The exiles fared well in their new home in every respect, adjusting economically, politically, socially, and religiously. Babylonian policy was favorable to the Jews, who settled primarily in the two largest Babylonian cities, Babylon and Nippur, and in other communities along the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, where they would remain for more than a millennium.
This large group of Jewish settlers rapidly integrated itself into the local mercantile community. A people who in their homeland had devoted themselves primarily to agriculture and small crafts now assumed an important role in banking and commerce. Many even acquired considerable wealth and extensive political as well as business contacts with the empire’s ruling classes.
Politically, the Jews benefited from substantial representation in the king’s court. A number of leading youths from the royal family had been deported in the years preceding the final exile. These youths, who included Daniel, Chananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, served as attendants in the royal court. Daniel in particular rose to a position of particular prominence after interpreting an exceptionally troubling dream of Nebuchadnezzar. The Babylonian government also treated the exiled Jewish kings Yechanya and Tzidkiyahu with respect.
The Jews flourished socially as well. They maintained positive relationships with their Babylonian neighbors while successfully preserving their familial and genealogical structures. The detailed ancestral accountings found in both the books of Ezra and Nechemiah make clear the great lengths to which the Jews went to preserve their individual identity in their new lives.
Religiously, the Jews returned to God with unforeseen vigor. The Jewish people had ignored the prophetic warnings in the years leading up to their exile, stubbornly persisting in their sinful ways. Now, however, things were different. After having experienced a humbling defeat and relocation, together with the removal of a Jewish monarchy that regularly foisted idolatry upon the people, the Jewish masses were again receptive to the word of God. The many false prophets, who earlier had contradicted the words of Yirmiyahu and others by promising atonement and salvation, now disappeared from the Jewish landscape.
Most remarkable about this last accomplishment is that a Jewish minority achieved it among a dominant Babylonian community. One would expected the Jews to have viewed themselves as outsiders, thereby adjusting their own behavior and attitudes to those of the majority. However, this did not occur, for reasons we will describe below.
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Assimilation posed a genuine threat to the newly arrived Jewish community of Babylonia. The Jews were completely encircled by the prevailing culture, with no formal governmental or religious body to serve as a guide or anchor. Undoubtedly, the tremendous size and grandeur of the metropolises, with their majestic architectural structures and captivating hanging gardens, were most impressive. So what prevented the Jews from being absorbed into the dominant society?
Perhaps the single most stabilizing factor in their preservation of Jewish identity and affiliation was the establishment of a religious infrastructure by the earlier exiles. By now, these people had been in Babylonia for over a decade. During that time, they began to build a network of essential Jewish institutions, including mikdashei me’at (small houses of worship), places of learning, and mikvehs. By the time the later exiles arrived, these amenities were firmly in place, providing organizational form to the swelling Jewish community.
The creation of these mikdashei me’at was of particular significance. One must realize that during the First Commonwealth, synagogues as we know them today simply did not exist. The central and primary place of worship was the Temple itself. With the Temple’s destruction came a major change in the Jews’ religious service and attitude. In place of the Temple, houses of Torah study and prayer were built. In them, the Jews created localized religious centers that would help isolate and protect them from powerful assimilatory currents.
