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Babylonian Exile Essay

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Prophets of Zion and the Babylonian Exile In ancient Jewish culture, prophets were a part of every-day life. They proclaimed what they understood to be God's word, and lived according to it. In times of crisis, prophets were even more present, to warn and give consolation to the people. One time period in which there were many prophets was the Babylonian Exile, where the people of Judah were taken and deported to live in Babylon. Of the books of the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, Isaiah 63:7-64:12 and Jeremiah 29:4-23 will be examined together. The book of Isaiah can essentially be divided into three groups of authors, the first being an eight century prophet called Isaiah of Jerusalem. The second is an anonymous prophet who shares …show more content…

Also, the following chapters have a citation from Is 11:6-9 and other traditions that supposedly do not belong to what has been gathered and suggested as the Isaiah of the post-exilic Judean society (Bergant, 1042).
As stated earlier and quoted from the passage itself, the Jeremian passage was written during the Babylonian exile and deals with that current situation. It begins with God directly addressing his exiled people, and goes on to tell them what he plans for them. "But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare…For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon's seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope" (Jer 29:8,10,11).
It is important to note the fact that after his initial acknowledgement of God's "gracious deeds" and "praiseworthy acts," Isaiah's confidence in God deteriorated and not once throughout the rest of the passage did he regain any of it. The prayer is a communal lament, but disorganized in such a way that it adds a feeling of desperation (Mays 889). It could be said that the whole prayer

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