A Tale of Three Kings
2005.06.21 23:27

The name of three kings are King Zedekiah the king of Juda, King Nebchadnezzar the king of Babylon, King Cyrus the king of Persia.
Back in 589BC, Kingdom Juda was a tribute of Babylon, King Zedekiah came to be king, he was set as a figurehead of Kingdom Juda and thought to act according to the will of King Nebchadnezzar, all other kings were thought to be against the will of Nebchadnezzar and kicked out by King Nebchadnezzar.
Kingdom Juda under Babylonian rule enjoyed some prosperity in certain degree though it was a tribute of Babylon. Canaan(what is now Palestina) were thought to be important land geographically - knots of three continent, Nebchadnezzar had to help Kingdom Juda in order to defend his territory from the strong power in the east -Egypt.
Then King Nebchadnezzar helped Kingdom Juda greatly -financialil militaliry. King Zedekiah was fulfiled, fulfiled enough to think about the possibility of seeking for independence from the rule of Babylon, then he allied with Egypy and made a rebellion against the rule of Babylon. Historically speaking, in the age of Moses, once he tried to seek for a financial help from Egypt, and King Solomon took his wife from a daughter of King of Egypt. According to Bible, Jewish people used to live in Canaan before they went to Egypt and after they spent several hundred years in Egypt, after the Exodus led by Moses Jewish people started settling down again in Canaan.
King Nebchadnezzar got furious. He gathered all his troops possible and attacked Jerusalem. Jerusalem fell. King Zedekiah captured. King Nebchadnezzar captured not only him but also lots of Zedekiah's country men, craftmen, educated people then took all of them to Babylonia, that is so called Babylonian Captivity. Jewish people had to spend many years till king cyrus conquered Babylonia and allowed Jewish people to return to their homeland.
King Cyrus not only allowed Jewish people to return to Canaan but also allowed them to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem, once reknowned by its splender built by King Solomon.
Throughout the reign of Persian rule, Jewish people were treated very good. See The book of Esther, Esther-Jewish was married to Persian King and her caretaker Mordecai and overall Jewish people were treated good. The times at that time was thought to be a pax-Persia, all the people regardless of their national origin, treated fairly.
It depends on individuals how to interpret history, but one thing is certain. -History repeats -changing the roles .