When did the davidic dynasty end and when did the Babylonian exile begin? 1 The answer generally given to this question is that the two events coincide and are to be dated to the year 587 Bce. The main witness to these events in the hebrew Bible, the book of Jeremiah, certainly agrees with this historical perspective, but it also develops a theological perspective that somewhat transcends these historical facts and offers a different answer. some texts in the book of Jeremiah develop a

more »

... understanding of history that remains in the background and is not formulated explicitly, but is instead accessible only through careful study of the text. The starting point for my reflections is the narrative of Jer 36. 2 its narrative development is well known: god commissions Jeremiah to write 1. Preliminary versions of this paper have been published in French and german as "L' accession de nabuchodonosor à l'hégémonie mondiale et la fin de la dynastie davidique: exégèse intrabiblique et construction de l'histoire universelle dans le livre