Biblical tradition tells that the legendary King David conquered the Jebusite city of Jerusalem around the year 1000 BC. C. David immediately made it the capital of his kingdom, seat of a dynasty that ruled Judah from there for four hundred years. It was also there that his son Solomon, with the help of Phoenician architects, ordered the construction of the holiest site in the history of Judaism: the temple of Israel’s national god, Yahweh.
However, the history of the kingdom of Judah had a tragic end. The imperialist desires of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon, together with a series of serious strategic errors and bad political decisions by the last kings of Judah, put a bloody climax to the dynasty created four centuries ago by a humble shepherd that, according to legend, he had been able to kill the giant Goliath armed only with a slingshot. What follows is a story of failure and destruction.
It was the year 612 a. C. when an alliance of Medes and Babylonians destroyed Nineveh, which until very recently had been the richest and most powerful city in the world, capital of the feared Assyrian Empire, the largest empire that had existed to date. The siege of the city lasted three months, and its destruction was complete.
With the destruction of Nineveh an empire that seemed infinite fell. Those events would be followed by a drastic reconfiguration of the political map of the Near East, which had an enormous impact on the history of Judah.
For a brief period of time, Pharaoh Necho II managed to impose Egyptian rule over a large part of the Syrian-Palestinian area. In the year 609 a. C., Neco took Jehoahaz, king of Judah, as a prisoner and deported him to Egypt. In his place he installed his brother Joaquim de él as the new monarch, with the status of vassal and tributary.
However, Egyptian interests came into conflict with the kingdom of Babylon, commanded by Nabopolassar, which aspired to succeed the Assyrian Empire in control of the Near East. That geostrategic struggle had its effect in Judah, where two parties, or political factions, appeared in conflict. The first was betting on maintaining loyalty to Egypt. The second, headed by the prophet Jeremiah, understood the historical moment much better and, aware of the Babylonian strength, proposed placing the kingdom of Judah under its orbit. Finally, this second option prevailed, at least momentarily.
Thus, in 605 a. C., Joaquim rebelled against Egyptian rule and proclaimed his new allegiance to Babylon. Because? That same year, troops led by Nabopolassar’s son, Crown Prince Nebuchadnezzar, defeated Neco’s Egyptian army near the northern Syrian city of Karchemish, where the Egyptians had their most outpost of control on the river. Euphrates. Since then, the Egyptians have been locked in their traditional borders around the Nile. It was clear that the power that was to dominate the Near East would not be Egypt, but Babylon.
However, Joaquim’s international policy was characterized by an erratic course, which ultimately proved fatal to the survival of the small kingdom of Judah. Thus, in 601 a. Only three years after pledging allegiance to the new Babylonian ruler, Nebuchadnezzar II, King Joaquim chose to break his oath of vassalage, and failed to pay the heavy tribute demanded by Babylon.
The reason for this change of course must be sought, once again, in the complicated international situation. Determined to fully restore the former boundaries of the recently defunct Assyrian Empire, Nebuchadnezzar planned, in 601 B.C. C., neither more nor less than the conquest of Egypt. However, even the Babylonian chronicles acknowledge that the campaign was not as successful as expected and that the imperial troops were repulsed.
It was at this point that Joaquim made a fatal analysis error. From his palace in Jerusalem he considered that the Babylonian failure to conquer Egypt could be interpreted as a symptom of Babylonian political and military weakness. Influenced by the still active phylo-Egyptian faction in Judah and by Pharaoh’s agents present at court, he concluded that the Babylonian might not be the trump card.
Far from being in crisis, Nebuchadnezzar was able to raise a new army, which included not only the traditional Babylonian troops, but also auxiliary Aramaic, Ammonite, and Edomite contingents who knew the territory well. Contrary to what Joaquim had anticipated, that great fighting force was already ready in 597 BC. C. to quell the rebellion of Judah by force.
With the available sources it is not clear when and under what circumstances Joaquim’s death took place. It cannot be ruled out that he was assassinated by members of the Jerusalem court, eager to avoid the foreseeable Babylonian reprisals. In any case, his successor, his son Joaquín, surrendered the city after three months of siege.
In March 597 B.C. C., Jerusalem was occupied by Babylonian troops, who thoroughly looted buildings such as the temple and the royal palace. Likewise, Joachim and his family were taken prisoner and deported to Babylon. However, it seems that his situation in the imperial capital, far from being painful, was most peaceful. Accompanied by his own, he was allowed to retain the title of King of Judah, received rations from the Babylonian treasury and, during the reign of Awil-Marduk, son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar II, became part of the imperial court.
The deportation did not only affect the royal family. According to the Biblical Book of Kings, more than ten thousand inhabitants of Judah were taken to Babylon. The book of Jeremiah reduces the number of deportees to 3,023, normally accepted as a more reasonable figure. What is clear is that the Babylonian deportation implied, from one day to the next, the disappearance of a good part of the old ruling class and the social elites of Judah.
After the restoration of imperial rule, the Babylonians named Zedekiah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, as the new king of Judah. However, during his reign, the conflict between the philo-Egyptian and philo-Babylonian political factions intensified even more. Sedecías, like Joaquim before, made a new miscalculation and rebelled. Nebuchadnezzar’s response was swift, forceful, brutal, and definitive.
The Babylonians took the city on July 18, 587 BC. C. They destroyed the royal palace, the houses of high officials and the temple of Yavé, the main center of worship in Judah since the time of Solomon. Immediately afterwards they demolished the walls of the city to prevent any temptation of a future revolt. The destructions were not limited to the capital, but affected the main cities of the kingdom of Judah.
However, Nebuchadnezzar reserved the worst fate for the king that he himself had appointed years before as monarch, and who was going to be the last of David’s family. Sedekiah and his family managed to escape from Jerusalem shortly before the capital was taken, they were captured near Jericho. Sedecias was forced to witness the execution of his sons, who were beheaded. Thereupon he ordered his eyes to be gouged out and he was put in chains and deported to Babylon.
Sixty other leaders were also executed, and 832 people were ordered deported to the imperial capital. Nebuchadnezzar thereby liquidated the rebellion and, incidentally, the royal dynasty founded by David around 1000 BC. c.
According to the Bible, the Babylonians turned the ancient kingdom of Judah into a province of the Empire and entrusted its rule to Godolias, a former official in Zedekiah’s court and a leading member of Judah’s Phil-Babylonian faction. The new capital of the province was established at Mispah, and the remnants of the Jewish political elite who had not been deported moved there, including the prophet Jeremiah, who was a strong supporter of Jewish submission to Babylonian power.
Godolías and his collaborators tried to reorganize the battered economy of the country. However, his rule was short-lived and came to a violent end. Members of the Jewish royal family who had managed to escape Babylonian repression, headed by a certain Ishmael, assassinated the governor, his collaborators, and the military garrison that Nebuchadnezzar had left in Mispah.
But that action was not accompanied by a political alternative that would work for the restoration of the kingdom of Judah. Instead, both those responsible for the murder of Godolías and a large part of the region’s population chose to flee in the direction of Egypt and Transjordan.
As a result, the country ended up losing a large part of its population and was plunged into a situation of deep economic and demographic crisis, from which it would take many years to recover. Indeed, the Babylonian military campaign in retaliation for the assassination of Godolias took place in 582 BC. C., and resulted in a new deportation of 745 people.
But, as we said, this is the version of events that the Bible has transmitted to us. Recent excavations have provided data from which it can be deduced that Godolías, in reality, did not hold the title of governor, but that of king. Thus, the possibility arises that, contrary to what the Bible indicates, Nebuchadnezzar did not turn Judah into a Babylonian province, but into a new vassal kingdom.
This would also explain why the members of David’s royal family who had survived the Babylonian purges orchestrated the assassination of Godolias, unable to accept that there could be a king in the region who was not a descendant of David, the shepherd who, four Centuries ago, he had defeated the giant Goliath armed with a simple slingshot.
This text is part of an article published in number 646 of the Historia y Vida magazine. Do you have something to contribute? Write to us at redaccionhyv@historiayvida.com.
