The Babylonian Conquest Of Jerusalem

In order to grasp the totality of an historical event, one must take into account the various perceptions of that event with an attitude of exegesis. In many cases, the Hebrew Bible provides multiple perspectives on a single event. There are many passages, for instance, that in various ways describe and mourn the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem and the circumstances of the subsequent exile of the Israelites from the Promised Land. Often these descriptions differ, or choose to focus on different details from one another. This paper focuses on two passages: one, a psalm; and the other, a letter written by the prophet Jeremiah. Both texts refer to the time period around 586 B.C.E. after Judah and Jerusalem had been conquered by King Nebuchadnezzar

The speaker describes his people as they “sat down and … wept” and “remembered Zion”. Their grief is so great that they “hung up [their] harps” on the reeds, rather than sing for their captors. ‘Zion’ could have been derived from the Hebrew root, siyya meaning dry land, and if this is so, the comparison between the lush beauties of Babylon—their land of captivity—would stand that much more in contrast to their lost land of promise. Thus, one can interpret their longing for Jerusalem as that much more earnest. Although the author of this psalm is unknown, based on its perspective, tone, and content, it is likely that it was authored by an exiled Israelite. The date for which this piece was written can only be inferred as some period subsequent the final wave of exiles by the Babylonians. This much is clear, since the passage describes the people of the covenant sitting by the banks of the rivers of Babylon weeping over their memories of Zion, a scene that appears to predate the rise of the hostile Persian Empire and its later efforts to conquer Babylonian land. The psalmist, speaking on behalf of the exiled people, not only voices their lament over the land from which they had been taken, but vows “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither!” . In doing so, the speaker affirms the people’s commitment to return and their allegiance to Jerusalem as their spiritual home. On the surface, the punishments for forgetting (“let my right hand wither! Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth”) seem to complement the people’s refusal to “sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land”—after all, the psalmist seems to say, how could they sing a song for Yahweh, having been taken so far from the temple and the land of promise He had given them . Israel’s people were exiled numerous times throughout their history, but although physically separated, the