Biblical Perspectives, Vol. 6 No. 1-2, 1998.
Review article
The Ancient World From 586 to 400 B.C.
Siegfried H. Horn
; Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan, SAD
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to give the history of the small Jewish nation against the historical background of its time. The his¬tory of the people of God cannot rightly be understood if one studies it as an isolated unit. The events are usually described but briefly in the Bible, and can fully be understood only if studied in the light of archeological and historical evidence.
The source material for this period of less than two centuries is very rich for some sections and extremely poor for others. The Bible is almost silent about any events lying between the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. and the return of the Jews about 50 years later. Even the historical books which inform us about the restoration of the nation (Ezra and Nehemiah) leave large gaps uncovered in their narratives.
This is also true of our extra-Biblical source material. It is very limited during the time of the Babylonian Empire, as well as during certain periods of the time of the Persians. Furthermore, this material is of great variety and differs in reliability. Official Babylonian and Persian documents are scarce. Our most voluminous sources, the Greek histories, are tainted with hatred against the Persians and are contradictory and frequently unreliable. Nevertheless for lack of something better they prove useful and important for the historian who seeks to reconstruct the story of the events of that period.
In recent years archeological discoveries have greatly added to our knowledge of this very important period in the history of God’s people, and the following survey is based on the presently available evidence. The historical picture sketched in the following pages may, of course, need modification in some details as added information becomes available through future discoveries of further source material.
Keywords
Ancient-World; Jewish-people; Babylon; Persia; Egypt; Judea; Lidia
Hrčak ID:
99655
URI
Publication date:
15.12.1998.
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