Israel in Exile: The History and Literature of the Sixth Century B.C.E.

by Rainer Albertz, David Green MD PhD

Overview

The period of the Babylonian Exile (597/587-520 B.C.E.) is one of the most enthralling eras of biblical history. During this time, Israel went through what was probably its deepest crisis; at the same time, however, the cornerstone was laid for its most profound renewal. The crisis provoked the creation of a wealth of literary works (laments, prophetic books, historical works, etc.) whose development is analyzed in detail by the methods of social history, composition criticism, and redaction criticism. The history of this era is hard to grasp, since the Bible has almost nothing to say of the exilic period. The author nevertheless attempts to illuminate the historical and social changes that affected the various Judean groups, drawing heavily on extrabiblical and archaeological evidence. His study also includes the treatment of the exile in later biblical material (Daniel, Tobit, Judith, apocalyptic literature). Thirty-five years after Peter Ackroyd’s classic Exile and Restoration, this book summarizes extensively the results of recent scholarship on this period and builds on them with a number of its own hypotheses.

Paperback edition is available from the Society of Biblical Literature (www.sbl-site.org)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781589830554
Publisher:	Society of Biblical Literature
Publication date:	10/30/2003
Series:	Studies in Biblical Literature
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	484
Product dimensions:	5.96(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.19(d)

About the Author

Rainer Albertz is Professor of Old Testament at the University of Münster, Germany. He is the author of numerous scholarly works, including A History of Israelite Religion in the Old Testament Period.

Table of Contents

	Foreword	ix
	Preface to the English Edition	xi
	Abbreviations	xv
	Chronological Table	xxi
	Map of the Ancient Near East	xxii
	Introduction	1
I.	The Biblical Picture of the Exilic Era	3
I.1.	The Exile As a Historical Lacuna	3
I.2.	Conceptions of the Exile	4
I.2.1.	The Exile As a Lost Opportunity (Jeremiah 39-43)	4
I.2.2.	The Exile As the (Temporary) End of History (2 Kings)	8
I.2.3.	The Exile As a Sabbath for the Land (2 Chronicles)	12
I.2.4.	Narrative Additions	15
I.2.4.1.	The Stories of Daniel (Daniel 1-6)	16
I.2.4.2.	The Stories of Susanna and Bel and the Dragon	22
I.2.4.3.	The Story of the Three Youths (1 Esdras 3:1-5:6)	28
I.2.4.4.	Tobit	29
I.2.4.5.	Judith	34
I.2.5.	Integration of the Exile into Apocalyptic Conceptions of History	38
II.	The History of the Exilic Era	45
II.1.	The Neo-Babylonian Empire	45
II.1.1.	Sources	46
II.1.2.	The Rise of the Neo-Babylonian Empire	47
II.1.3.	The Golden Age of Nebuchadnezzar	52
II.1.4.	Destabilization, Restoration, and End	60
II.2.	Israel in the Exilic Period	70
II.2.1.	Sources	72
II.2.2.	Principles of Historical Reconstruction	74
II.2.2.1.	Number of Deportations	74
II.2.2.2.	Dates of the Deportations	76
II.2.2.3.	Numbers Deported	81
II.2.3.	Judah in the Exilic Period	90
II.2.4.	The Egyptian Golah	96
II.2.5.	The Babylonian Golah	98
II.3.	The Thwarted Restoration	112
II.3.1.	The Persian Empire from Cyrus to Darius I	113
II.3.2.	Return and Rebuilding of the Temple	119
II.4.	Social Displacements and Their Religious Consequences	132
III.	The Literature of the Exilic Period	139
III.1.	Genres of Exilic Literature	139
III.1.1.	Communal Lament and City Lament	140
III.1.2.	Hybrid Genres	160
III.1.3.	Salvation Oracles	166
III.1.4.	Oracles against the Nations	179
III.1.5.	"Sermons"	197
III.2.	Exilic Literary Works	203
III.2.1.	The Book of the Four Prophets (Hosea, Amos, Micah, Zephaniah)	204
III.2.1.1.	Micah	211
III.2.1.2.	Zephaniah	216
III.2.1.3.	Amos	224
III.2.1.4.	Hosea	230
III.2.2.	The Book of Habakkuk	237
III.2.3.	The Exilic Patriarchal History	246
III.2.3.1.	The First Edition of the Exilic Patriarchal History	257
III.2.3.2.	The Second Edition of the Exilic Patriarchal History	264
III.2.4.	The Deuteronomistic History	271
III.2.5.	The Book of Jeremiah	302
III.2.5.1.	The Deuteronomistic Books of Jeremiah	312
III.2.5.2.	The First Deuteronomistic Book of Jeremiah	327
III.2.5.3.	The Second Deuteronomistic Book of Jeremiah	332
III.2.5.4.	The Third Deuteronomistic Book of Jeremiah	339
III.2.6.	The Book of Ezekiel	345
III.2.7.	The Book of Deutero-Isaiah	376
III.2.7.1.	The First Edition of the Book of Deutero-Isaiah: Reconstruction	393
III.2.7.2.	The First Edition of the Book of Deutero-Isaiah: Place and Date	399
III.2.7.3.	The First Edition of the Book of Deutero-Isaiah: Interpretation	404
III.2.7.4.	Appendix: Fourth Servant Song (Isa 52:13-53:12)	425
III.2.7.5.	The Second Edition of the Book of Deutero-Isaiah	427
IV.	Theological Contribution	435
IV.1.	Theological Appropriation of a Calamitous History	436
IV.2.	Theological Interpretation of History	439
IV.3.	Foiling Imperial Theology	441
IV.4.	God's Glory and Separation of Powers	443
	Primary Sources Index	447
	General Index	457