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The Bible and Archaeology

The Kingdom of Judah:

Exile and Restoration

by Mario Seiglie

The Good News has traced the history of the Old Testament from Genesis through the captivity of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah. This series has shown that archaeological finds have confirmed and illuminated the biblical account. In this issue we pick up the story with conditions and circumstances that allowed the descendants of the Kingdom of Judah to return to their homeland.

Although many of the survivors of the Babylonian invasion of Judah were exiled to Babylon for 70 years, they were not forsaken by God. In fact, some of the greatest Bible prophecies were made at that time, not just to give hope to those suffering captives but to comfort God's people throughout the ages. The apostle Paul reminds us of one of the reasons the biblical record is important: "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope" (Romans 15:4).

Daniel's Astounding Prophecies
When Judah was defeated by the Babylonians, Daniel was one of the young princes taken captive and educated in Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar's court. The details of Babylonian customs and its governmental system described in the book of Daniel fit nicely with historical records and subsequent archaeological finds.

The New Bible Dictionary says about the book of Daniel: "The author gives evidence of having a more accurate knowledge of Neo-Babylonian and early Persian history than any known historian since the 6th century BC . . . He knew enough of 6th century customs to represent Nebuchadnezzar as being able to make and alter the laws of Babylon with absolute sovereignty (Daniel 2:13-13,46), while depicting Darius the Mede as being helpless to change the laws of the Medes and Persians (Daniel 6:8-9). Also, he accurately represented the change from punishment by fire under the Babylonians (Daniel 3) to punishment by the lions' den under the Persians (Daniel 6), since fire was sacred to them" (1982, p. 263, "Daniel, Book of").

Read the full article at www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn21/archaeologyexile.htm


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