Development of the

Bible:Babylonian
Exile
Alejandro, Gabriel, Hernandez, lara, Larracas
babylon

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 Babylon
✘ Babylon was a kingdom in modern day Iraq
✘ It used to symbolize wealth, power, and luxury
✘ The remains of the city are in
present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq,
about 85 kilometers (53 mi) south of Baghdad,
comprising a large tell of broken mud-brick
buildings and debris.

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 Babylonian Exile
✘ Also known as Babylonian Captivity
✘ A period in Jewish history during which a number of
people from the ancient Kingdom of Judah were
captives in Babylonia
✘ Took place around 598/7 and 587/6 BCE
✘ Formally ended at 538 BCE when Persian conqueror
Cyrus the Great granted them freedom to go back.
✘ Experts and historians believe that the exile lasted 70
years.
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 1. God anointed
Babylon to invade
Jerusalem to make
them learn a lesson.
What happened to their faith?

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 King
Nebuchadnezzar
as a king of
Babylon (605 BC)
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 2. Nebuchadnezzar
took many of the finest
and brightest young
men from each city in
Judah captive including
Daniel and his 3 friends
(Hananiah, mishael,
azariah) 7
3. King Nebuchadnezzar ‘s
Dreams
HEAD KING’S
OF SANITY
GOLD

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Daniel spoke up and, through a miracle from God, interpreted
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The king then promoted Daniel to be one of
his most influential advisers. Interestingly, when Daniel interpreted his
dream, Nebuchadnezzar declared, “Truly, your God is God of gods and
Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to
reveal this mystery” (Daniel 2:47).

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 REMAINING FAITHFUL
Nebuchadnezzar created a gold statue of himself and required all the people to
bow down to it whenever the music played. Daniel’s three friends, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, refused, and the king had them thrown into a blazing
furnace. Miraculously, God protected them, and when they came out of the
furnace, Nebuchadnezzar proclaimed, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who
trusted in him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies
rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a
decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their
houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way”
(Daniel 3:28–29).

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 resistance vs. submission
As a resident of the world’s premier capital city and an honored wise man in King
Nebuchadnezzar’s court, Daniel demonstrated God’s superiority over the pagan gods of
Babylon. He also left a legacy of faithful obedience to God in spite of grave trials and
difficulty.

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 KING’S SANITY
In Daniel chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar is given another dream by God. Daniel
interpreted the dream for Nebuchadnezzar and informed him that the dream
was a warning to the king to humble himself and recognize that his power,
wealth, and influence were from God, not of his own making.
Nebuchadnezzar did not heed the warning of the dream, so God judged him
as the dream had declared. Nebuchadnezzar was driven insane for seven
years.

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Jesus calls us to respond in
kind.
We find Jesus adopting this same posture and mindset toward the power
structures of Rome and Israel in his own day, and he taught his disciples to do
the same. This is why Peter in his first letter calls followers of Jesus “foreigners
and exiles,” and says that the “church is in Babylon” (1 Peter 1:1). And when he
talks about how Christians should relate to the governing powers of their day,
he describes a way of life that is similar to the stories of Daniel and Jesus (1 Peter
2:13-25).

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 Key points
✘ It all started when God anointed Babylon to invade Jerusalem to
make them learn a lesson.
✘ During exile, King Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon (605 BC)
✘ Daniel was taken captive and began to prophesy (605 BC)
** This is when Daniel and his 3 other friends were thrown in the burning
furnace and all 3 of them were still able to survive. The men saw 4
people instead of 3 originally, making Jesus the 4th person
*** King Nebuchadnezzar challenged Daniel and made Daniel interpret
his dream of a tall tree being cut down to the stump.
✘ The Jews came to Babylon in groups. Estimated around 4-5 groups.

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 Bible
✘ The Babylonian exile was documented in the
books of II Kings and Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel.
>Some verses are in Psalm and Ezra as well.
** According to Jewish tradition the author of
Kings and Jeremiah was Jeremiah, who would have
been alive during the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BCE.
** Unknown author for Daniel and Ezra

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 Bible
✘ In  the Book of II Kings we read of the deportation of the Jews from
their land to the land of Babylon, and then the Book ends 37 years
later with the account of Jehoiachin who was blinded and in
captivity in Babylon
✘ "And he carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the
LORD and the treasures of the king's house, and he cut in pieces all
the articles of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the
temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said. Also he carried into
captivity all Jerusalem: all the captains and all the mighty men of
valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths.
None remained except the poorest people of the land."
- 2 Kings 24
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 Bible verses
✘ 2 Kings 24:1-20
**This is the
✘ 2 Kings 25:1-30
✘ Jeremiah 52:1-34
chronological
✘ Jeremiah 25:12-14 Order of the bible
✘ Jeremiah 29:10-14 verses that
✘ Psalms 137:1-9 Narrate the story of
✘ Daniel 2:47-49 The Jewish exile to
✘ Ezekiel 1:1-3 Babylon
✘ Ezra 1:2-11

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