How did the Jewish understanding of God change after the Babylonian exile of 586 BCE?

Answer 1

The Book of Isaiah is a composite work, the authors of which are commonly referred to as I Isaiah, writing well before the Babylonian Exile, and II Isaiah, who wrote during and after the Babylonian Exile. There is evidence in II Isaiah of the emergence of fundamental changes in the nature of the religion and of the Jewish god. From the age of the Patriarchs, the scriptures are dominated by the assumed power and privileges of the Hebrews, and the requirements to fulfil their religious obligations, with moral and ethical teachings based on self interest; vengeance was endorsed. Perhaps this was changing. Isaiah contains more references to 'righteousness' than all the rest of the Old Testament, as well as references to the meek and the poor. The Book of Isaiah shows tolerance to Gentiles, with divine regard for Cyrus, king of the Persians.

Judaic monotheism is believed to have been introduced by King Josiah, but it was during the Babylonian Exile that it seems to have become almost universal mong the Jews. Isaiah tells us that the people had formerly worshipped other gods and still did. In acknowledgement of Judah's polytheistic past, Isaiah 26:13-14 says "O Lord our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise; therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to vanish." In chapter 44, Second Isaiah talks about those who fall down to graven images, and tells the his followers to remember these. There is indirect evidence in The Bible that polytheism may have survived among the Jews even after the Exile, but this would have been a small and possibly underground faith.

In the earlier books of the Old Testament, God intervened in human affairs but little mention was made of him as a Creator apart from what is now the second creation story at the beginning of Genesis. In the Persian religion, Zoroastrianism, some importance was placed on the role of their god, Ahura Mazda, in creating the world and this emphasis now infiltrated the writings of the Jewish prophets. What is now the first creation story in Genesis (Gen 1:1-2:4a) was added to Genesis. Whereas in the older creation story, God could not make Adam from nothing, needing dirt to form him and needing a bone to form Eve, the new creation story just has God speak the universe into existence. In II Isaiah, God was made to remind the people frequently that he created the world and was their Maker.

Prior to the Babylonian Exile, the Hebrews did not believe in the notions of resurrection or heaven and hell as destinations for the soul. Even in the post-exilic period, not everyone accepted the concepts of immortality or resurrection, as shown by Ecclesiastes 9:5: "For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten".