The Fall and Rise of Jerusalem: Judah under Babylonian Rule

489 Pages·2005·2.07 MB·English

by  Lipschits, Oded

The Fall and Rise of Jerusalem

(cid:1)

The Fall and Rise of Jerusalem
(cid:2)
Judah under Babylonian Rule
Oded Lipschits
Winona Lake, Indiana
Eisenbrauns
2005
01-FrontMatter-Lipschits Page iv Tuesday, October 4, 2005 2:39 PM
ç Copyright 2005 by Eisenbrauns.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
www.eisenbrauns.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lipschitz, Oded.
[Yerushalayim ben ˙urban le-hit˙adashut. English]
The fall and rise of Jerusalem : Judah under Babylonian rule / by Oded
Lipschits.
p. cm.
Rev. ed. of author’s dissertation.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 1-57506-095-7 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Judaea (Region)—History. 2. Jews—History—Babylonian captivity,
598–515 b.c. 3. Bible. O.T.—Criticism, interpretation, etc.
4. Palestine—Antiquities. I. Title.
DS110.J78L57 2005
933—dc22
2005027037
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the Ameri-
can National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. †‘
This book is dedicated to the memory of my father
David (Alex) Lipschits
I am filled with strong longings for that boy of two who was left alone during the
Second World War yet found within himself the strength to rise up from the ru-
ins of his family and nation; to build a family; and to be a father, teacher, and
educator.
His life is a genuine saga of Falling and Rising.
So then, yours is truly a journey through memory! . . . It was to slough off a
burden of nostalgia that you went so far away!
— Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities (translated by William Weaver; Orlando:
Harcourt, 1974; Italian original: Le città invisibili, 1972) 98

Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
1. The End of the Kingdom of Judah:
The Geopolitical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
i.1. The Geopolitical Situation and the
Geographic Region 1
i.2. The Region “Beyond the River” under Assyrian Rule 3
i.3. The End of the Pax Assyriaca Era 11
i.4. The Egyptian Empire of the 26th (Saite) Dynasty 20
i.5. The Rise of the Neo-Babylonian Dynasty and
Its Interests “Across the River” 29
i.6. The Babylonian–Egyptian Struggle
(609–605 b.c.e.) 32
2. Judah under Babylonian Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.1. The Babylonian Domination of Hatti-Land and the
Characteristics of Nebuchadrezzar II’s Policy 36
2.2. The Fall of Jerusalem: A Historical Synthesis 68
2.3. The Biblical Account of the History of the
Province of Judah (586–538 b.c.e.) 97
Excursus 1: The Names in 2 Kings 25:23 and
Jeremiah 40:8 126
Excursus 2: The Redaction of Jeremiah 40:7, 11 131
3. Changes in the Borders of Judah between the End of
the Iron Age and the Persian Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Demographic and Geopolitical Processes
in the Sixth Century b.c.e.
3.1. The Borders of the Kingdom of Judah during
the Days of King Josiah 135
3.2. The Boundaries of Judah during the
Hellenistic Period 146
vii
viii Contents
3.3. Demographic and Geopolitical Processes under
Babylonian Rule 149
3.4. Evidence regarding the Boundaries of the Province of
Yehud under Persian Rule 154
3.5. Shaping the Boundaries of Judah under Babylonian Rule:
Demographic and Geopolitical Processes between the
Seventh and the Fifth Centuries b.c.e. 181
4. The Significance of Material Culture for Understanding
the History of Judah under Babylonian Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
4.1. The Study of the Babylonian Period in Archaeological
Research of Palestine 185
4.2. Continuity in the Pottery Assemblages as a Link between
the Iron Age and the Persian Period 192
4.3. Between Destruction and Continuity:
The Archaeological Picture 206
4.4. Demographic Changes in Judah between the Seventh
and Fifth Centuries b.c.e. 258
5. Babylonian Rule, the Destruction of Jerusalem,
the Exile, and the “Remnant” in Judah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Perceptions and Trends in Biblical Historiography
5.1. The Description of the Destruction of Jerusalem and
Its Causes in 2 Kings: The Date of Composition,
Place of Writing, Sources, and Purposes 272
5.2. .2. Jeremiah 37–44: The Date, Location, Sources,
and Purposes of the Composition 304
5.3. Summary: The Date of the
Historiographical Accounts 348
5.4. Babylonian Rule, the Destruction of Jerusalem,
the Exile, and the Remnant in Judah:
Perceptions and Trends in Biblical Historiography 349
6. Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
Index of Authors 449
Index of Scripture 457
Index of Ancient Places and Sites 469
Acknowledgments
This book began as a study conducted during my M.A. and doctoral studies
in the Department of Jewish History at Tel Aviv University. The first form of
the study was a doctoral dissertation submitted to the Senate of Tel Aviv Uni-
versity in January 1997. In the time that has elapsed between then and the com-
pletion of the manuscript of this book in early 2002, I expanded the research
and supplemented the dissertation. Various sections of the manuscript have also
been published in other forums in Israel and abroad. The Hebrew version of this
book was published in March 2004, resulting in changes and bibliographical up-
dates to the English manuscript in 2003–4.
While writing my dissertation, I was fortunate to have the advice of my
teacher, Prof. Nadav Naªaman. His support was a source of inspiration through-
out the process. His door was always open, and the opportunity to clarify re-
search topics helped me greatly to elucidate various issues and focus the discus-
sion. His warm attitude and extensive help continued even after I completed
the doctoral dissertation, and for all of this I wish to thank him from the depths
of my heart.
I received much advice and help from teachers, colleagues, and friends,
among whom were Prof. Yaªirah Amit, Prof. Itzhak Beit-Arieh, Prof. Israel
Finkelstein, Prof. Yair Hoffman, Prof. Gary Knoppers, Prof. Manfred Oeming,
Prof. Zippora Talshir, Prof. David Vanderhooft, and Prof. Ran Zadok.
I also wish to thank the university authorities and the Buchman Foundation
for the stipend that I received during my doctoral studies (1993–95). I also re-
ceived scholarships from the Wolff Foundation (1991, 1992), from the Center
for Research of the Land of Israel and Its Settlement at Yad Ben Zvi (1995), and
from the Yaniv Foundation of the Chaim Rosenburg School of Jewish Studies
(2000, 2002, 2004). I am grateful to all of them.
I received assistance in the last stages of the research, in organizing the bibli-
ography, and in editing the material, from students and research assistants who
worked with me during 1998–2000, thanks to scholarships that they were
awarded due to the initiative and generosity of Isaac Gattegno and with the as-
sistance of Doron Ofer and Michael Gee.
The maps were drawn by Ms. Yehudit Dekel of the Sonia and Marco Nadler
Institute of Archaeology in Tel Aviv University.
My gratitude extends also to my mother, Yehudit Lipschits, as well as to Naªa-
vah and Joseph Moreno, for pitching in to clear pockets of space and time for re-
search and writing.
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