Guilt and Rites of Purification Related To the Fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.1)

Abstract

When the Babylonian armies destroyed the city of Jerusalem in 587 or 586 B.C., on the ninth day of the month Ab, the Israelite community faced a disaster more overwhelming than any faced before and probably since. The irony of Jerusalem's fall at that particular time has been noted frequently. Only thirty five years earlier the city had been the center for one of the most thoroughgoing reforms of religious life and thought known in Israelite or Jewish history. Josiah, supported by influential citizens of the land of Judah and the city of Jerusalem, and prompted to action by the discovery of a manuscript containing the program for a religious reform, had brought sobriety and order to Israelite worship, had reformed political and economic affairs, and had begun the process of reclaiming the territory of the kingdom lost long before to the Assyrians. Preparation for this ironic reversal of Israelite life had come already in 609 B.C. when Josiah, at the prime of life, had fallen to the Egyptians at Megiddo. Jeremiah and Ezekiel had warned of Judah's impending fate, as had the prophet Habakkuk. But who could really believe that the Lord would bring the sacred city to such an end as this? God's own people, chosen to be a blessing to all the nations, warned, punished, restored through centuries and the better prepared to fulfill its destiny, now saw the complete collapse of all its hopes and dreams. How did the community react to the fall of Jerusalem in 587? Various reactions are discernible. Eighty worshipers from North Israel set the pattern for many, we may be sure, when they made their way toward the ruins of the once proud city, bearing cereal offerings and incense to sacrifice at the sanctuary (Jer. 41). These pilgrims from the north came with beards cut off, clothing torn, and bodies gashed.