In the history of Israel, the period from 587 to 538 b. c. is known as the Captivity or the Exile. (Because the divided kingdom had ended, the distinction between Judah and Israel no longer had any meaning. Therefore one can refer to “Israel”
As a whole again.) This was the period of prophets such as Ezekiel (ee-ZEKE-ee-uhl) and Daniel, who wrote their works while living in Babylonia.
During this time, the Israelites went through a great deal of soul-searching as they considered the reasons why Yah-weh had abandoned his covenant with their people. They came to recognize the importance of worshiping the one god and began to believe that he would send a leader to rescue their people. This figure, known as the Messiah (meh-SIY-uh), is described in later passages from the Book of Isaiah that were probably written during the period of the Captivity rather than by Isaiah himself. Some Israelites believed that the Messiah would reestablish Israel as a political nation, whereas followers of Christ would later come to believe that the Messiah came to establish a spiritual rather than a political leadership.
With the fall of the Babylonian Empire to Persia in 539 B. C., the Israelites came under a new master. The period of captivity under Persia, like the earlier Babylonian Captivity, would have an enormous influence on Israel. The books of Job and Esther were written during this time. According to Jewish tradition, Esther saved her people from slaughter by a cruel official of the Persian Empire, and this event is commemorated, or remembered, in the festival of Purim (POOR-im).
The religion of the Israelites also experienced the influence of Zoroastrianism [zo-ro-AS-tree-uhn-izm] from Persia. Before this time, the writings of the Old Testament contained few references to the idea of a devil. One of the most curious aspects of Judaism (JEW-day-izm), as the Israelite religion came to be called, was its scriptures' suggestion that evil things, as well as good, came from God. The Zoroastrian religion, however, had an idea of an evil god continually at battle with the good. From this came the concept of Satan or Lucifer, which developed over later centuries. Incidentally, the three famous Magi (MAY-jie) or wise men, who according to the New Testament traveled to see the baby Jesus, were probably Zoroastrian priests.
Another particularly significant aspect of Persian rule was the respect the emperor Cyrus had for other peoples' religions. He allowed the leaders Ezra and Nehemiah (nee-huh-MIYE-uh) to return to Jerusalem and begin rebuilding the city. This led also to a reconstruction of the Israelites' way of life,
And by the 300s b. c. the population of Jerusalem began to return to its pre-Captivity levels.
World History
