After the reign of Hezekiah in Judea, the kings who succeeded him deviated from the ways of God and led their people into sin. There was a resurgence of faith under Josiah but it did not last.
Let's look at the continuation of the historical and biblical chronologies (for earlier dates, refer to the previous articles since Adam):
year 3064 (693 BCE): death of Hezekiah; his impious son Manasseh succeeds him
(691 BCE): revolt of Babylon against the Assyrian yoke
(690 BCE): Sennacherib destroys Babylon and its temples
(681 BCE): murder of Sennacherib by his son(s); reign of his son Esarhaddon
year 3121 (639 BCE): Josiah king of Judea
year 3131 (627 BCE): Jeremiah prophesies the destruction of Jerusalem
year 3138 (622 BCE): Josiah destroys the pagan sanctuaries of Jeroboam; orders to follow the Passover festival and hides the Ark of the Covenant of Moses which was in the Holy of Holies of the Temple
year 3148 (612 BCE): destruction of Nineveh by Nebuchadnezzar, Babylonian general
year 3150 (610 BCE): alliance of Pharaoh Necho with the remnants of the Assyrian army against Nebuchadnezzar
year 3152 (608 BCE): execution by Necho of Josiah king of Judea at Megiddo; reign of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah
year 3155 (605 BCE): battle of Carchemish; victory of Nebuchadnezzar against the Assyrian-Egyptian coalition
year 3155 (605 BCE): Nebuchadnezzar enters Judea and takes Jerusalem
year 3155 (605 BCE): Nebuchadnezzar takes to Babylon part of the Judean intelligentsia including Daniel; Nebuchadnezzar becomes king of Babylon
year 3158 (602 BCE): Jehoiakim, king of Judea, breaks his allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar
year 3163 (597 BCE): Nebuchadnezzar besieges Jerusalem and Jehoiakim is killed; he appoints Zedekiah to the throne of Judea
year 3167 (593 BCE): Ezekiel prophesies about the messianic times
Nebuchadnezzar's army seemed invincible. After his victory at Carchemish, which saw the complete destruction of what remained of the Assyrian forces and the end of Egyptian influence in the Levant, Nebuchadnezzar took the opportunity to besiege Jerusalem. In exchange for tribute, he spared the city, and the kingdom, but deported several prominent figures to Babylon, including Daniel, the future prophet. Upon his return to Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar became king. The famous battle of Carchemish and its protagonists are mentioned in the Bible:
Concerning Egypt, concerning the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt, which was assembled by the river Euphrates at Carchemish, and which was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah. (Jeremiah 46:2)
A few years later, King Jehoiakim broke his allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar. In 597 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem again. Jehoiakim was killed and his son Jehoiachin was taken to Babylon: it is from this moment that the Babylonian exile is counted in Jewish chronicles.
He (Nebuchadnezzar) carried away into exile all Jerusalem, all the great men and all the mighty men of war, ten thousand in number, and all the smiths and smiths; only the lowest class of the people of the land remained behind. He also sent Jehoiachin captive to Babylon; likewise, the king's mother, the king's wives, his eunuchs, and the chosen men of the land, he carried away into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. (2 Kings 24:14-15)
Nebuchadnezzar placed on the throne of Judea a member of the royal family, Zedekiah, who became his vassal.
Are there any historical sources for this exile of the Judeans to Babylon? Yes. The Babylonian administration kept a precise count of the food rations distributed to each of the exiled families, including that of the deposed king Jehoiachin. Daniel attested to this:
The king assigned them (the Judeans) for their daily maintenance dishes from the royal table and wine that he drank, so that he could educate them for three years, and then attach some of them to the service of the king. (Daniel 1:5)
In the excavations of Babylon, a very large number of clay tablets were found on which were inscribed the accounting of what had been given to each family. One of these tablets precisely concerns Jehoiachin, the exiled king, with his family. Jehoiachin is mentioned there as Ia-ku-u-ki-nu king of the land of Judea.
To return to the home page of articles on this theme of "the Bible is true", click here.
Albert Benhamou
Private tour guide in Israel
March 2025
