Babylon Nurtures the Jewish Priesthood
To Babylon and Back
What really happened to the Jews? The major players of the ancient Middle East, century after century, arose in the fertile river valleys and flood plains, primarily of Egypt and Mesopotamia. First one region, then another, produced a dominant city-based culture which had the wealth and resources to conquer an empire. The corridor through Palestine, aside from the coastal strip, was too harsh and inhospitable to engender a similar development. Hilly and remote from trade routes, with few settlements and a backward nomadic population, the land was loosely organized into minor ?kinglets? of rival clans, where, rather like the Celts at similar stage of nation building, magistrates took on powers of governance. This is the period that the Jewish sacred history calls ?judges.? In the mythology, it is Judge Samuel who appoints (?anoints?) both the first and the second ?kings of Israel.?
Whatever might have been happening on a few hilltops in Judaea, on the wider canvass, Assyria - based on the cities of Assur and Nineveh - was conquering an empire. At its height this included both Egypt and the whole of Mesopotamia. In the 8th century BC, the Assyrians were expanding into northern Palestine, putting an end to any ?kingdom of Israel.? The first Jewish monarchs that secular history actually records anything at all about are kings Omri and his son Ahab, who held the Assyrians at bay for a few years. As an ?idolatrous? minor king Omri's victory goes unnoted in the sacred texts but the murderous end of the dynasty is celebrated in 2 Kings.
Assyrian conquest was followed, in the 7th century, by the rise of a new imperial power ? Babylon. Under its king, Nebuchadnezzar, the conquest of Palestine extended further south to include the ?kingdom of Judah?, effectively ending the existence of any separate Jewish state. The tribal leadership of Judah was resettled in Babylon, under the eye of their Babylonian conquerors. Such forced migrations were not untypical of the period ? removing the elite was a way to head off organized resistance in a new colony. But unlike earlier displacements, the Hebrews were resettled as a single group and remained free to meet, trade and own land.
"The exiles were settled in some of the most attractive and important districts in and around Babylon."
? Karen Armstrong, A History of Jerusalem, p 80.
The Jews had much to learn from the rich, cosmopolitan culture of Mesopotamia. Here they witnessed trade, commerce and religion on an imperial scale. In Babylon the Great, walled ?City of Wisdom?, there were numerous gods and no fewer than fifty five temples. Here was to be found a vast literature of religious texts, in particular the great epic of creation, the story of Gilgamesh. Here too were legends of the origin of kingship and moralistic fables.
In Babylon, the Jews learned of prayer, dream interpretation, astrology, almanacs, and omens. For the first time, they encountered the notion of a personal ?immortality? and the fantasy of ?resurrecting? the dead. Impressed by the high culture of their hosts, the Jews adopted the lunar calendar of the Babylonians, and, like them, began their year in the spring. In the Babylonian setting the Jews met in ?gatherings? (?synagogues? in Greek) for the first time. Leadership of these assemblies assumed a ?priestly? character. One such leader, Ezekiel, kept the clan together by stressing the role in the community of this Yahweh priesthood and how the ?glory? of their god, even without an Ark or temple, was there with them in Babylon. Thus Yahweh floated free of confinement to ?sacred space?.
The chief god of Babylon was called Marduk not Yahweh, but for Jews from the bleak land of Judaea the experience of his worship was a revelation. As ?migr?s whose uniqueness could only be preserved by a dogged devotion to a particular deity (reinforced by some self-imposed dietary laws and circumcision) they would have been particularly impressed by the lifestyle enjoyed by the professional temple priesthood. In Babylon, full-time priests monopolized interaction with the supernatural and in consequence, enjoyed immense wealth, prestige and power.
In contrast, in pagan Rome, priests were part-time, co-opted to the honorary role and had other civic or military duties.
Theocracy Established:
"And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation." ? Exodus 19.6.
Though the so-called ?Exile? lasted barely half a century ? from the capture of Jerusalem in 597 BC to the rise of a new dynasty in 539 BC? during this period the Jews borrowed extensively from their host culture. Notably, certain priests (so-called ?prophets?) wrote texts which explained the tribal misfortune of the Jews in terms of neglect of a particular deity and of the desirability of priestly rule. The book of Eli?jah (literally, ?God is Jehovah?) is a story set three centuries earlier. In this tale, the prophet denounces King Ahab and his wife Jezebel for that most dastardly of crimes, having a barbecue for the wrong god. Just in case indignant words are not enough, the hero personally slays several hundred rival priests of Baal.
But if fidelity to the correct god is the only way of keeping your skin, why does the ?righteous? man suffer? The Babylonians had a poem which addressed the very issue from at least 2000 BC. A righteous man, Tabu-utel-bel, suffered unjustly at the hands of the gods and was stricken by a terrible disease. The reflective story is rehashed by the exiled Jews as the book of Job.
Of particular significance, in view of the subsequent appearance of the book of Genesis, were Babylonian stories of a Great Flood (complete with a hero, an ark and animals); an Assyrian tale of a ?tower of Babel?; the early life of King Sargon of Sumaria (who as an infant was floated down the Tigris in a reed boat and subsequently brought up by a princess); and a tale of the giving of the law to King Hammurabi of Babylon by the sun god Shamash ? 3,654 lines of text inscribed on an eight-foot high block of black diorite.
Wonder of wonders, on this ancient tablet of stone, carved six hundred years before ?Moses?, are ?some fifty articles of the so-called Mosaic laws, the identity of which is practically verbatim.? (Bratton, p37)
Cyrus the Persian ? Fire-worshipping Hero of the Jewish Priests!
Heathen king gets endorsement of "Jealous" Yahweh! Amazing!
"Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut." ? Isaiah, 45.1.
With the rise of Cyrus, and the Persian conquest of Babylonia, an undreamt of opportunity was presented to the pious ?elders? of the Jews. Cyrus was a self-styled ?Great King?, anxious to have all gods on his side for the conquest of empire. This included a Yahweh cult in the satrap of Judaea. Accordingly, many of the Jews (mostly descendants of the original exiles) were returned to the old homeland. A figure of 42,360 ?together with their servants and two hundred singers? is quoted, several times the reported number taken into exile.
Temple City
These descendants were sent back under Prince Sheshbazzar to set up a temple to help the Persian war effort. Its design ? a succession of courtyards set high on a hill, at its heart enclosing a ?holy of holies? ? was inspired by the multi-level temple ziggurats (which ?reached up to heaven?) that the Jews had seen in Mesopotamia. Under the patronage of Cyrus, and despite the local opposition of Jews who had never left, the ?children of Judah?, established a theocratic colony on the Persian model under an appointed Persian governor. Persian rule of Judah would last two centuries.
Before the exile, Jewish religion ? such as it was ? had Man facing an anthropomorphic, capricious tribal God, who looked for obedience rather than worship to assuage his anger. It was, apparently, Abraham's unswerving obedience when asked by Yahweh to sacrifice his son that validated his choice as ?Patriarch.? But at least obedience was within the wit of man himself. Pre-Babylon, only the ?tribe? of Levi could be priests and they performed the role of itinerant shamans. Post-Babylon, the Levite priests were downgraded to menial temple workers and the Sadducee clan took over the high priesthood. By abrogating to themselves the when and how of placating/ honouring the gods the earthly power of the priesthood was assured.
In your case, it appears to be both. 
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