Under the Mosaic Law, Israel was required to be faithful or they would go back into captivity. After Egypt, the children of Israel
rebelled against God and they wander in the desert forty years (
Numbers 14:34). During the judges, Israel was persecuted by their Canaanite neighbors for their incomplete obedience (
Joshua 23:13). During the kings of Israel and Judah, they returned to idols. In 721 BC, Israel fell to Assyria (
2 Kings 17:6-7) and in 712 BC, Assyria fell to Babylon (Iraq). Despite the prophets' warnings, Judah was repeatedly attacked by Babylon in 605, 597, 586 and 582 BC. Jerusalem and the Jewish temple were destroyed on the
9th of Av, 586 BC. Even with seventy years of captivity, God had a plan for His people Israel through Daniel
(
Jeremiah 25:11-12).
Them that had escaped from the sword he [Nebuchadnezzar] carried away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil seventy years (
2 Chronicles 36:20-21).