THE EXILE

IN BABYLON
&
ASSYRIA
 Exile and
Return
The Jews continued
their religion
during exile
WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU
THINK GOD HATES THE MOST?

SIN!
 GOD’S
COMMANDMENTS

 The Lord is Holy

 God doesn’t like SIN,
so when people sinned,
they were punished by
being sent into exile
 • COMMAND WITH A PROMISE AND A
WARNING
Part of the curse is..
“the LORD will bring you and your king whom you set
over you to a nation that neither you nor your
fathers have known” (Deuteronomy 28:36)

For a few centuries there was no king. ‘Everyone did what was
right in his own eyes’ (Judges 21:25
 Idolatry was rampant.
 God sent prophets, but most often the people did not
repent and return to Him.
ASSYRIAN CAPTIVITY AND FALL OF THE
KINGDOM OF NORTHERN ISRAEL (734-732 BC.)

 The Northern Kingdom of Israel was the

first of the two kingdoms (Israel and
Judah) to fall.
 Ten Lost Tribes of Israel
 BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY AND FALL OF THE
KINGDOM OF JUDAH

ANOTHER KING WHOSE

COUNTRY WAS A
NEIGHBORING
COUNTRY

 King Nebuchadnezzar
of Babylonia
 This King came to fight the king of Jerusalem. His
army got into the city, looted (stole) and killed
many people.
 The people in the city suffered from severe hunger,
they needed food and there was severe famine.
 The King of Jerusalem and a number of his army
fled at night through the Royal Garden, went
through the gateway and fled in the direction of the
Jordan Valley, but the Babylonian army pursued
King Zedekiah and captured him in the plains near
Jericho. King Zedekiah was deserted by all of his
soldiers.
 King Zedekiah was taken to King Nebuchadnezzar and
there he was passed sentenced on.

 While Zedekiah looked on, his sons were killed in front of

him and then His eyes were taken out and he was placed in
chains and taken into Babylon.
 The King of Babylon entered Jerusalem: He
burnt down the temple, the palace, and the
houses of all the important people. The city
walls were also torn down by his soldiers.
 He took with him to Babylon those that were
left in the city, all the people of Jerusalem into
exile and plundered them. He sent all the
people into exile, except for the Prophet
Jeremiah,
RETURN OF THE EXILES TO ISRAEL
 The books of Ezra and Nehemiah (one book in
the Hebrew Bible) trace the story of the return
of the exiled Jewish people to the land of
Israel after the 70-year exile in Babylonia

 Zerubbabel (Ezra chapters 1-6) led the earliest

return, dated approximately 537 BC, and Ezra
and Nehemiah led later returns (Ezra chapters
7-10).
Jews rebuilt Jerusalem
and the temple.

Leaders became
Temple priests
& scribes

Cyrus appointed officials

To rule the country and
Collect taxes from the
People.
SOCIAL CONDITIONS

 During their time in Babylon they were given a

little freedom in Babylon, especially after the
death of Nebuchadnezzar. (Jeremiah 29.5)

 Compact colonies
 Agriculture
RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS
THE PEOPLE SUFFERED
OPPRESSION FOR A LONG TIME,
DURING THIS LONG TIME OF
SUFFERING THEIR HEARTS
RETURNED TO GOD. THEY CRIED,

“O LORD, HAVE MERCY ON

US…WE HAVE SINNED AGAINST
YOU. REMEMBER YOUR PROMISE,
YOUR COVENANT. O LORD, WHEN
WILL YOU COME BACK TO US AND
HAVE MERCY ON US AGAIN?”
 PROPHETS OF THE EXILE AND THE VISION
OF PROPHET EZEKIEL –DRY BONES

FROM THE BOOK OF

EZEKIEL 17:1-14)
• GOD BRINGS EZEKIEL TO
A VALLEY FULL OF DRY BONES IN A
DREAM-LIKE VISION.

• THE FUNDAMENTAL LESSON OF THIS

STORY IS WHEN THE SPIRIT OF GOD
IS PRESENT, HIS PEOPLE ARE
ENABLED TO LIVE.
MORAL LESSON
 Although God is merciful, kind, gracious and overly
abundant to us with His Love, He dislikes sin! He is
righteous.
 He gives sinners many chances to repent and return,
but when man lives in sin all of his life, the Lord
punishes him

 “Or do you presume upon the riches of His kindness and

forbearance and patience? Do you not know that God’s
kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But by your
hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for
yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous
judgment will be revealed” (Romans 2:4-5)