REL 10200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Ten Lost Tribes, Ezekiel 1
Document Summary
The babylonian exile & post exilic judaism. 587-539 bce-most upper-class jews (officials, priests, artisans) deported to babylon; others flee to egypt, etc. Israel was conquered by assyrians in 722 bce & the scattered people were known as the. Judah was eventually destroyed by babylon in 586 bce & inhabitants were held in captivity (called the exile or babylonian captivity) The exile of babylon was central to the consciousness of the people of israel. Exile from the promised land was almost impossible to tolerate & they made sense of this by seeing it as a punishment sent by god & indeed, prophesied by god through the prophet jeremiah. Theologically this was a very productive time. The prophet ezekiel had a number of visions (ezekiel 1) visions of creatures with wheels & wings & eyes who went wherever the spirit moved them. This was followed with a vision of god.