Destruction of Jerusalem and Babylonian Exile

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon lays the rebellious city in ruins, destroys the Solomonic temple, and leads the royal family, the dignitaries and officials, the householders, craftsmen, priests, prophets, and scribes into exile, where the ancient fortress of Zion, seat of the House of David and the site of the temple of YHWH, becomes the focus of an intense poetry of loss.

The Book of Lamentations is a stirring testimony to the depth of suffering and despair caused by the destruction of the Holy City of YHWH. At the same time, as a great poetic dirge, it shows that the desaster has anything but obliterated the powers of the national and religious imagination.

Even before the final destruction in 586, prophet Ezekiel who is among the first exiles has a profound vision, dissociating YHWH from Jerusalem and moving "the likeness of His Glory" toward the community of righteous exiles. (Read: Ezekiel 1-3, and the song against Jerusalem, Ezekiel, Chapter 16.)

For an on-line version of the Book of Ezekiel go here (King James Version).

The exilic community thus turns itself into the most fruitful and productive workshop of visionary priests, prophets, and scribes whose conception of the Israelite deity transforms YHWH into the transcendental God of biblical monotheism. Along with the conception of God changes the vision of Jerusalem as a Holy City.