Why did God exile Israel to Babylon?
Story after story in the Old Testament speaks of past, present or future exile—echoing into the New Testament as well. The question is, why? Why does God exile his people?
Photo by Patrick Reichboth
“For this is what the Lord says: ‘At this time I will hurl out those who live in this land; I will bring distress on them so that they may be captured.’” — Jeremiah 10:18
Exile to Babylon is always in the background of Jeremiah, seeping onto nearly every page. But the exile theme isn’t isolated to this book. Story after story in the Old Testament speaks of past, present or future exile—echoing into the New Testament as well.
The question is, why? Why does God exile his people?
First, let’s look at how the story of exile is presented throughout Scripture. Then, we’ll move into what that means for us today.
The exile narrative and humanity’s trajectory
In Genesis 1-3 we see the first humans facing a choice: do they let God define what is good and evil, or do they decide it for themselves? They choose the second option, and God sends them away from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:23). After Adam and Eve are banished, God places cherubim and a flaming sword on the east side of the garden (Genesis 3:24).
In the next chapter, we see a different version of the same story. Cain’s choice is different, but the theme is essentially the same: he makes his own judgement of good and evil by killing his brother, Abel. God banishes Cain and he settles in the east (Genesis 4:3-16).
Then, in the story of the Tower of Babel, the people as a whole move eastward and settle in one place, determining to become an invincible power (Genesis 11:1-4). As a result, God scatters the people across the earth (Genesis 11:8-9).
Note the pattern of being banished and moving eastward—culminating in Babel, which became the ancient city of Babylon.
This is important because the first 11 chapters of Genesis are a preview of humanity’s story. We were united with God, but we made independent choices about good and evil, so we got separated from him. In exile, we built infrastructures, based on our desire for wealth, power and fame (i.e. Babylon).
After the Tower of Babel, Genesis immediately moves into Israel’s story. The people are given a good, plentiful land, but they rebel and get exiled to Babylon.
Israel’s story reflects humanity’s story, and vice versa.
The exile doesn’t end when the Israelites return home
When they are finally allowed to go home, the Israelites realize it isn’t the perfect place they longed for. Nehemiah recounts the slow rebuilding of Jerusalem under the antagonistic eyes of their oppressors, who still govern the land. The people still feel lost and exiled (Isaiah 64:10-11).
The prophets have begun to extend the imagery of exile beyond geography; they realize that God’s solution isn’t getting back to one fixed location where everything will be fine.
Peter echoes this idea by referring to Christians in the early church as exiles not living in their true home, even though he is writing to people who hadn’t been displaced or sent to faraway lands (1 Peter 1:1). At the end of his letter, he mentions a fellow Christian sending greetings from Babylon, even though the city no longer existed at that time (1 Peter 5:13).
In humanity’s story as a whole, the Bible uses the image of “Babylon” to describe the sinful human systems we set up and all become a part of.
That is why Revelation refers to Babylon’s judgement well after Babylon was gone (Revelation 17-18). Israel’s “promised land” is not a place we can travel to; it represents the future home we’ll share with God one day.
While Israel had a literal promised land and a literal Babylon, the prophets and apostles use those terms to refer to our spiritual reality—as exiles in our world waiting for Christ to return and answer all our unfulfilled longings for a place where there is no injustice or sorrow and where animals, humans and God co-exist in harmony (Isaiah 11:6-9).
What does this mean?
Let’s go back to Jeremiah for a minute, because there are some clues there that create a picture for the kind of life Christians should live.
God tells Jeremiah to send a letter to the exiles in Babylon telling them to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper,” (Jeremiah 29:4-7). In direct contrast to the rhetoric of false prophets like Hananiah and the rulers of Israel, God’s command is to live peaceably in Babylon and pray for it.
Daniel is a great example of what this looks like. He and his friends exchange their Hebrew names, traditions and jobs for Babylonian ones and work for Nebuchadnezzar’s government (Daniel 1:1-7; Daniel 2:48-49). But according to his story, peace does not mean complete integration or total surrender. Daniel is unwilling to bend when it comes to the important stuff—like worshipping anyone other than the Lord (Daniel 3).
Jesus describes this approach in a different way when the religious leaders ask him whether or not they should pay taxes to Rome, their oppressors during that time (Matthew 22:15-22). Jesus asks them whose image is on the coin used for paying taxes. They respond, “Caesar’s.” He says, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
Jesus is saying, give back to Caesar what is his (or what has his image), but give to God was is God’s (what has his image). Let Caesar have everything that coin represents—the economic system, ideologies and state worship; but give back to God what is in his image, which is your whole being.
Christ invites his followers to peacefully follow the human authorities we are placed under, but our loyalty and trust should belong to God alone. Like Daniel, we draw the line when loyalty means being complicit with evil.
But how do we avoid being complicit with evil?
It’s easy to start over-thinking everything at this point. Our taxes go towards government initiatives—some we support, others we don’t. Nearly everything we buy has some unethical source or negative environmental impact. I’m reminded of a line in The Book of Negroes by Laurence Hill:
“About me, I have a clutch of abolitionists—big-whiskered, wide-bellied, bald-headed men boycotting sugar but smelling of tobacco and burning candle after candle as they plot deep into the night.”
That one line summarizes so much. Even the abolitionists who fought against slavery used items made by slaves in the process. Call it ignorance, hypocrisy, whatever we like, the fact remains that evil is woven inextricably into our economic and political systems.
I think the Bible acknowledges that there is an element to which we cannot escape Babylon. Daniel was caught up in a system he didn’t support, working for a conquering empire that destroyed lands and kidnapped people. Yet, he did his best to live honourably there. The apostle Peter doesn’t tell us to escape evil societies, but to do good so that others will see those actions and glorify God (1 Peter 11-17).
The world as we know it isn’t our true home
As I mentioned before, the Bible begins using the term “Babylon” to refer to the systems we use to replace God and rename evil as good.
This means we cannot point fingers. No human can stand with complete innocence outside a particular system and judge it. Neither should we get too comfortable and think this place provides the ultimate source for happiness.
The narrative of exile in Scripture reminds us that we can never find our true happiness here. That’s why we’re always looking for more: more love, more wealth, more meaning, more happiness, more time. But Ecclesiastes reminds that these things will eventually desert us. The beautiful things in this world give us glimpses of God’s goodness and our future home—but we cannot mistake these things for all there is because ultimately, they will disappoint us.
Instead, Christians are supposed to do good, love our enemies and pray for the well-being of the countries we live in. We make our homes in this world, like strangers in a foreign country, having faith that God will one day give us a true home (Hebrews 11:8-10).
That “promised land” is assured, but it hasn’t happened yet. There is no escape from Babylon until Jesus comes to give us freedom—destroying Babylon for good.
FURTHER READING:
Here are a few other voices who’ve weighed in on this topic. These views do not necessarily represent my own; they are meant to prompt further exploration. In other words, don’t just take my word for it—keep learning!
Does Jeremiah 29 call us to seek the welfare of the city?