I finished a course this morning that was greatly informative concerning Israel, Jerusalem and its historical position amidst the turmoil and evolution of civilizations from those of Mesopotamia and Egypt to Persia and the Hellenistic period. It has extra-Biblical sources, archaeology and the Bible as history and literature to examine what occurred during the period between the destruction of the first temple and reconstruction with the second.
https://coursera.org/share/06d4cc2dc809d3c5773738018ef44cc6
Garrison Gibson: books and blog 