Date
598BCE
598 or 597 BCE to 587 or 586 BCEapproximate date
Two Babylonian assaults captured Jerusalem, ended Davidic rule, destroyed the Temple and deported part of Judah's population.
Sourced narrative
Each block is a verifiable statement. The number opens the cited page; amber or coral blocks flag tradition or contested interpretation.
6 statements
Statements for this event
The Babylonian conquest between 598 and 586 BCE was far more devastating. The Neo-Babylonians came from the south and were under Assyrian domination until the Assyrian empire disintegrated in the last decades of the seventh century BCE; then Nebuchadnezzar II (604 to 562 BCE) sought to take over Assyria's territories in Syria and Canaan, a link to Egypt and the Mediterranean.
The Babylonian capture of Jerusalem in 598 or 597 BCE (2 Kings 24) is confirmed by a Babylonian chronicle, according to which the king of Babylon marched west, besieged the city of Judah, took it on the second of Adar, seized the king, appointed another of his choosing and carried off heavy tribute. Babylonian texts also attest Judahites in Babylonia and mention Jehoiachin, the captive king.
Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah in 598 BCE, deported King Jehoiachin and installed Jehoiachin's uncle under the new name Zedekiah. Judah might have remained a vassal, but Zedekiah joined an anti-Babylonian revolt. Nebuchadnezzar returned and ended the kingdom. In 587 or 586 BCE he burned and plundered Jerusalem's Temple, killed Zedekiah and his sons, and deported much of the population to Babylonia. The timeline dates the First Temple's destruction to that year.
The Ark, the symbolic center of worship in the Temple, was somehow lost before the Babylonian Exile, but the Temple and other elements of worship survived in memory.
Context
Babylonian rule ended David's dynasty, destroyed the Temple and exiled Judahites, decisively advancing the transition from Judahite to Jewish culture. Those disruptions alone do not explain it, because the Hebrew Bible was itself a catalyst. Reading texts that became scripture to recover a lost way of life, Judahites began creating a new culture organized around interpreting sacred writings. Understanding Jewish culture's rise therefore requires studying the Bible.
§ 01Geography
Where it happened
§ 02Museum
Objects and images
§ 04Network
Connections
§ 05Bibliography
Further reading
J. Maxwell Miller and John Hayes, A History of Ancient Israel and Judah, 2nd ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster John Knox Press, 1986).
Problems in reconstructing ancient Israelite history · recommended in Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 32
§ 06Apparatus
Sources on this page
- 01Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 27; Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 27; Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 519inspect
- 02Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 519; Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 519inspect
- 03Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 26; Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 26inspect
- 04Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 13; Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 13; Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 519inspect
- 05Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 31inspect
- 06Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 32; Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 32inspect
- Documented evidenceAttested by contemporary evidence: texts, inscriptions, coins, papyri or archaeology.
- Scholarly reconstructionHistorians' inference from indirect evidence.
- Tradition or narrativeA literary, traditional or religious account; significant in itself, but not independently verified.
- Contested interpretationScholars explicitly disagree; see the positions in the debate.
- Illustrative reconstructionA hypothesis or visual scheme to guide reading; not a historical claim.