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

includes index and biblioraphy

The Biblical Picture of the Exilic Era ................3 The Exile As a Historical Lacuna .......................3 Conceptions of the Exile .....................4 The Exile As a Lost Opportunity (Jeremiah 39-43) ..........4 The Exile As the (Temporary) End of History (2 Kings) ....8 The Exile As a Sabbath for the Land (2 Chronicles) ........12 Narrative Additions.......................................15 The Stories of Daniel (Daniel 1-6) ......................................16 The Stories of Susanna and Bel and the Dragon ..............22 The Story of the Three Youths (1 Esdras 3:1-5:6) ............28 Tobit...........................................................29 Judith ......................................................34 Integration of the Exile into Apocalyptic Conceptions of History ........................................................38 The History of the Exilic Era ...........................................45 The Neo-Babylonian Empire.............................45 Sources ................................................46 The Rise of the Neo-Babylonian Empire ..........................47 The Golden Age of Nebuchadnezzar ................................52 Destabilization, Restoration, and End................................60 Israel in the Exilic Period ...........................................70 Sources.................................................................72 Principles of Historical Reconstruction..............................74 Number of Deportations......................................................74 Dates of the Deportations ....................................................76 Numbers Deported ..............................................................81 Judah in the Exilic Period ....................................................90 The Egyptian Golah ..............................................................96 The Babylonian Golah ..........................................................98 The Thwarted Restoration ..................................112 The Persian Empire from Cyrus to Darius I ..................113 Return and Rebuilding of the Temple ............................119 Social Displacements and Their Religious Consequences ............132 The Literature of the Exilic Period .............................139 Genres of Exilic Literature..........................139 Communal Lament and City Lament ..............................140 Hybrid Genres ...................................160 Salvation Oracles ....................................166 Oracles against the Nations ..............................................179 "Sermons".............................................197 Exilic Literary Works ................................................203 The Book of the Four Prophets (Hosea, Amos, Micah, Zephaniah) .....204 Micah ...................................211 Zephaniah................................................216 Amos .............................................................224 Hosea.................................................230 The Book of Habakkuk ......................................................237 The Exilic Patria