| Three distinctive forced migrations of the Southern Kingdom of Judah to Babylon (597 BCE, 587/6 BCE, and 582 BCE), otherwise known to biblical scholars as "exile," were pivotal events in biblical history. Since the beginning of critical biblical scholarship, the exilic period has been considered to be important for understanding Old Testament theology and the formation of Israelite literature. Over the years, however, scholars have had differing opinions on the question of how influential these forced migrations actually were.; The present study proposes to inject two new types of materials into the debate: (1) recent sociological research on forced migrations, migration and regional economic development, internally displaced persons (IDP) (587/6 BCE), refugee studies (582 BCE), involuntary relocation irrigation project of the World Bank, intergeneration studies and (2) underutilized smaller units of biblical texts growing out of Israel's migrations or dealing with them.; The smaller units of passages I treat are Psalm 137, Jeremiah 29, Isaiah 43, and Ezekiel 15 & Daniel 1. These chapters present first generation, 1.5 generation, and second generation Judeo-Babylonian issues and concerns. In addition, other migration passages (what Martin Noth labeled as secondary motif) found in the wilderness cycle, the murmuring tradition in Exodus 15:22-17:6 and Numbers 32 may be read as retrospective pericopes from the forced migrations period regarding life outside the promised land.; In the context of the 6th century BCE, forced migrations theology begins with the painful memories of the first generation. The first generation's complex communal laments ((Ps 137) and complaints (Ex 15:33-17:7) are transformed into golah hope (Jer 29) by the 1.5 generation. New Creation (Isa 43) and location of home (Num 32) in its extreme positive form is the outlook of the second generation. |
