god, Sin, be elevated over Marduk, the traditional high god of the Babylonians. Probably this action struck many of his subjects as odd; surely it offended the priests of Marduk. When the Persian king, Cyrus the Great, attacked Babylon in October 539, he was able to conquer the city bloodlessly with the help of the populace, especially the displaced priests of Marduk. Thus Cyrus, who reigned until 530, established the Achaemenid Persian empire that would last for two centuries, until Alexander the Great’s victory over Persia. His administration divided the empire into provinces; the territory of the erstwhile kingdom of Judah was now known as the province of Yehud. The prophecies of Isaiah 40–66 and other literature of the late exilic and early postexilic periods connect deeply to this background. The Persians tolerated other religions, and they allowed various peoples exiled by the Babylonians to return to their homelands. The new rulers even returned the statues and other religious items that the Babylonians had captured and put in storage. In 538, the Judeans received their Temple vessels and were encouraged to return to Yehud. At first, most Judeans must have viewed this dramatic turnaround as fulfillment of the prophecy of Jeremiah 25, which promised restoration of the kingdom after a period of seventy years of domination by Babylon. At this time, Yehud was an underdeveloped, backwater province. Rather than “return” there, many Judeans preferred to stay in the cosmopolitan cities where they had become established. These people—called yehudim (“Jews”; see 199 n. 4 in chapter 14)—created a voluntary diaspora community in Babylon. Such communities also formed in other cities throughout the empire. Meanwhile, back in Jerusalem, the Jews who did resettle there did not succeed in rebuilding the Temple immediately. They did not begin work until 520, completing it four years later. This Second Temple was smaller and much less magnificent than the First Temple. In general, the tiny province of Yehud, centered on Jerusalem, remained impoverished and weak throughout the Persian period, both politically and militarily.1 Who Saved Babylon? A document called the Cyrus Cylinder sheds a great deal of light on the rise of Cyrus.2 It is written in Akkadian, the language of the Babylonians. It describes the failing of King Nabunaid (Nabonidus), “[an] incompetent person” who “did away with the worship of Marduk, the king of gods; he continually did evil against his [Marduk’s] city.” The cylinder goes on to describe how Marduk responded to the situation: Upon [hearing] their cries, the lord of the gods [Marduk] became furiously angry [and he left] their borders. . . . Marduk [ ] turned [?] toward all the habitations that were abandoned and all the people of Sumer and Akkad who had become corpses; [he was recon]ciled and had mercy [upon them]. He surveyed and looked throughout all the lands, searching for a righteous king whom he could support. He called out his name: Cyrus, king of Anshan; he proclaimed his name to be king over all [the world]. . . . He [Marduk] ordered him to march to his city Babylon. . . . He made him enter his city Babylon without fighting or battle; he saved Babylon from hardship. He delivered Nabonidus, the king who did not revere him, into his hands. This is a remarkable piece of propaganda from the priests of Marduk, who were extremely powerful. This context gives us a way to understand some of DeuteroIsaiah ’s prophecies. It also shows how useful it is to read biblical works against their ancient Near Eastern background, which modern archaeology and biblical studies have made possible. For Babylonian Jews who remained steadfast to their religion, the concept that Marduk chose Cyrus was unthinkable, so they developed a counter-theology . Several units in Isaiah from chapter 40 on read as if they respond directly to (that is, are polemics against) the ideas found in the Cyrus cylinder. Here are two examples: 200 How to Read the Bible [44.197.251.102] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 09:14 GMT) (41:1) Stand silent before Me, coastlands, / And let nations renew their strength. / Let them approach to state their case; / Let us come forward together for argument. / (2) Who has...