Exile as Forced Migrations: A Sociological, Literary, and Theological Approach on the Displacement and Resettlement of the Southern Kingdom of Jud: A ... fur die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 417)

Exile as Forced Migrations injects cutting edge studies on forced migrations (DIDPS, IDPs, Refugee studies), displacement and resettlement, and generational issues that mark the exilic period (6th century B.C.E.). Founder and co-chair of the “Exile/Forced Migrations in Biblical Literature” (Society of Biblical Literature) and a member of the American Sociological Association (International Migration Section), Ahn furnishes biblical scholars with up-to-date sociological information to examine critically, the exile as forced migrations in the cadre of economics of migrations. Biblically speaking, Ahn isolates the three varying views on the exile. The 70 years in Babylon is cast as three and a half generations, with each Judeo-Babylonian generation (first-“1.5”-second-third) responding to its own set of issues and concerns (Ps 137, Jer 29, Isa 43, Num 32). This definitive work reframes the approach to study of the exilic period, as “generation-units”, sociologically, from the first forced migration in 597 B.C.E. to the first return migrations in 538 B.C.E. Exile as Forced Migrations goes beyond traditional emphasis on an important edifice and its institution. It rightfully returns to peoples in flight and plight. In der Reihe Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) erscheinen Arbeiten zu sämtlichen Gebieten der alttestamentlichen Wissenschaft. Im Zentrum steht die Hebräische Bibel, ihr Vor- und Nachleben im antiken Judentum sowie ihre vielfache Verzweigung in die benachbarten Kulturen der altorientalischen und hellenistisch-römischen Welt. Die BZAW akzeptiert Manuskriptvorschläge, die einen innovativen und signifikanten Beitrag zu Erforschung des Alten Testaments und seiner Umwelt leisten, sich intensiv mit der bestehenden Forschungsliteratur auseinandersetzen, stringent aufgebaut und flüssig geschrieben sind. Exile as Forced Migrations examines contemporary peoples in flight and plight to help reconstruct the exilic experience of Judeo-Babylonians in the 6th century B.C.E. Framing this monograph are economics of migration and its impact on each respective generation, recent sociological studies on forced migration theories, displacement and resettlement issues, historical, literary and theological views on the first generation's "laments", the in-between generation's "hope", "new creation" in the second generation, and finally, "home" for the third and subsequent generations Frontmatter 1 Table of Content 11 Chapter 1. Introduction – Texts, Scholarship, Problems, Approaches 19 Chapter 2. Forced Migrations – Migrations and Economics 58 Chapter 3. The First Generation – Psalm 137: Complex Communal Laments 85 Chapter 4. The 1.5 Generation – Jeremiah 29: Golah Hope 125 Chapter 5. The Second Generation – Isaiah 43: New Creation 177 Chapter 6. The Third Generation – Numbers 32: Home 241 Chapter 7. Conclusion 277 Backmatter 284