Blackwell Reference Online

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[xiii.a] Most of the narrative works in the Hebrew Bible received their final form in the 6th century bce or later. The history they attempt to describe is ideological, though it is not entirely incongruous with what little may be known from archaeological evidence. The religious history of Israel is portrayed as originating with a migration from Mesopotamia to Canaan and Egypt in the first half of the second millenium bce. With the return to Canaan (see Exodus), probably in the 13th century bce, the history of Israel as a nation properly begins with some kind of tribal confederacy. The threat from the Philistines may have provoked the establishment of a monarchy by the end of the 11th century bce. The dynasty which David founded lasted in Jerusalem until it was crushed by the Babylonians in 587 bce. Some of the elite were deported. This Babylonian exile lasted until Cyrus the Persian captured Babylon (539 bce) and allowed the exiles to return home. The post-exilic Jewish community formed a temple-state living peacefully in the Persian empire and then under Alexander the Great and his earlier successors. An attempt by Antiochus Epiphanes (r. 175–164 bce) to impose pagan religious uniformity provoked a rebellion under Judas Maccabeus and his family (Hasmoneans). The rededication of the temple in 164 is celebrated in the Jewish festival of Hannukah. The Hasmoneans established a dynasty ... log in or subscribe to read full text