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Overview of the KetuvimHistoric Background to the KetuvimGolden Age of IsraelThe golden age of Israel came under the rule of King David and his son Solomon around 1000 BC. The nation of Israel had achieved military success with David, who not only finally ridded Israel of the Canaanite tribes and extended the kingdom to Edom in the south, Moab and Amon in the east, and Syria in the north (2 Samuel 8). Economically, Israel prospered under David and Solomon. Solomon's annual receipts were nearly 800,000 oz. of gold (1 Kings 10:14). 1 Kings 10 says, “that silver (was) as common as stones in Jerusalem , and... cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees...” But the golden age applied not just to military and economic matters, but religious matters as well. The worship of Yahweh, the God of Israel, reached its pinnacle under David. David actively promoted the worship, patronizing the temple singers and musicians and authoring psalms of praise himself. David planned the construction of a temple to Yahweh, a task left for his son Solomon after his death. While the temple was not particularly large (less then 3,700 sq. ft.), the ornamental accouterments were unbelievable. Of greater significance than the physical beauty of the temple, was the fact that the glory of Yahweh himself came and filled the temple, signifying God's approval of the nation (1 Kings 8:11). But this Golden Age of Israel was short lived. Solomon attempted to achieve peace with Egypt by marrying Pharaoh's daughter. He went on to marry 700 wives, many of them foreign, “and his wives turned his heart away” from God (1 Kings 11:3). Solomon built temples for the gods of his foreign wives. As a result, God told him that upon his death, his son's kingdom would consist of only one tribe of Israel , and the other tribes would follow his servant. While Solomon was the richest King in the history of Israel , that prosperity came at a price. Solomon taxed and worked the people hard. So, upon his death, the people of Israel petitioned the new king, Solomon's son, Rehoboam, for relief. Rehoboam, taking the advice of his peers rather than his father's advisers, told the people, “Whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” (1 Kings 12:11). As a result, the ten tribes of the north rebelled against Rehoboam and installed Jeroboam as king. Rehoboam remained the King of the southern tribe of Judah . The ExileThe Fall of Israel (722)The northern kingdom of Israel rejected the worship of Yahweh in Jerusalem, first by establishing temples to Yahweh outside the temple (the golden calf temples) and later by worshipping the god Baal. God warned Israel through the prophets, Hosea, Amos, and Isaiah, that unless they repented of their idolatry, that the Assyrian would destroy them (2 Kings 17:13-18). Yet the people did not listen. In 722, Assyria destroyed the capital of Israel , Samaria , and carried away the people of Israel into captivity. Assyria repopulated Israel with outsiders who intermarried with those remaining. These children of this inter-marriage would remain living in this region and would cause much trouble for the Jews in the post-exilic period. These also became the Samar itans of Jesus' day. The Fall of Judah (605-586)After Rehoboam, there arose several good kings in the southern kingdom of Judah . Uzziah, Hezekiah, and Josiah all worshipped Yahweh and trusted Him for their strength. But soon the kings and people of Judah also fell into idolatry. As a result, God warned Judah that it too would be carried into exile if they did not return to Him. The Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar entered Jerusalem in 605 BC, taking many of the Jewish nobles (including Daniel, Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego) to Babylon . Four years later, the King of Judah, Jehoiakim, rebelled against Babylon and sought Egypt 's defense. He died in 597, and his son, Jehoiachin reigned for 3 months before Nebuchadnezzar retook Jerusalem , deporting young Jehoiachin and placing Zedekiah on the throne as his vassal. Zedekiah reigned for 11 years, until he too rebelled against Babylon , looking to Egypt for help. Egypt never came to help, and this time Nebuchadnezzer destroyed Jerusalem, including the temple and hauling off the rest of the Jews to Babylon (586 BC). The Kings of Babylon (626-539)Nabopolassar died in 605 shortly after the battle of Charchemish, leaving his son Nebuchadnezzar as the King of the new empire. The Babylonian Empire stretched from Egypt to Persia. Through his high taxes and tributes he established incredible building projects in Babylon and made it the largest most advanced city in the world. After Nebuchadnezzar's death, Evil-Merodach reigned for about 2 years, followed by brief reigns by Neriglissar and Labashi-Marduck. Daniel is the most famous prophet during this time. Daniel ministered to Nebuchadnezzar, and even spoke God's word to the great king himself on more than one occasion. The next King of Babylon was Nabonidus, who seized power in 556 BC. Nabonidus recognized that Babylon was exposed to attack by the increasingly powerful Persians due to its geography. He therefore moved his court to Taima in Northern Arabia and established his son Belshazzar as his viceroy in Babylon. This set the priestly class against Nabonidus. They secretly promised Cyrus, King of Persia, that they would surrender Babylon without a fight if they received certain privileges in return. Cyrus defeated Nabonidus in a battle north of the city, and then marched into Babylon without a fight. The Rise of Medo-Persia (550-400)The Rise of PersiaCyrus, the King of Persia , united Persia with the Medes in 550 BC. He then marche d his army as far west as Lydia (546 BC), conquering most of the old Assyrian empire and modern day Turkey . Next Cyrus headed south, taking control of Babylon in 539 BC. Cyrus son and successor, Cambyses II defeated Egypt in 525 BC. The next Persia n emperor, Darius the Great, extended the Persia n Empire to largest extend, reaching as far as the bank of the Ind us River in Ind ia . By 500 BC, the Medo-Persian Empire controlled everything from Iran to present-day Turkey to Egypt in the south.
Xerxes son, Artaxerxes, killed the assassin, but also then killed his own brothers to gain the throne. Under the 40 year reign of Artaxerxes , Persia regained some of its strength. He successfully suppressed a revolt in Egypt in 446 BC and ruled over a time of relative peace. Persian CultureThe Persia n Empire was a highly organized political system. As the empire was extended, the emperor would place a satrap in power over various regions. In all there were between 20-30 satrapies throughout the empire. The satrap had complete control over his area, and was responsible to collect taxes for the empire. The tax levied would depend heavily on the commodities available in that region. For example, Egypt would pay its taxes in wheat, while Ind ia might pay in gold. In addition each satrapy would be responsible to contribute men and material to the army. The Persia n army was a formidable military force. The chief weapon was the bow, and its infantry was lightly armed and highly mobile. The most prestigious division of the army was known as the Immortals . If any of the Immortals were killed in battle, they would be immediately replaced so that they remained at the full contingent of 10,000. Persia was the first empire to develop a system of roads throughout the empire. The road from Sardis (in modern Turkey ) to the capitol in Susa was 2,000 miles long. Along the road were military posts which were spaced by the distance at which a mounted messenger could travel at top speed. As a result, messages carried along the road could travel the entire distance in less than 10 days. This high-speed communications network, along with the autonomy of the satraps and the strength of the army allowed Persia to keep control of the empire for over 200 years until being conquered by Alexander the Great in 334 BC. Post-Exilic JudahZerubbabel & the Rebuilding of the Temple (538-516)Unlike the Assyrians and the Babylon ia ns, the Persians did not exile the peoples they conquered. Instead they granted local autonomy to the defeated nations. In this way, the Persia ns made it advantageous to join the Persia n Empire rather than be destroyed. For this reason, in 538 BC, Cyrus gave permission for the Jews to return to their homeland. A group of 49,897 people returned to Judah led by Zerubbabel. Under his leadership they began rebuilding the temple. But life in Judah was not easy. Jerusalem had no walls, and the returning exiles had little to protect them from those who had settled in Judah while they were gone. As a result, the construction on the temple was halted. Furthermore, several of the Jews began to intermarry with the non-Jewish settlers. God sent the last wave of prophets to this remnant to encourage them to continue to build the temple and to rebuke them for intermarriage. The people heeded the words of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, and the temple was finally completed in 536 BC. Ezra (458-420)Sixty years later, a priest named Ezra returned to Judah from Babylon. Ezra also dealt with the sin of marriage to foreigners, and also took it upon himself to instruct the returning Jews of their heritage and law. Ezra was also a scribe, and he began the effort to compile the Old Testament into its current form. Under Ezra and his successors, the books of I & II Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah were written. Furthermore, he and/or his followers edited the book of Psalms. Nehemiah (444-432)Nehemiah was the cupbearer to Artaxerxes, and also a Jew. When he heard that the rebuilding of Jerusalem had stalled, he asked Artaxerxes for permission to return to Judah and oversee the rebuilding of the walls of the city. The King granted his permission and established Nehemiah as the governor of the region. This was a mere 2 years after the revolt in Egypt , and Artaxerxes very likely saw Nehemiah's presence in the region as helpful in keeping a watch over happenings in that region. Nehemiah returned, oversaw the rebuilding of the wall, and remained as governor for 12 years before returning to Persia . [Next: Content of the Ketuvim] |
In 490 BC, Darius attempted to extend farther west into Greece . He was defeated first in 490 BC at the famous battle of Marathon . The Greeks then inspired rebellions in former Greek colonies throughout Asia Minor , successfully rebelling against the Persia n Emperor Xerxes I in 480 BC. At this same time, the empire faced internal struggles. Xerxes was assassinated by one of his advisors in 465 BC.