As the people went into exile, the prophets spoke of a restoration of the kingdom and a return from foreign lands. The beautiful vision was presented in idyllic form, as the Messianic dream. A perfect descendent of David would eventually rule over a peaceful land in which everyone lived in harmony, in security, and with plenty. This kingdom would be established not by human beings, but by God (Joel 3, 4; Mic. 4; Zech. 14; Mal 3; Isa. 40:1; Jer. 3:14-18; Ezek. 37).
THE GROWTH OF THE DIASPORA
This dream continues to inspire us; in our Haftorah readings we have always balanced it with prophetic denunciations that dealt with the real land and its social problems. By the end of the biblical period, the people of Israel had begun to differentiate between the idealized state and their own day-to-day existence. The ideal state was left to the Messianic Age, and the vast majority of Jews decided to continue their life in Babylonia (Ezek.; Ezra 2:64) or in Egypt ’ rather than return to rebuild Israel .
We do not know how quickly the Diaspora expanded around the eastern Mediterranean, but by the time of the Maccabees, ” there were a considerable number of communities, and that number increased significantly by the first century of our era.’ The destruction of Judea during the various wars with Rome led to a vast expansion of the Diaspora throughout the Roman Empire.* The Babylonian community that soon emerged on the scene full grown and able to assume leadership must have been substantial. Within a few generations it assumed intellectual leadership along with what remained in northern Israel . Although scholars and others moved easily back and forth between Babylonia and Israel while compiling
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