One of King Josiah’s royal advisers, Ahikam was the son of Shaphan, King Josiah’s secretary. Ahikam was part of the delegation that Josiah sent to the prophetess Huldah to inquire about the future of the kingdom of Judah in light of its wickedness before the Lord (2 Kings 22:12–14). Ahikam supported Jeremiah during the reign of Jehoiakim; this support saved Jeremiah from being put to death by the people of Judah (Jer. 26:24). Nebuchadnezzar appointed Ahikam’s son Gedaliah as governor over the remnant in Judah after the Babylonian deportation (Jer. 40:5).

Worn around the neck, gold chains were a symbol of honor (Gen. 41:42; Prov. 1:9; Dan. 5:7). The temple and its furniture were decorated with chain-like ornamentation (2 Chron. 3:5); similar motifs are found also in non-Yahwistic cultic paraphernalia (Isa. 40:19).

Prisoners (Ps. 107:10; Acts 12:6; 16:26; 21:33; Heb. 11:36) and war captives (Isa. 45:14; Jer. 40:1) were bound with chains, by the hands (Jer. 40:4) or neck (Isa. 52:2). In one case, the Bible records an unsuccessful attempt to confine a demon-possessed man with chains (Mark 5:3–4). Paul often mentions the chains of his imprisonment (Phil. 1:7, 13–17; Col. 4:3; 2 Tim. 2:9; Philem. 10, 13), once referring to himself paradoxically as an “ambassador in chains” (Eph. 6:20).

At Lachish four links of an iron chain were found. Extrabiblical records of the siege of Lachish suggest that such a chain was lowered from the city walls in an attempt to foul the Assyrian battering ram.

(1) The son of Ahikam and grandson of Josiah’s scribe, Shaphan. After the exile of Zedekiah, he was appointed as governor over Judah by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in 587 BC (2 Kings 25:22–26; Jer. 39:14; 40:5–41:18). He not only protected the prophet Jeremiah but also gave the people similar advice, telling those who remained in Judah to serve the Babylonians. He ignored the warning of Johanan about an assassination plot and, after ruling for only two months, was killed by Ishmael, a representative of Baalis king of the Ammonites. A seal from Lachish appears to refer to him: “belonging to Gedaliah, who is over the house.” (2) A son of Jeduthun, and a temple musician appointed by David to prophesy with instruments (1 Chron. 25:3, 9). (3) A priestly descendant of Joshua who obeyed Ezra’s call to send away his foreign wife (Ezra 10:18). (4) The son of Pashhur, he was one of several officials of Jerusalem who convinced King Zedekiah to throw the prophet Jeremiah into a cistern because of his prediction of death and exile (Jer. 38:1–6). (5) The grandson of Hez-ekiah the king and grandfather of Zephaniah the prophet (Zeph. 1:1).

(1) A leader of the half-tribe of Manasseh (1 Chron. 5:24). (2, 3, 4) Three warriors in David’s army (1 Chron. 12:4, 10, 13).

(5) A major prophet who lived to see Judah exiled to Babylon. Jeremiah is one of the most colorful and transparent figures in the Bible. Not only does the book that bears his name describe his actions against the backdrop of the great events of his day, but also the prophet himself shares his emotions with depth and passion. He is known to many as the “weeping prophet” because of the grief he feels over the sin and judgment of his people. He could also be called the “angry prophet” because of his reaction to the harsh treatment he received at the hands of the people of Judah. He was also in turmoil in his relationship with God, upset that God made him the messenger of hard news to his compatriots (Jer. 20:1–18).

Jeremiah was a priest who grew up in the priestly town of Anathoth, about four miles northeast of Jerusalem. The superscription to the book does not tell us when he was born, but it does say that he began his prophetic ministry in the thirteenth year of Josiah (626 BC), and that it continued until the eleventh year of Zedekiah (586 BC), which we also know as the year that the Babylonians defeated the city of Jerusalem. We do have stories associated with Jeremiah after that time into the period of the exile (Jer. 40–44).

Jeremiah was commissioned as a prophet (Jer. 1:4–10) to bring a message of judgment and restoration to his people and also to the nations. By far most of his recorded oracles are judgment oracles, but at the heart of the book (chaps. 30–33) are important messages of salvation, the section often referred to as the Book of Consolation.

The year of his calling was a pivotal moment. In this year, Babylon, under its king Nabopolassar, initiated a revolt against Assyria, which had dominated it and much of the Near East for many years. In Judah the good king Josiah ruled, and Jeremiah surely supported his religious reforms. Josiah was killed in battle, however, in 609 BC, and he was replaced by kings who did not care about God or the message of the prophet. In particular, Jehoiakim (r. 609–597 BC) and Zedekiah (r. 597–586 BC) were opponents of Jeremiah and the object of many of his prophetic denunciations.

Though warned by the prophet of coming judgment, Judah and its leaders did not repent but continued to resist God. In 586 BC God allowed the Babylonian army to defeat Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar exiled many of its leading citizens and destroyed the temple, palace, and walls of the city. He had heard of Jeremiah and the prophet’s teaching that Judah should surrender to Babylon, so he treated him kindly. He allowed Jeremiah to choose whether to go to Babylon or to stay in Judah. Jeremiah chose the latter, supporting the provisional government under the leadership of the Babylonian-appointed Jewish governor Gedaliah, who later was assassinated by Jewish insurgents. A number of the remaining Jews grew frightened of the expected Babylonian reprisal. Against God’s word as mediated through Jeremiah, they fled to Egypt, forcibly taking Jeremiah with them. The Bible does not narrate Jeremiah’s death, but tradition says that he died in Egypt.

(6) The father of Hamutal, the mother of King Jehoahaz (r. 609 BC) and King Zedekiah (r. 597–586 BC) and the wife of King Josiah (r. 640–609 BC), from Libnah (2 Kings 23:31; 24:18). (7) A priest from the time of Zerubbabel (after 539 BC) (Neh. 12:1, 12). (8) A priest from the time of Nehemiah (after 445 BC) (Neh. 10:2; 12:34).

Jeremiah is the second of the Major Prophets, after Isaiah and before Ezekiel, an order determined by the chronology of the beginning of their prophetic work. Jeremiah and Ezekiel were basically contemporaries, but the latter began his ministry after Jeremiah. The book of Jeremiah is the longest of the prophets (21,835 words), compared to Ezekiel (18,730 words) and Isaiah (16,932 words). Readers ancient and modern are attracted to the book not only by its stirring message but also because Jeremiah is the most transparent of all the prophetic personalities, often referred to as the Weeping Prophet.

Historical Background

Authorship and date. The superscription of the book announces that it contains “the words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin” (1:1). His prophetic ministry is then described as taking place between the thirteenth year of King Josiah and the eleventh year of King Zedekiah, equivalent to 626–586 BC, a period of great turbulence (see next section). Chapters 40–44 narrate events in the period immediately after the fall of Jerusalem.

On the one hand, there is no good reason to question the existence of the historical Jeremiah or the attribution to him of the prophecy that bears his name. On the other hand, the text indicates that the book was not written at one sitting but rather is the product of a process. Chapter 36 mentions that the prophet wrote down his sermons in 605 BC, and when King Jehoiakim burned the scroll, the narrator relates that Jeremiah again dictated them to Baruch, who wrote them all down, and Jeremiah added many more oracles (36:32). The book describes a close relationship between Jeremiah and his associate Baruch. It is possible that the stories about Jeremiah were written down and added by this close friend.

Ancient Near Eastern historical context. When Jeremiah started his prophetic work in 626 BC, the world was undergoing major political change. Assyria had been the dominant superpower for the preceding centuries. It had incorporated the northern kingdom of Israel into its vast empire in 722 BC, and Judah had been forced to pay tribute. In 626 BC, however, Babylon began its rebellion against Assyria. Nabopolassar, a Chaldean chieftain, now king of Babylon, threw off the yoke of Assyrian bondage, and over what was almost two decades he eradicated Assyria and inherited the empire.

In 626 BC Josiah was king of Judah. His father, Amon, and his grandfather Manasseh had been evil kings, promoting false worship. But Josiah served Yahweh, and soon before Jeremiah began his work, the king began to purify the religious institutions of Judah (2 Chron. 34:3b–7). Jeremiah’s early ministry then occurred in an environment that would find support from the royal court. In 609 BC, however, Josiah tried to block Necho of Egypt from reinforcing the remnants of Assyria against Babylon and in the process lost his life. Although the Egyptians were unsuccessful in helping Assyria survive, they were able to exercise control over Judah and placed a pro-Egyptian king, Jehoiakim, on the throne. Even so, by 605 BC Egypt could not stop Babylon under their new king, Nebuchadnezzar, from demanding that Judah be their vassal (Dan. 1:1–3). Jehoiakim revolted against Babylon in 597 BC. By the time the avenging Babylonian army arrived, Jehoiakim was gone, replaced by his son Jehoiachin. The latter was promptly deported to Babylon and replaced by Zedekiah. The book of Jeremiah records that both Jehoiakim and Zedekiah were determined opponents of the prophet. In any case, Zedekiah too eventually rebelled against Babylon, and this time Nebuchadnezzar not only captured and exiled many leaders but also systematically destroyed the city. He then incorporated Judah into his empire as a province and appointed a Judean governor, Gedaliah. Jeremiah 40–44 describes how Jewish insurgents assassinated Gedaliah and killed off the Babylonian garrison troops. Many of the remaining Jewish people then fled to Egypt against God’s will as announced by Jeremiah, who was forced to go with them.

These events provide the background to the prophetic oracles and the actions narrated in the book of Jeremiah. Some of Jeremiah’s words and actions are specifically dated to these events, while others are not dated.

Text

Jeremiah is one of the few books of the OT that present a significant text-critical issue. The main Hebrew text (the MT) is clearly different from the Greek text. The latter is about one-eighth shorter than the former, lacking about 2,700 words. In addition, the order of the book is different. The oracles against the foreign nations are chapters 46–51 in the Hebrew but are found right after 25:13 in the Greek. The DSS attest to early Hebrew manuscripts that reflect the Greek tradition, and therefore we cannot attribute the difference to translation error or intentional rearrangement. A better solution is to remember that the book of Jeremiah as we know it in the Hebrew is the result of a long history of composition. The Greek text may reflect an earlier shorter version. The longer Hebrew text then represents the final authoritative edition of the book and is rightly used for modern translations.

Literary Types

The book as a whole is a compendium of prophetic oracles and stories about Jeremiah. The following distinct literary types are found in the book.

Poetical prophetic oracles of judgment and salvation. Chapters 2–25 are composed primarily of poetic oracles of judgment directed toward God’s people. They are God’s words to his people uttered by the prophet. Chapters 46–51 are also judgment oracles, but these are directed toward foreign nations such as Egypt and Babylon. Although salvation oracles are found in the first part of the book, chapters 30–31 form a striking collection of such oracles, the best known of which is the anticipation of the new covenant (31:31–34).

Poetical confessions/laments. Jeremiah’s confessions are in the form of laments in which he complains about the burdens brought on by his prophetic task. These laments have many similarities with laments in the psalms, including elements such as an invocation, a declaration of innocence, an invocation against enemies, and divine response. While the laments have a certain ritual form, there is no good reason to deny that they authentically represent the emotions of the prophet. The confessions/laments are found in 11:18–23; 12:1–6; 15:15–21; 17:14–18; 18:19–23; 20:7–17.

Prose oracles. Jeremiah’s oracles come in the form of prose as well as poetry. Similarities have been drawn between these oracles (a good example is 7:1–8:3) and the theology of the book of Deuteronomy. Some want to use this similarity to deny a connection with the historical Jeremiah, but there is no good reason to deny that Jeremiah could reflect the theology of this foundational book.

Prose biographical material. A significant part of the prose material may be described as biographical, in that it relates events in Jeremiah’s life (chaps. 26–29; 34–45). These descriptions often carry a prophetic oracle. It is likely that these biographical descriptions were written by someone other than Jeremiah (Baruch?).

Prophetic sign-acts. Perhaps a special category of biographical material is the description of events and acts of Jeremiah’s that carry prophetic significance. A good example is 13:1–11, which narrates Jeremiah’s trip to the Euphrates River to bury his dirty underwear.

Outline

I. Introduction and Jeremiah’s Call (1:1–19)

II The First Half of Jeremiah’s Ministry (2:1–25:14)

A Sermons, oracles, and sign-acts (2:1–24:10)

B Summary (25:1–14)

III. The Second Half of Jeremiah’s Ministry: Judgment and the Fall of Jerusalem (25:15–51:64)

A. Judgment against the nations (25:15–38)

B. Stories about Jeremiah and reports of oracles (26:1–29:32)

C. The Book of Consolation: Salvation oracles (30:1–33:26)

D. Stories about Jeremiah and oracles of judgment (34:1–38:28)

E. Account of the exile (39:1–44:30)

F. Oracle to Baruch (45:1–5)

G. Oracles against foreign nations (46:1–51:64)

IV. Epilogue (52:1–34)

Structure

The book of Jeremiah does not have a clearly delineated structure. In this respect, Jeremiah is not unique among the prophets. Nonetheless, we may still make some general observations about the shape of the book and its large sections, even though we cannot always account for why one oracle follows another. When they are given chronological indicators, they are not arranged sequentially.

There are reasons to think that chapter 25 plays a pivotal role in the book, though it may be that this was more explicit in an earlier form of the book (when the oracles against the foreign nations followed immediately after it; cf. the Greek version). Even so, 25:1–14 summarizes the message of chapters 2–24, and then 25:15–38 announces judgment against the nations. Chapter 1, then, is an introduction to the book, with its account of the prophet’s commissioning, and chapter 52 is an epilogue describing the fall of Jerusalem.

Within these two large sections we can recognize blocks of material. Chapter 1 introduces the prophet, recounts his call, and presents two undated oracles that serve to introduce important themes of the book.

Chapters 2–24 follow as a collection of sermons, poetic and prose oracles, and prophetic sign-acts that are undated. Indeed, it is often difficult to tell when one oracle ends and another begins. It is likely that these are the oracles that come from the first part of the prophet’s ministry, that is, his first scroll, described in chapter 36.

After chapter 25 summarizes the first part of the book and turns attention to the judgment against the nations, a block of prose material follows consisting of stories about Jeremiah as well as reports of oracles (chaps. 26–29).

Chapters 30–33 are a collection of salvation oracles, a break from the heavy barrage of judgment in the book up to this point. Traditionally, these chapters are known as the Book of Consolation. Chapters 30–31 are poetic oracles, while chapters 32–33 are prose.

Chapters 34–38 return to prose stories about Jeremiah and oracles of judgment. This section culminates with the first account of the fall of Jerusalem.

The next section, chapters 39–44, gives the distressing account of the exile and the continuing failures on the part of those who stay in the land with Jeremiah. They end up in Egypt because of their lack of confidence in God’s ability to take care of them. Chapter 45 is an oracle directed toward Baruch, Jeremiah’s associate.

The book ends with a collection of oracles against foreign nations (chaps. 46–51), culminating with a lengthy prophetic statement directed toward Babylon. The book concludes with a second account of the fall of Jerusalem.

Theological Message

Jeremiah is a complex book with many themes. One of the central ideas, however, is covenant. The Bible often uses the idea of a covenant to describe the relationship between God and his people. A covenant is a divinely initiated and defined agreement. God makes promises and calls on his people to observe certain requirements. Research has found that the biblical covenants are close in form and concept to ancient Near Eastern treaties between the kings of superpowers and those of much less powerful nations (vassal treaties). The powerful, sovereign king announces the law to the vassal, and it is accompanied by curses and blessings. If the vassal obeys, then the king gives a reward, but if the vassal disobeys, then the king issues punishment.

There is a series of covenantal relationships between God and his people (Noah [Gen. 9]; Abraham [Gen. 12:1–3; 15; 17]; Moses [Exod. 19–24]; David [2 Sam. 7]), but most relevant for our understanding of Jeremiah is the covenant with Moses as reaffirmed in Deuteronomy. The Mosaic covenant emphasizes law (see Deut. 5–26) and has an extensive section of curses and blessings (Deut. 27–28).

Jeremiah and many of the other prophets may be styled “lawyers of the covenant.” God sends them to his people when they disobey the law. Their job is to warn the people to change their lives and live in conformity with God’s will or else the curses of the covenant will come into effect.

Jeremiah’s oracles focus on warning the people that they are covenant breakers, particularly in the matter of worshipping false gods (Jer. 10–11). The hope is that the people will repent and thus avoid the most extreme punishment. But it is not only the judgment oracles that are related to the covenant; so too are the salvation oracles. In Jer. 31:31–34 the prophet announces that God will replace the old covenant with a new one, which will be more internal, more intense, and more intimate.

New Testament Connections

Jeremiah anticipates the founding of a new and better covenant, and the NT witnesses to the fulfillment of this expectation. As he passed the cup to his disciples, Jesus said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20 [cf. 1 Cor. 11:24–25]). The cup, representing Christ’s death, functions as the sign of the new covenant. The point is that the new covenant is founded on the death and resurrection of Christ.

The new covenant replaces the old. This is the argument of the book of Hebrews, which twice cites the relevant passage in Jeremiah to make the point (Heb. 8:8–12; 10:15–17; see also 2 Cor. 3). According to the author of Hebrews, the old covenant failed not because of a defect in God or his instrument but because of the people (Heb. 8:8). They consistently broke that covenant by disobeying the law explicated in the covenant with Moses. As a result, as Jeremiah himself announced, the people would be expelled from the land (reversing the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant), bringing to conclusion the monarchy, which is a provision of the Davidic covenant.

The Diaspora (or the Dispersion) generally refers to Jews living outside the land of Israel. Especially by the first century AD, Jews lived throughout the Mediterranean world and Mesopotamia. Large populations of Jews lived in Egypt and in Babylon/Persia. Two Jewish communities in Egypt established temples: at Elephantine sometime from the fifth through the fourth centuries BC, and at Leontopolis in the second century BC.

According to 2 Kings 17:1–41, the first major relocation of Israelites occurred forcibly around 722 BC, when Samaria fell to Sargon II, king of Assyria. As punishment for breaking their subject obligations to Assyria, Sargon deported many Israelites elsewhere in the Assyrian Empire, a usual Assyrian practice. The Bible also records the deportations of Judeans by Babylon around the end of the seventh and beginning of the sixth century BC (2 Kings 24–25; Jer. 21; 25; 27; 29; 39; 52). It explains these forced dispersions, or exiles, as punishments for breaking covenant obligations to Yahweh (Lev. 26:31–39; Deut. 28:64–67). The Bible also notes some Jews relocating voluntarily (Jer. 40–43). Voluntary relocations likely constitute the primary source for Jews in the Diaspora.

According to Acts, Christianity’s spread was inseparably tied to the Diaspora. The initial large “conversion” that Acts records, at Pentecost, involves Jews from the Diaspora who have traveled to Jerusalem for the festival (Acts 2:5–13). Throughout the rest of Acts, the apostles and missionaries find refuge and audiences among many Diaspora Jewish communities. Even after Paul declares that he will turn to the Gentiles because the Jews have rejected the message (Acts 13:44–52), Diaspora communities continue to provide travel destinations and audiences for him (e.g., Acts 17:1–4, 10–12, 17; 18:1–11, 19; 28:17–30). Some NT authors label their recipients as those in the Diaspora (or Dispersion), perhaps a Christianizing deployment of the term (James 1:1; 1 Pet. 1:1–2).

Culture and Geography

Egypt is one of the earliest ancient civilizations. The first development of writing took place simultaneously in both Egypt and ancient Sumer around 3000 BC. Using different languages, both developed pictographic writing systems (where pictures of objects stood for words, parts of words, etc.). Egypt kept the pictographic signs and highly stylized them (hieroglyphs), while Sumer changed them into wedge shapes (cuneiform). The Egyptian inscriptions found on pyramids, temples, stelae, tombs, and so forth are mostly in the hieroglyphic form.

Geography. Ancient Sumer and Egypt were river valley cultures. Sumer was located in Mesopotamia (southeast Iraq), Egypt in the Nile Valley (northeast Africa). The Nile Valley was well suited for long-term growth and cultural success for three reasons. First, the annual flooding of the Nile (July to October) brought sediment and nutrients from up river to the fields of the Nile Valley. The water also washed the salts out of the soil. These brought great fertility to the valley and allowed the same fields to be farmed year after year for millennia without exhausting the land. Second, the Nile provided a central highway for transporting people and goods across Egypt, thus facilitating internal trade and communication. Third, Egypt was surrounded by a buffer zone of desert regions to the east, west, and south, which hindered foreign invasion. Ancient Egyptians called the fertile land of the Nile Valley the “black land” and the desert regions the “red land.” They also divided the land into “upper” and “lower” Egypt. Upper Egypt (from the first cataract northward to Memphis) was in the higher southern elevations of the Nile River (the Nile flows from south to north). Lower Egypt was made up of the Nile Delta region. Only a pharaoh who controlled and unified both could take the epithet “king of upper and lower Egypt.” The ancient Egyptians called the entirety of their land “Kemet.”

Politics and religion. The Nile Valley was divided into regional administrative districts, nomes. There were forty-two nomes in all. Each nome had a town or city as its capital. Each of these cities had a ruler, a nomarch (“great overlord”), who governed the region. Kingship likely began when one city ruler began to subjugate other regions and cities. At times, there was more than one dynasty in power (one in Upper Egypt and one in Lower Egypt). Each ruling dynasty had a triad of idol-gods from its home city that it viewed as supreme in the Egyptian pantheon. The triad was made up of a father, a wife, and a firstborn son. In the Eighteenth Dynasty from Thebes, these were the sun god Amun-Re, his wife/consort Mut, and their son the moon god Khonsu.

Early Egyptian religion focused on veneration of animals, sacred burials, and cultic objects. The dead were buried with care in the predynastic period (before writing), which may indicate an understanding of the divine and the afterlife. We know little of this time without written texts. However, once writing was developed, the Egyptians began to create and record elaborate stories that explained their understanding of divine beings, creation, the daily cycle of sunrise/sunset, as well as the afterlife.

The Egyptian view of deities eventually became connected to physical forms. Each deity embodied divine attributes, affinities, powers, and one or more forms (human, animal, or a combination) that allowed the Egyptians to relate to them and that also shaped Egyptian culture and language through time. The god Thoth appeared in drawings, paintings, reliefs, or statues as one of three forms: as a human with an ibis-bird head, as an ibis, or as a baboon. The god Bes was patron of mothers in childbirth, Re (later Amun-Re) was the sun god, and so on. They even had a goddess of divine order, Ma’at, a female with a feather on her head. Ma’at was the embodiment of divine and human social order. At midnight on the day of death, a soul was placed in the balance of Ma’at’s scale and weighed against her feather. A soul heavier or lighter was devoured by the awaiting crocodile-headed destroyer deity; only those in balance could move on into the afterlife. For Egypt, the pharaoh was the great shepherd of the people, who both kept the divine order (Ma’at) and forced out chaos and disorder. With changing dynasties and preferences, deities changed rank, assimilated powers, merged with other deities, and rose or declined in popularity. Many deities were tied to a geographic place, but some were universal (such as Isis, Apis, Geb, Osiris, Bes, Anubis, and Imhotep). The deities were either found in or had power over all areas of the created order (Nile, insects, animals, humans, crops, fertility [of humans, animals, crops], sky, sun, moon, death, etc.). With the proliferation of idols, temples and sacrifices multiplied, and literally thousands of sacred mummified birds, cats, crocodiles, and other animals have been found in Egypt.

From the very beginning the king was viewed as divine. Later he was viewed as the personification of the sun god, with his wife/queen being the personification of the wife goddess in his dynasty triad and his firstborn son tied to the son in the triad. When the pharaoh died, he moved into the afterlife to become the sun god, and his heir took his earthly place. The whole aspect of a proper burial was very important to having a place and a successful experience in the afterlife. The shape of the pyramid tomb reflected the image of the rays of the sun streaming down to earth at angles from the sun. A proper burial on the west bank of the Nile (toward the setting sun) allowed the deceased to begin a proper journey into the afterlife. In order for the deceased to pass through all the gateways and to balance properly in Ma’at’s scales, a copy of the Book of the Dead would be placed in the person’s sarcophagus. This text contained all the correct things that the deceased needed to say to attain an easy passage and gloss over his or her sins. The great pyramid of Khufu has the pyramids of Khufu’s wives nearby, his nobles’ tombs farther out, then the tombs of minor officials, and finally those of foremen who worked on the pyramid with their work crew just beyond them. Each in the pecking order sought to attach himself or herself to the coattails of Pharaoh in his death so that they too might gain entry into the afterlife.

History

Prehistoric period. In the fifth millennium BC the hunter-gatherer culture in Egypt slowly shifted to a farming and shepherding lifestyle. As crop yields increased beyond the need for food, time was available to develop skills in crafts as well as trade. The pottery and material culture (tools, burials, house style, etc.) of Lower Egypt evidenced the Buto-Ma’adi culture, and that of Upper Egypt the Naqada culture. The Naqada expanded northward and unified Egypt in predynastic times. Several proto-kingships developed as nomes or their capital cities allied together or were subjugated by a stronger neighbor.

Early Dynastic period (3000–2575 BC). As indicated by the Narmer Palette, the earliest known king of a unified Egypt was Narmer (c. 3000 BC). The palette shows Narmer defeating the king of Lower Egypt and wearing the crown of Upper Egypt on one side and the crown of Lower Egypt on the other. Laws in Egypt were not codified as they are today. The king made the rules and kept them as he saw fit. The Egyptian story “The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant” from a later Egyptian period explains the way things worked. In this story, the peasant is on the way to market with his goods on his donkey. The rich man sees him coming and covers the pathway with a garment. The peasant has a dilemma: trample the garment or destroy some of the rich man’s field to get by. He is unsuccessful in traveling by without trespass, and the rich man seizes his goods and donkey and throws him in jail. The peasant awaits a chance to speak before Pharaoh, who is the judge. When he has a chance to make his appeal, the peasant is so well spoken that Pharaoh keeps him in prison just so he can keep hearing him argue his case day after day! Eventually the poor man’s goods are restored, and he is freed.

Old Kingdom (2575–2134 BC). The Old Kingdom capital was Memphis. This period was an age of pyramids and a time of political and economic stability. The agricultural economy grew and prospered. The two largest pyramids were constructed in this period: Khufu’s Great Pyramid at Giza and one next to it (along with the Sphinx), belonging to his successor, Chephren. The pyramid workers were not slaves but rather peasants who owed a corvée tax of labor. Workers were paid daily in bread and beer. Egypt was a feudal society. Private citizens could own property, but the pharaoh owned most of the land and parceled it out to his retainers or gave it permanently to temples. The pharaohs sent quarrying expeditions into the deserts for building stone and occasionally made military expeditions southward into Nubia and Punt.

First Intermediate Kingdom (2134–2040 BC) and Middle Kingdom (2040–1640 BC). After the death of Pepy II came economic collapse due to drought and falling tax revenues. These led to political collapse, and power was split among many competing factions. This time of instability is known as the First Intermediate period; it ended when the Eleventh Dynasty pharaoh Mentuhotep II reunified Egypt and reestablished a strong central government. This likely is the period when Abraham visited Egypt and later Joseph, Jacob, and his family entered Egypt. The famous Beni Hasan tomb painting of this period shows a caravan of Semitic peoples moving into Egypt, wearing multicolored clothing. In this period the position of vizier (prime minister) grew to prominence. One vizier, Amenemhet, succeeded to the throne of Egypt. Joseph filled the role of vizier in the biblical account (Gen. 41:39–40). Also dating from this period are turquoise mines in the Sinai region that have the earliest known Semitic inscription. Written on the mine walls in Proto-Sinaitic, this inscription may be the earliest alphabetic script in existence.

Second Intermediate period (1640–1550 BC). At the end of the Middle Kingdom, Egypt again fell into a fractured political situation with the decline of the pharaoh’s power. A Semitic people, the Hyksos (Egyptian for “foreign rulers” or “shepherd kings”), invaded the Nile Delta region and established their capital at Avaris. The Seventeenth Dynasty continued to rule Upper Egypt in the south while the Hyksos were in power. Although the Israelites were servants of Pharaoh from the beginning (keeping his flocks), they were not enslaved until later. It may have been a Hyksos pharaoh or a New Kingdom pharaoh who enslaved them to hard labor.

New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC). The last king of the Seventeenth (Theban) Dynasty, Kamose, attacked the Hyksos, but it was his successor, Ahmose, who drove them out and reunified Egypt. Ahmose is considered the first pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. It may have been Ahmose or one of his successors who enslaved the Hebrews (for more on the Eighteenth Dynasty, see Thutmose). During the first half of the New Kingdom, Egypt was at the height of its power and wealth. During this period Egyptians began to call their king “Pharaoh,” meaning “great house.” The Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh Thutmose III and his son Amenhotep II are good candidates for an early-date exodus (c. 1446 BC). A later king of the Eighteenth Dynasty, Akhenaten, moved the capital to Amarna and shifted his allegiance from Amun-Re, the sun god, to sole worship of the god Aton (sun-disk). For this reason, many identify him as the first monotheist. Akhenaten may have made this move in order to defund the temples and priestly orders that had grown very wealthy and powerful over time. His reforms did not last, and the worship of Amun-Re was restored by his successor, Tutankhamen. The Nineteenth Dynasty warrior Ramesses II is the likely pharaoh of a late-date Exodus (c. 1250 BC).

Third Intermediate period (1069–664 BC). This period was a time of weak and divided government, with capitals in the north and the south. Pharaoh Siamun has been conjectured to be King Solomon’s father-in-law, who conquered Gezer and gave it to Solomon as a dowry (c. 960 BC; 1 Kings 9:16). Later, Sheshonq (biblical Shishak), a Libyan pharaoh of the Twenty-second Dynasty, came to the throne and campaigned against Solomon’s son Rehoboam, plundering Jerusalem in the process (1 Kings 14:25; 2 Chron. 12:2; cf. 1 Kings 11:40). The African Cushite pharaohs of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty (760–664 BC) ruled the north for a little more than a century but failed to defend against the waves of Assyrian conquest in the seventh century BC.

Late Kingdom period (664–525 BC). The Twenty-sixth (Saite) Dynasty (ruling from the Delta city of Sais) reunified Egypt under native Egyptian control. Pharaoh Necho II tried to support a declining Assyria as a buffer against the Babylonian onslaught but was unsuccessful (c. 609 BC). However, in the process Necho killed King Josiah of Judah in battle at Megiddo and placed one of Josiah’s sons, Jehoiakim, as a vassal upon the throne of Judah (2 Kings 23:29–35; cf. 2 Chron. 35:20–36:8; Jer. 46:2). After the Babylonian destruction of Judah/Jerusalem (587/586 BC) and the murder of their Jewish governor, Gedaliah, a group of Jewish exiles fled to Egypt. This group forced the prophet Jeremiah to go with them to Egypt (Jer. 40:1–43:7). A small group of Jewish exiles eventually found their way to a tiny island in the upper Nile, Elephantine, where they established a temple and community; there they worked as mercenaries.

Persian period (525–332 BC). Cambyses II, king of Persia and son of Cyrus the Great, conquered Egypt in 525 BC. His successor, Darius I, ruled Egypt benevolently and resumed the construction of temples and canals. However, Egypt revolted against Persian rule several times, ultimately winning independence in 404 BC with the help of Greek allies. The last native Egyptian pharaoh was Nectanebo II, who ruled in 359–343 BC. However, this period of Egyptian independence was short-lived, with Persia reestablishing control in 343 BC.

Hellenistic-Roman period (332–30 BC; 30 BC and beyond). Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 BC. After Alexander’s death, his general Ptolemy took control of Egypt and ruled as pharaoh. From Alexander’s conquest to the death of Cleopatra, Egyptian rulers were of Greek descent. After Cleopatra’s death (30 BC), Rome annexed Egypt into its empire and governed the country until the fall of the Roman Empire. A large contingent of Jews lived and prospered in the Delta city of Alexandria in this period.