In October 539 BCE, the Persian king Cyrus took Babylon, the ancient capital of an oriental empire covering modern Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. In a broader sense, Babylon was the ancient world's capital of scholarship and science. The subject…
The suffering servant
One of the most impressive themes developed by Second Isaiah is that of the suffering servant. There are three poems (Isaiah 42.1-4, 49.1-6, 50.4-11) in which the prophet, who lived in the age of the Babylonian Captivity, describes…
Kingdom of Israel: the northern of the two Jewish states after the kingdom of Solomon was divided. Israel was a regional superpower, but unable to retain its independence in the face of Assyrian imperialism. The name "Israel" survived as the…
One of the last kings of Judah, Jehoiachin (r.598-597) was taken captive by the Babylonians (2 Kings 24.15; ABC 5) and lived in exile in the country of the conquerors. However, he was released, and a couple of cuneiform tablets…
Messiah (mâšîah, "the anointed one"): Jewish religious concept, a future savior who will, in some sense, come to restore Israel. The nature of both the Messiah and the restoration was a matter of debate, and there were several claimants.Jesus of Nazareth (30 CE)
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Messiah (mâšîah, "the anointed one"): Jewish religious concept, a future savior who will, in some sense, come to restore Israel. The nature of both the Messiah and the restoration was a matter of debate, and there were several claimants.John the Baptist (c.28 CE)
Sources: Mark 1.2-9,…
In the war between the Jews and the Romans of 66-70, the Jewish general Joseph son of Matthias defended Galilee against the Roman legions. After he had been defeated, he defected to his enemies, and advised the Roman general Vespasian.…