Biblical Narratives of Slavery and Exile... the difference?

Hi!

Early this morning I was meditating upon Jeremiah 16: 14-15 -

"Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
But, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers."

and I thought how odd it was that we, as Christians, know the narrative of the Israelites' flight from Egypt backwards... but don't know the narrative of their return from Babylonian exile quite as well. And when I thought about it, I realised one thing. The narrative of the flight from Egypt and the 40-year wandering in the wilderness was probably written down by Moses after the events had taken place. The question is, was this narrative filtered through Moses' consciousness? Did his own participation in the event - beginning to end - contribute to the narrative's structure? And thus giving the narrative a proper beginning, middle and end... making it a plain good story.

Of course, like all Christians I too believe that the Spirit of God dictated the Bible - Genesis to Revelation - and the different prophets and scribes merely wrote down what they were shown. But we know that Jeremiah, when he was called to be a prophet, was shown what was a rod of an almond tree. He was asked to describe it. When he recognised what he was shown correctly, he was commended - "Thou hast seen well". So the prophet's mind is important as a tool that receives the prophecy. I feel Moses would have been able to use what God showed him (about what happened in the Garden of Eden for instance) as also his own narrative as of someone who was in the thick of things.

The narrative for the Babylonian exile is different from the Egyptian one. The narrative of this latter event in history is scattered. The major prophets - all three of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel I think - foretold the carrying away of the Israelites as captives to Babylon. The event, when it finally happens, is recorded almost dispassionately by Jeremiah. The books of Daniel and Esther record events that took place during the exile in the courts of the foreign rulers. Scribes Ezra and Nehemiah record the rebuilding of the Temple. You'd need to be a very ardent scholar to apply your mind, place the scattered pieces together and get the complete picture of this huge event. Does it matter that, unlike in the Egyptian narrative, there is no one human who was there in the beginning, middle and end... to tell the story in one piece?

The Jews no doubt hand down complete stories of these two events to their generations.