Assyrian & Babylonian Captivity & Exile Of Israel & Judah Map

Map of the Assyrian and Babylonian Captivity of Israel and Judah

Exile of the Jewish people in Assyria and Babylon

The Assyrian captivity (or Assyrian exile) is the period in Jewish history during which a number of Israelites of the Northern Kingdom of Israel were captives in Assyria, after deportation to upper Mesopotamia, today modern Syria and Iraq.

The Northern Kingdom of Israel was the first of the two kingdoms (Israel and Judah) to fall, when it was conquered by the Assyrian monarchs, Tiglath-Pileser III (Pul) and Shalmaneser V. The captivity began in approximately 734-732 BC.

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The later Assyrian kings Sargon II and his son and successor, Sennacherib, finished the demise of Israel's northern ten-tribe kingdom. In 724 BC, nearly ten years after the initial deportations, the capital city of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, Samaria, was finally taken by Sargon II.

The tribes exiled by Assyria later became known as the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, as, unlike the Kingdom of Judah, which was able to return from its Babylonian Captivity, the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom never had a foreign edict granting permission to return to Israel and rebuild their homeland.

The Assyrians brought Gentiles to live in the land of Israel and fill it.

Why did the Kingdom of Northern Israel fall to Assyria?

The Kingdom of Northern Israel fall to Assyria due to their lack of faithfulness to God. The kings sinned and led the people into sin and idolatry, as well.

As soon as the United Kingdom of Israel was divided, King Jeroboam, first king of the rebellious northern kingdom, made two calves of gold and set them up in Bethel and Dan in northern Israel. He also instituted a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month to replace and in imitation of the Feast of Sukkot held in Judah, in the Temple of the Lord at Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:32-33).

1 Kings 12:28 - "The king (= Jeroboam) asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people: 'It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!'"

So, the people of the ten tribes of the north went to Bethel and Dan, in northern Israel, to worship the two golden calves instead of God in the Temple at Jerusalem.

After the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the Israelites were commanded to observe the Feast of Sukkot, a.k.a. Feast of Booths or Tabernacles, which reminded them how the Lord had brought them out of the land of Egypt.

So, the new idolatrous religion that Jeroboam instituted for his subjects in the northern kingdom was not just in direct violation of God's Law, but also a mockery in this regard.

Every king that came after Jeroboam, did evil in the sight of the Lord and did not depart from his sins. So, Israel continued to sin against the Lord.

Only Jehu did what was right in the sight of the Lord, when he killed all the members the house of Ahab and all the worshipers of Baal, as God had commanded him, but then he himself did not turn away from the idolatry of Jeroboam, so he was a mix of good and evil.

God sent prophets to the ten tribes of northern Israel and allowed them to have some time to repent, but they never did. So, when God's people turn away from Him and do not listen to His prophets, at some point God sends them His 4 JUDGMENTS: the SWORD, the FAMINE, the PESTILENCE and in the end even the BEAST (= world ruling power.

Jeremiah 32:30-33 - "Because the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only evil before Me from their youth... For this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and My fury from the day that they built it, even to this day. So, I will remove it from before My face because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger - they, their kings, their princes, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And they have turned to Me the back, and not the face; though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction."

So, who committed the sin that caused the Kingdom of Israel to be led captive to Assyria?

Their kings = political leaders, their princes = local governors, their priests = religious authorities, their prophets = those who teach the things of God, and all the people!

They all had sinned without repentance. So, God sent His four terrible Judgments, the sword, the famine, the pestilence and the beast, the ruling power of that region at that time, which was Assyria. The strong Assyrian army conquered the Kingdom of Israel and let the people captive to Assyria.

2 Kings 17:6-8 - "In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And they had feared other gods, and had walked in the statutes of the nations..."

2 Kings 17:22-23 - "For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So, Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day."

Babylonian Captivity and Fall of the Kingdom of Judah

The Babylonian captivity (or Babylonian exile) is the period in Jewish history during which a number of Jews of the Kingdom of Judah were captives in Babylon, after deportation to lower Mesopotamia, today modern Iran and Iraq.

In the late 7th century BC, the Kingdom of Judah was a client state of the Assyrian empire. In the last decades of the century, Assyria was overthrown by Babylon, an Assyrian province.

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, plundered Jerusalem and its Temple and took king Jehoiachin (also called Jeconiah), his court and other prominent citizens (including the prophet Ezekiel) back to Babylon. Jehoiakim's uncle Zedekiah was appointed king in his place.

Despite God's warnings and call to repentance through His prophet Jeremiah, Zedekiah revolted against Babylon, to which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, returned and besieged Jerusalem, exhausted it by sword, famine, and plague, resulting in the city's destruction in 586 BC.

Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city wall and the Temple, along with the houses of the most prominent citizens. King Zedekiah was blinded and taken to Babylon with many others to live out the remainder of his life.

Jeremiah 32:36 - "Now therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city… 'It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence'."

Judah became a Babylonian province, called Yehud Medinata (Judah Province), putting an end to the independent Kingdom of Judah.

Why did the Kingdom of Southern Judah fall to Babylon?

The Kingdom of Southern Judah fall to Babylon for the same reasons that Israel in the north fell, due to their lack of faithfulness to God. The kings sinned and led the people into sin and idolatry, as well.

Return of the Exiles to Israel

After the fall of Babylon to the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 538 BC, exiled Jews began to return to the land of Judah. King Cyrus the Great ended the exile of the Jewish people in 537 BC, the year after he conquered Babylonia, issuing a decree and granting them permission to return to the land of Israel and rebuild the Temple (Second Temple 521-516 BC) under Zerubbabel.

The ten Northern Tribes exiled by Assyria never received a decree to return to their land, only the two Southern Tribes of Judah (Judahites, Benjamites and a few Levites) received such a decree.

The return of the exiles of Judah was a gradual process rather than a single event and many of the deportees and their descendants decided not to return. 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).

The book of Ezra divides into the ministries of Zerubbabel and Ezra. Both of these men led expeditions of Hebrew captives back to the Holy Land from Babylon. Zerubbabel was from the tribe of Judah and a descendant of King David and thus of the royal line. Ezra descended from the tribe of Levi and was therefore a priest.

This implies that in the work of any restoration both a king and a priest are needed. The work of the king is to build, or in this case, to rebuild and the work of the priest is to cleanse.

Restoration in an individual's life always requires these two ministries. We need to cleanse our heart through recognition and repentance of our sins and rebuild our life on Truth and on God's Law.

In this New Testament era all believing Christians who obey God's Commandments are both kings and priests; they recognize the kingship and lordship of Jesus Christ and they see in Him their High Priest.

Can you visit the Bible lands where Israel and Judah were led into exile?

For Christians who like to travel to popular destinations for tourists this might be a little off the beaten path, but certainly worth considering and exploring.

If you wish to avoid crowded religious sites, such as those in Rome, Israel or Turkey, where people visit the regions of the seven churches of Asia, you might want to opt for a less frequented region, the Middle East. Although not one of the top ten destination for vacations and for spending the holidays, Iran is certainly rich in history and religious sites dear to Christians and Jewish people alike.

Let's take a look at some of the religious sites for tourists:

Shush, or Susa: The city of Susa is the setting of the Biblical Book of Esther and is the largest UNESCO World Heritage Site of Iran. Dating back to around 6000 B.C., Susa was one of the great ancient cities of Persia.

Tomb of Esther and Mordekhai: Their tomb is located in Hamadan, Iran. Iranian Jews believe it houses the remains of the biblical Queen Esther and her uncle Mordechai, and it is the most important pilgrimage site for Iran's Jewish community.

Tomb of Daniel: The tomb is located in Susa, in Iran and it was first mentioned by the medieval Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela, who visited Asia between 1160 and 1163 A.D. Today the Tomb of Daniel in Susa is a popular destination for Jews in Iran.

Tomb of Cyrus the Great: The tomb is located in Pasargadae, in Iran, which was the capital of the Achaemenid Empire in the days of Cyrus the Great. Today it is an archaeological site and one of Iran's UNESCO World Heritage Sites, about 90 km. from Shiraz.

Certainly, these are rarely visited sites for Western tourists, but worth considering for your next trip off the beaten path, where you can delve into the Biblical and non-Biblical history of the past.

Map of the Assyrian and Babylonian Captivity of Israel and Judah

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