Exile/Captivity of Israel

The seventy-year period when many of the people of Judah were forced to live in Babylon. Because of the wrongdoing of the people of Israel and Judah, God promised that He would allow their enemies to conquer them and force them to leave their land. The northern kingdom (Israel) was defeated by Assyria in 722 BC. More than twenty-seven thousand upper-class Israelites (the wealthy and the leaders) were forced to move to Assyria, and many Assyrians were sent to live in Israel. This was a common wartime custom to keep a conquered country from rebelling. The southern kingdom (Judah) was defeated by Babylon. Much of Jerusalem was destroyed by the army of King Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC. The wall around the city was broken and the temple destroyed.

While away from their land, the people of Israel and Judah were not prisoners. They were free to build homes, start businesses, or work at their trade. But they could not return to their own land. While in Babylon, the Jews gathered in small groups to pray and study the law of Moses. Many scholars believe these small groups were the beginning of Jewish synagogues. After Nebuchadnezzar died, his country was conquered by the Persians in 539 BC. Cyrus, the king of the Persians, allowed the people of Judah to return to their land.