When and how was Judah conquered by the Babylonians?

Response

The conflict between Judah and Babylon was prolonged and ultimately disastrous for Judah. In the time of King Jehoiakim (609—597 BC), “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years” «In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him. », (2 Kings 24:1). Jehoiakim began his servitude in 605 BC. After three years, the king of Judah rebelled against Babylon, refusing to pay tribute. Nebuchadnezzar suppressed the rebellion and took captives to Babylon—including Daniel and his three companions. Following Jehoiakim’s death in 597 BC, his 18-year-old son, Jehoiachin, ascended the throne, ruling for three months and committing evil in the eyes of God (verses 8–9).

In 597 BC, during Jehoiachin’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem. Jehoiachin surrendered, and the account reads: “The king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign and seized all the treasures of the house of the LORD and the king’s palace, destroying all the gold vessels in the temple of the LORD, which Solomon king of Israel had crafted, as the LORD had predicted. He deported all of Jerusalem, including the officials, valiant warriors, 10,000 captives, artisans, and smiths. Only the poorest people of the land were left” (2 Kings 24:11-14). This second wave of Jewish deportation to Babylon involved the priest Ezekiel, who later authored the book named after him.

Under Babylonian dominion, the nation of Judah persisted with King Zedekiah as a figurehead ruler in Jerusalem. However, Zedekiah also rebelled, and “Nebuchadnezzar…

The king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it. They built siegeworks all around it. So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah” (2 Kings 25:1-2).

The city fell in 586 BC: “[Nebuchadnezzar] burned the house of the LORD and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. All the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. The rest of the people left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile. But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen” (2 Kings 25:9-12).

After the destruction of Jerusalem, Gedaliah was placed in charge as a governor in Judah «And as for the people that remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler. », (2 Kings 25:22). He was killed two months after his appointment (seven months after the fall of Jerusalem, cp. verses 8 and 25), causing many of the remaining Jews to flee to Egypt in fear of their lives (verse 26). This group of refugees included the prophet Jeremiah, who was forced against his will to go to Egypt.

The book of 2 Kings ends with King Jehoiachin being released from prison in Babylon and given the freedom to dine at the king’s table in Babylon. Though originally a king, Jehoiachin became a foreign prisoner of war and was thankful to be released from prison. These dire events had all been predicted by God’s prophets. The Jews’ exile in Babylon lasted for 70 years, as Jeremiah predicted.dicted «And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. », (Jeremiah 25:12). Then the Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem and start rebuilding. That period of history is described in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.