OT claims that Governor
Gedalyah was murdered and there had been a
mass flight to Egypt
OT claims:
-- in the ruins
of Jerusalem is said having been performed further
cult actions (Jeremiah 41,5) (p.328)
-- the governor of Mizpah, Gedalyah,
is said having aimed for a collaboration with the new
leadership of Babylonia
-- governor Gedalyah and other
Judean officials and representatives of Babylonia are
said having been killed by Ismael, the son of Netanyah
(p.318)
according to Finkelstein / Silberman
eventually because of the collaboration which had been
felt as a threat for the "house of David", or by other
reasons (p.318)
-- the staying population of Yehud
province is said having taken a mass flight to Egypt
by their fear from a new Babylonian invasion, and in
this mass flight is said having been also Jeremiah
(p.318), resp. "all people" is said having fled to
Egypt (p.327)
-- by this the "holy land" is said
having been without any population for some time (2d
book of Kings 25,22-26; Jeremiah 40,7 - 43,7)
(p.318-319).
But archeology
is telling other things about Yehud province
-- according to Finkelstein /
Silberman Yehud province consists of about 55,000
inhabitants yet (p.328) and is not at all completely
destroyed as it is described in the OT (p.329).
[By this the population of Yehud
corresponds to that one of Lugano or Cuxhaven in
2005].
The
continuity of the rural population: The
excavation of Bethel and of Gibeon and later also of
southern Jerusalem confirm that the region was
populated without interruption and that there had been
no deportation of the rural population (p.329). The
life of the population is living on in the few
preserved towns as for example the town of Mizpah 12
km in the North of Jerusalem (p.328).
Policy of autonomy: Babylon
introduces a policy of autonomy tolerating native
cults supporting the loyalty of Babylon (p.330).
Settlement
of Edomites and new "Idumea" in the South:
After the destruction of Jerusalem southern Yehud
province is populated by Edomites settling in the bay
of Beersheba and in the highlands of Hebron. After
some time the region is known as "Idumea", the "land
of the Edomites". In fact Yehud province has become
more little yet by this and southern borderline is
moving to the North to Jerusalem (p.334).
What archeology is
telling about Jerusalem
-- in Jerusalem the grave
caves from deportees are cared on by their families
(p.328)
-- the suburbs on the hills in
western Jerusalem existing at least since king
Hezekiah are stay without population (p.328)
-- the land in the North and in the
South of Jerusalem always is populated without
deportations (p.328)
-- in the preserved town of Mizpah a
certain self administration is going on (p.328-329).
Mizpah is the most important regional center of Yehud
province in 6th century B.C. (p.329).
Egypt: Extension of the Arab
population to the Nile Delta
Since the 6th century the Arab
population is invading into the Nile Delta and is
taking over the power there in the 5th century B.C.
(p.80).
