| Siege of Jerusalem | |||||||||
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Zedekiah  | Nebuchadnezzar II | ||||||||
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The siege of Jerusalem (circa 589–587 BCE) was the final event of the Judahite revolts against Babylon, in which Nebuchadnezzar II, king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, besieged Jerusalem, the capital city of the Kingdom of Judah. Jerusalem fell after a 30-month siege, following which the Babylonians systematically destroyed the city and the First Temple.[1][2] The Kingdom of Judah was dissolved and many of its inhabitants were exiled to Babylon.
During the late 7th century BCE, Judah became a vassal kingdom of Babylon. In 601 BCE, Jehoiakim, king of Judah, revolted against Babylonian rule despite the strong remonstrances of the prophet Jeremiah.[2][3] Jehoiakim died for reasons unclear, and was succeeded by his son, Jeconiah.[4][5] In 597 BCE, the Babylonians besieged Jerusalem, and the city surrendered.[2][6] Nebuchadnezzar pillaged Jerusalem and deported Jeconiah and other prominent citizens to Babylon; Jeconiah's uncle, Zedekiah, was installed as king.[2][7] Later, encouraged by the Egyptians, Zedekiah launched a second revolt, and a Babylonian army was sent to retake Jerusalem.[2]
On Tisha B'Av, 25 August 587 BCE or 18 July 586 BCE, the Babylonians took Jerusalem, destroyed the First Temple and burned down the city.[2][8][9] The small settlements surrounding the city, and those close to the western border of the kingdom, were destroyed as well.[9] According to the Bible, Zedekiah attempted to escape, but was captured near Jericho. He was forced to watch the execution of his sons in Riblah, and his eyes were then put out.[10]
The destruction of Jerusalem and its temple led to a religious, spiritual and political crisis, which left its mark in prophetic literature and biblical tradition.[10][9] The Kingdom of Judah was abolished and annexed as a Babylonian province with its center in Mizpah.[2][10][9] The Judean elite, including the Davidic dynasty, were exiled to Babylon.[9] After Babylon had fallen to Cyrus the Great, founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, in 539 BCE, he allowed the exiled Judeans to return to Zion and rebuild Jerusalem. The Second Temple was completed in 516 BCE.
Biblical narrative
Whereas the Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle provides information about the siege of Jerusalem in 597 BCE, the only known records of the siege that culminated in Jerusalem's destruction in 587 BCE are found in the Hebrew Bible.[11]
Background
In 601 BCE, during the fourth year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar unsuccessfully attempted to invade Egypt and was repulsed with heavy losses.[10] The failure led to numerous rebellions among the Kingdoms of the Levant which owed allegiance to Babylon, including the Kingdom of Judah, where King Jehoiakim stopped paying tribute to Nebuchadnezzar and took a pro-Egyptian position.
In 597 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem.[10] Jehoiakim died during the siege and was succeeded by his son Jeconiah at an age of either eight or eighteen. The city fell about three months later, on 2 Adar (March 16) 597 BCE. Nebuchadnezzar pillaged both Jerusalem and the Temple and carted all of his spoils to Babylon. Jeconiah and his court and other prominent citizens and craftsmen, along with a sizable portion of the Jewish population of Judah; According to the Book of Kings, about 10,000 were deported from the land and dispersed throughout the Babylonian Empire.[10]
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Nebuchadnezzar installed Jeconiah's uncle, Zedekiah as vassal king of Judah, at the age of 21.[10] However, despite the strong remonstrances of Jeremiah and others, Zedekiah revolted against Nebuchadnezzar by ceasing to pay tribute to him and entered an alliance with Pharaoh Hophra. Nebuchadnezzar II returned to Judah, aiming to capture Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:1).
Siege
Nebuchadnezzar began a siege of Jerusalem in January 589 BCE.[12][13] Many Jews fled to surrounding Moab, Ammon, Edom and other countries to seek refuge.[14] The Bible describes the city as enduring horrible deprivation during the siege (2 Kings 25:3; Lamentations 4:4, 5, 9). The city fell after a siege, which lasted either eighteen or thirty months.[13] In the eleventh year of Zedekiah's reign (2 Kings 25:2; Jeremiah 39:2), Nebuchadnezzar broke through Jerusalem's walls, conquering the city. Zedekiah and his followers attempted to escape but were captured on the plains of Jericho and taken to Riblah.[10] There, after seeing his sons killed, Zedekiah was blinded, bound, and taken captive to Babylon (2 Kings 25:1–7; 2 Chronicles 36:12; Jeremiah 32:4–5; 34:2–3; 39:1–7; 52:4–11), where he remained a prisoner until his death.[10]
Aftermath
According to the Bible, following the fall of Jerusalem, the Babylonian general Nebuzaradan was sent to complete its destruction. The city and Solomon's Temple were plundered and destroyed, and most of the Judeans were taken by Nebuzaradan into captivity in Babylon, with only a few people permitted to remain to tend to the land (Jeremiah 52:16). Archaeological evidence confirms that the city was systematically destroyed by fire.[8][9] Archeological evidence also indicates that towns close to the kingdom's western border and small villages in Jerusalem's near vicinity were destroyed.[9]
Gedaliah, a Judean, was made governor of the remnant of Judah, the Yehud Province, with a Chaldean guard stationed at Mizpah (2 Kings 25:22–24; Jeremiah 40:6–8). The Bible reports that, on hearing this news, Jews who had fled to Moab, Ammon, Edom, and in other countries returned to Judah (Jeremiah 40:11–12). Gedaliah was assassinated by Ishmael son of Nethaniah two months later, and the population that had remained and those who had returned then fled to Egypt for safety (2 Kings 25:25–26, Jeremiah 43:5–7). In Egypt, they settled in Migdol (it is uncertain where the Bible is referring to here, probably somewhere in the Nile Delta), Tahpanhes, Memphis (called Noph), and Pathros in the vicinity of Thebes (Jeremiah 44:1).
Dating
There has been some debate as to when Nebuchadnezzar's second siege of Jerusalem took place. According to the Hebrew Bible, the city fell in the fourth month of Zedekiah's eleventh year. It is agreed that Jerusalem fell the second time in the summer month of Tammuz (as recorded in Jeremiah 52:6). However, scholars disagree as to whether this dates to 586 BCE or 587 BCE. William F. Albright dated the end of Zedekiah's reign and the fall of Jerusalem to 587 BCE whereas Edwin R. Thiele offered 586 BCE.[15] In 2004, Rodger Young published an analysis in which he identified 587 BCE for the end of the siege, based on details from the Bible and neo-Babylonian sources for related events.[16] An independent study used 586 BCE for the destruction of Jerusalem as an anchor date for calibration of its archaeomagnetic dating method.[17]
586 BCE
Thiele's reckoning is based on the presentation of Zedekiah's reign on an accession basis, which he asserts was occasionally used for the kings of Judah. In that case, the year that Zedekiah came to the throne would be his zeroth year; his first full year would be 597/596 BCE, and his eleventh year, the year that Jerusalem fell, would be 587/586 BCE. Since Judah's regnal years were counted from Tishri in autumn, that would place the end of his reign and the capture of Jerusalem in the summer of 586 BCE.[15][18]
587 BCE
The Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle (BM 21946), published in 1956, indicates that Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem the first time putting an end to the reign of Jehoaichin, on 2 Adar (16 March) 597 BCE, in Nebuchadnezzar's seventh year.[19] Jeremiah 52:28–29 gives the relative periods for the end of the two sieges as Nebuchadnezzar's seventh and eighteenth years, respectively. (The same events are described at 2 Kings 24:12 and 2 Kings 25:8 as occurring in Nebuchadnezzar's eighth and nineteenth years, including his accession year.) Identification of Nebuchadnezzar's eighteenth year for the end of the siege places the event in the summer of 587 BCE, which is consistent with all three relevant biblical sources—Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and 2 Kings.[16][20]
Archeological evidence
Jerusalem
Archaeological evidence supports the biblical account that Jerusalem was destroyed in 587 or 586 BCE.[21][9] Archaeological research has shown that the Babylonians systematically destroyed the city with fire and that the city wall was pulled down.[1][9]
The remains of three residential structures excavated in the City of David (the Burnt Room, House of Ahiel, and House of Bullae) contain burned wooden beams from a fire started by the Babylonians in 586 BCE.[22] Ash and burnt wood beams were also discovered at several structures in the Givati Parking Lot, which were attributed by the archeologists to the destruction of the city in 586 BCE. Arrowheads of the socketed bronze trilobate type, associated with the destruction of cities in the Assyrian heartland by the Babylonians and the Medes, likewise first appear in the Southern Levant in the burnt layers associated with Nebuchadnezzar II's destruction of the city.[23] Samples of soil and fragments of a plaster floor recovered from one of the structures indicate that it was exposed to a temperature of at least 600° C.[24] A number of wine jars were found to contain remains of vanilla, indicating that the spice was used by the Jerusalemite elite before destruction of the city.[24]
Surrounding areas
Archaeological investigations and surveys have also revealed that, about the time the Babylonians came to besiege Jerusalem, the majority of towns surrounding Jerusalem and along the kingdom's western frontier were also completely destroyed. However, it is unclear if the array of outlying communities to the east and south of the kingdom were destroyed at that time or if it was a continuous process that occurred after the collapse of the administrative structure of the kingdom and the loss of its military force.[9]
The region of Benjamin, located in the northern Judean hill country was mostly unaffected by the invasion and became the center of the Babylonian province of Yehud, with Mizpah as its administrative center.[9]
References
Intensive excavations throughout Jerusalem have shown that the city was indeed systematically destroyed by the Babylonians. The conflagration seems to have been general. When activity on the ridge of the City of David resumed in the Persian period, the-new suburbs on the western hill that had flourished since at least the time of Hezekiah were not reoccupied.
Intensive excavations throughout Jerusalem have shown that the city was indeed systematically destroyed by the Babylonians. The conflagration seems to have been general. When activity on the ridge of the City of David resumed in the Persian period, the-new suburbs on the western hill that had flourished since at least the time of Hezekiah were not reoccupied.
The destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians (586 B.C.E.) is the most traumatic event described in biblical historiography, and in its shadow the history of the people of Israel was reshaped. The harsh impression of the destruction left its mark on the prophetic literature also, and particular force is retained in the laments over the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in its midst. [...] most of Judah's inhabitants remained there after the destruction of Jerusalem. They concentrated chiefly in the Benjamin region and the northern Judean hill country. This area was hardly affected by the destruction, and became the centre of the Babylonian province with its capital at Mizpah. [...] The archaeological data reinforce the biblical account, and they indicate that Jerusalem and its close environs suffered a severe blow. Most of the small settlements near the city were destroyed, the city wall was demolished, and the buildings within were put to the torch. Excavation and survey data show that the western border of the kingdom also sustained a grave onslaught, seemingly at the time when the Babylonians went to besiege Jerusalem.
It is so easy to forget that 587 BCE is exclusively a biblical date.
The first date is taken from Ezek 24:1, where it is said that the final siege of Jerusalem began in the tenth month of the "ninth year." ... The tenth month of that year corresponds roughly to January 589 BC.
The discrepancy between the length of the siege according to the regnal years of Zedekiah (years 9–11), on the one hand, and its length according to Jehoiachin's exile (years 9–12), on the other, can be cancelled out only by supposing the former to have been reckoned on a Tishri basis, and the latter on a Nisan basis. The difference of one year between the two is accounted for by the fact that the termination of the siege fell in the summer, between Nisan and Tishri, already in the 12th year according to the reckoning in Ezekiel, but still in Zedekiah's 11th year which was to end only in Tishri.
The conclusions from the analysis are as follows. (1) Jerusalem fell in the fourth month (Tammuz) of 587 BC. All sources which bear on the question—Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and 2 Kings—are consistent in dating the event in that year.
Simply put, the erroneous date of 586 B.C.E. stems from the biblical dating of the breaking down of the walls of Jerusalem and the exile of its populace "on the seventh day of the fifth month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar." ... The correct date of 587 B.C.E. for the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem may be further substantiated by examination of the end of the exile of Jehoiachin.
- Amir, Ayala; Finkelstein, Israel; Shalev, Yiftah; Uziel, Joe; Chalaf, Ortal; Freud, Liora; Neumann, Ronny; Gadot, Yuval (2022-03-29). "Residue analysis evidence for wine enriched with vanilla consumed in Jerusalem on the eve of the Babylonian destruction in 586 BCE". PLOS ONE. 17 (3): e0266085. Bibcode:2022PLoSO..1766085A. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0266085. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 8963535. PMID 35349581.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jerusalem_(587_BC)
Purim (/ˈpʊərɪm/; Hebrew: פּוּרִים 
Pūrīm, lit. 'lots'; see Name below) is a Jewish holiday which commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from annihilation at the hands of an official of the Achaemenid Empire named Haman, as it is recounted in the Book of Esther (usually dated to the 5th century BCE).
Haman was the royal vizier to the Persian king Ahasuerus (Xerxes I or Artaxerxes I; Khshayarsha and Artakhsher in Old Persian, respectively).[2][3][4][5] His plans were foiled by Mordecai of the tribe of Benjamin, and Esther, Mordecai's cousin and adopted daughter who had become queen of Persia after her marriage to Ahasuerus.[6] The day of deliverance became a day of feasting and rejoicing among Jews.
According to the Scroll of Esther,[7] "they should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor". Purim is celebrated among Jews by:
- Exchanging gifts of food and drink, known as mishloach manot
- Donating charity to the poor, known as mattanot la-evyonim[8]
- Eating a celebratory meal, known as se'udat Purim
- Public recitation of the Scroll of Esther (Hebrew: קריאת מגילת אסתר, romanized: Kriat megillat Esther), or "reading of the Megillah", usually in synagogue
- Reciting additions to the daily prayers and the grace after meals, known as Al HaNissim
Other customs include wearing masks and costumes, public celebrations and parades (Adloyada), and eating hamantashen (transl. "Haman's pockets"); men are encouraged to drink wine or any other alcoholic beverage.[9]
According to the Hebrew calendar, Purim is celebrated annually on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Adar (and it is celebrated in Adar II in Hebrew leap years, which occur every two to three years), the day following the victory of the Jews over their enemies, the 13th of Adar, a day now observed with the fast of Esther. In cities that were protected by a surrounding wall at the time of Joshua, Purim was celebrated on the 15th of the month of Adar on what is known as Shushan Purim, since fighting in the walled city of Shushan continued through the 14th day of Adar.[10] Today, only Jerusalem and a few other cities celebrate Purim on the 15th of Adar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purim
| Battle of the Wood of Ephraim | |||||||
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| Part of Absalom's Revolt | |||||||
_(14598284099).jpg) Relief of Joab (front rider) riding on a horse to put an end to Absalom's princely rebellion | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Forces of King David | Forces of Absalom | ||||||
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David Joab Abishai Ittai |
Absalom † Amasa | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown; Light | Unknown; Heavy | ||||||
According to 2 Samuel, the Battle of the Wood of Ephraim was a military conflict between the rebel forces of the formerly exiled Israelite prince Absalom against the royal forces of his father King David during a short-lived revolt.[1][better source needed]
Scholarly opinion is divided as to the historicity of the events in the Books of Samuel. Most scholars believe that the Books of Samuel contain a large amount of historical information, while there are some dissenters who view them as entirely fictional.[2]
Background
Absalom, the third son of King David of Israel, had been newly returned from three years in exile in Geshur for the murder of his half-brother, Amnon and received a pardon with some restrictions.[3] Later, he began a campaign to win the lost favour and trust of the people,[4] which was successful.[5] Absalom, under the pretense of going to worship at Hebron, asked King David permission to leave Jerusalem. David, unaware of his true intentions, granted it and Absalom left with an escort of 200 men. Upon arriving in the city, Absalom sent messengers to all the leaders and tribal princes throughout the empire to back him as king[6] Meanwhile, back in Hebron he continued to sacrifice under the guise that he was only there to worship God while still gathering officials and important people in the empire, growing his numbers and strength, including receiving the support of Ahithophel of Giloh one of the royal councilors. When News of Absalom's now open revolt in Hebron reached the royal Israelite court in Jerusalem[7] Upon learning of these developments, King David ordered the city and court evacuated, fearing that the rebel forces under Absalom would besiege.[8] He left with the entire Israelite royal house, as well as his elite Cherethite/Pelethite Royal guard, a mercenary force of 600 Gathites under their commander Ittai the Gittite. They marched to the Kidron valley and came to the bank of the Jordan river. They crossed leaving behind several spies and double agents to subvert Absalom and his conspirators and infiltrate their court and gather information on the rebel movements.[9][10]
Location
The tribe of Ephraim is associated with land west of the Jordan River (Joshua 16), but David had retreated to a city east of the Jordan, Mahanaim,[11] most likely to be identified with Tell adh-Dhahab ash-Sharqiyya on the south side of the Jabbok River. Most Bible geographers place the "Forest of Ephraim" east of the Jordan River, in the region also known as Gilead. This identification is bolstered by the statement that Absalom's army camped "in the land of Gilead"[12] as they prepared for battle against David.[13]
Battle
Absalom initiated the attack with his forces. He chose Amasa, one of Joab's kinsmen, as general, and marched out of Jerusalem into the land of Gilead. When David entered Mahanaim with his forces, as a result of his fame many warriors flocked to his aid, and passed before him to the battle,[14] as he stood at the gate of the city. David divided the army into three parts—one was to be led by Joab; one by Abishai; and the third by Ittai, the trusted friend and commander from Gath.
David then declared that he would head the army himself, but his soldiers would not allow David to risk his life. They asked him to remain in the city. When all was ready, David gave to the three Generals this parting injunction, "Deal gently, for my sake, with the young man, with Absalom." The two armies met in a forest of Ephraim. It was a great and terrible battle. The rebel forces were unable to maneuver because the thickness of trees, and their numbers were reduced by the underbrush of the forest.[15] The forces of Absalom were thus routed by the royal forces of David.
Absalom himself fled. As he was riding through the woods on his mule, he was caught by the long locks of his hair under the spreading branches of a large tree. Unable to free himself, he remained suspended, his mule had escaped. One of David's servants brought this intelligence to General Joab, who gave the order that Absalom be put to death and the royal troops disengaged immediately thereafter.
See also
References
- 2 Samuel 18:8 NIV
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Wood_of_Ephraim
The United Monarchy is a political entity described in the deuteronomistic history of the Hebrew Bible as, under the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon, encompassing the territories of both the later Kingdom of Judah and Samarian Kingdom of Israel.[7][8][9] Whether the United Monarchy actually existed is a matter of ongoing academic debate,[10][11][12] and scholars remain divided between those who support the historicity of the biblical narrative, those who doubt or dismiss it, and those who support the kingdom's theoretical existence while maintaining that the biblical narrative is exaggerated.[13] Proponents of the kingdom's existence traditionally date it to between c. 1047 BCE and c. 930 BCE.
In the 1990s, Israeli archaeologist Israel Finkelstein contested that existing archaeological evidence for the United Monarchy in the 10th century BCE should actually be dated to the 9th century BCE.[14][15]: 59–61 This model placed the biblical kingdom in Iron Age I, suggesting that it was not functioning as a country under centralized governance but rather as tribal chiefdom over a small polity in Judah, disconnected from the north's Israelite tribes.[16][6][17][18] The rival chronology of Israeli archaeologist Amihai Mazar places the relevant period beginning in the early 10th century BCE and ending in the mid-9th century BCE, addressing the problems of the traditional chronology while still aligning pertinent findings with the time of Saul, David, and Solomon. Both Mazar's chronology and the traditional one have received fairly wide acceptance,[19] though there is no current consensus on the topic.[20] Recent archaeological discoveries by Israeli archaeologists Eilat Mazar and Yosef Garfinkel in Jerusalem and Khirbet Qeiyafa, respectively, seem to support the existence of the United Monarchy, but the dating and identifications are not universally accepted.[15][21]
According to the biblical account, on the succession of Solomon's son Rehoboam, the United Monarchy would have split into two separate kingdoms: the Kingdom of Israel in the north, containing the cities of Shechem and Samaria; and the Kingdom of Judah in the south, containing the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Israel_(united_monarchy)
The Babylonian captivity or Babylonian exile is the period in Jewish history during which a large number of Judeans from the ancient Kingdom of Judah were captives in Babylon, the capital city of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, following their defeat in the Jewish–Babylonian War and the destruction of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. The event is described in the Hebrew Bible, and its historicity is supported by archaeological and extra-biblical evidence.
After the Battle of Carchemish in 605 BCE, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II besieged Jerusalem, which resulted in tribute being paid by the Judean king Jehoiakim.[1] In the fourth year of Nebuchadnezzar II's reign, Jehoiakim refused to pay further tribute, which led to another siege of the city in Nebuchadnezzar II's seventh year (598/597 BCE) that culminated in the death of Jehoiakim and the exile to Babylonia of his successor Jeconiah, his court, and many others; Jeconiah's successor Zedekiah and others were exiled when Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed Jerusalem in his 18th year (587 BCE), and a later deportation occurred in Nebuchadnezzar II's 23rd year (582 BCE). However, the dates, numbers of deportations, and numbers of deportees vary in the several biblical accounts.[2][3]
After the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire to the Achaemenid Persian Empire and its founding king Cyrus the Great at the Battle of Opis in 539 BCE, exiled Judeans were permitted by the Persians to return to Judah.[4][5] According to the biblical Book of Ezra, construction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem began in c. 537 BCE in the new Persian province of Yehud Medinata. All of these events are considered significant to the developed history and culture of the Jewish people, and ultimately had a far-reaching impact on the development of Judaism.
Archaeological studies have revealed that, although the city of Jerusalem was utterly destroyed, other parts of Judah continued to be inhabited during the period of the exile. Most of the exiled did not return to their homeland, instead travelling westward and northward. Many settled in what is now northern Israel, Lebanon, and Syria. The Iraqi Jewish, Persian Jewish, Georgian Jewish, and Bukharan Jewish communities are believed to derive their ancestry in large part from these exiles; these communities have now largely immigrated to Israel.[6][7]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_captivity
The missing years in the Hebrew calendar refer to a chronological discrepancy between the rabbinic dating for the destruction of the First Temple in 422 BCE (3338 Anno Mundi)[1] and the academic dating of it in 587 BCE.
Dating in academic sources
The academic datings in question are confirmed by a variety of Persian, Babylonian and Greek sources, which include records of datable astronomical observations such as eclipses.[2]
Siege of Jerusalem (597 BC)
Both the Babylonian Chronicles and the Bible indicate that Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem. The Babylonian Chronicles (as published by Donald Wiseman in 1956) establish that Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem the first time on 2 Adar (16 March) 597 BCE.[3] Before Wiseman's publication, E. R. Thiele had determined from the biblical texts that Nebuchadnezzar's initial capture of Jerusalem occurred in the spring of 597 BCE,[4] while other scholars, including William F. Albright, more frequently dated the event to 598 BCE.[5]
Second siege and destruction of the First Temple
According to the Bible, Nebuchadnezzar installed Zedekiah as king after his first siege,[6] and Zedekiah ruled for 11 years before the second siege resulted in the end of his kingdom.[7]
Although there is no dispute that Jerusalem fell the second time in the summer month of Tammuz,[8] Albright dates the end of Zedekiah's reign (and the fall of Jerusalem) to 587 BCE, whereas Thiele offers 586 BCE.[9] Thiele's reckoning is based on the presentation of Zedekiah's reign on an accession basis, which was used for most but not all of the kings of Judah. In that case, the year that Zedekiah came to the throne would be his first partial year; his first full year would be 597/596 BCE, and his eleventh year, the year Jerusalem fell, would be 587/586 BCE. Since Judah's regnal years were counted from Tishrei in autumn, this would place the end of his reign and the capture of Jerusalem in the summer of 586 BCE.[9][10]
Dating in traditional Jewish sources
A variety of rabbinic sources state that the Second Temple stood for 420 years.[11] In traditional Jewish calculations, based on Seder Olam Rabbah, the destruction of the Second Temple fell in the year 68 of the Common Era, implying that it was built in about 352 BCE.[12][13][14] Adding 70 years between the destruction of the First Temple and the construction of the Second Temple, it follows that the First Temple was destroyed in around 422 BCE.[12][15] While acceptance of this chronology was widespread among ancient rabbis, it was not universal: Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer, Midrash Lekach Tov, and numerous rishonim disagree with the chronology of Seder Olam Rabbah.[16]
The traditional Jewish date recognized by the rabbis as the "year of destruction" is approximately 165 years later than the accepted year of 587 or 586 BCE. This discrepancy is referred to as the "missing years".
Details of rabbinic chronology
According to the Talmud[17] and Seder Olam Rabbah,[18] the Second Temple stood for 420 years, with the years divided up as follows:
- 103 years (35 BCE–68 CE) = Herod's Dynasty.
- 103 years (138 BCE–35 BCE) = Hasmonean Dynasty.
- 180 years (318 BCE–138 BCE) = Grecian rule over Israel
- 34 years (352 BCE–318 BCE) = Persian rule while the Second Temple stood (not including additional years of Persian rule before the Temple's construction).
The date of 318 BCE for the Greek conquest of Persia is evident from the Talmud, which implies that that Greek rule began six years before the beginning of the Seleucid era (which occurred in 312/11 BCE).[19][20][21] (Note that in academic chronology, Alexander conquered the Persian empire between 334-330 BCE.)
Seventy years passed between the destruction of the First Temple and the building of the Second Temple in the seventy first year,[22] so construction of the Second Temple in 352 BCE implies that the First Temple was destroyed in 423 BCE.
Similarly, Megillat Antiochus implies that the Second Temple was built in 352 BCE, and thus that the First Temple was destroyed in 423 BCE.[23]
The figure of 420 years is likely derived from the prophecy of seventy weeks in Daniel 9:24–27. The rabbis this passage interpreted as referring to a period of 490 years which would pass between the destructions of the First and Second Temple - 70 years between the Temples, plus 420 years of the Second Temple, starting in the 71st year after the destruction,[24][16] though the passage can plausibly be interpreted in other ways.[16]
Proposed explanations
If traditional dates are assumed to be based on the standard Hebrew calendar, then the differing traditional and modern academic dating of events cannot both be correct. Attempts to reconcile the two systems must show one or both to have errors.
Missing years in Jewish tradition
Scholars see the discrepancy between the traditional and academic date of the destruction of the First Temple arising as a result of Jewish sages missing out the reign lengths of several Persian kings during the Persian Empire's rule over Israel. Modern scholars tally ten Persian kings whose combined reigns total 208 years. By contrast, ancient Jewish sages only mention four Persian kings totaling 52 years. The reigns of several Persian kings appear to be missing from the traditional calculations.
Azariah dei Rossi[25] was likely the first Jewish authority to claim that the traditional Hebrew dating is not historically precise regarding the years before the Second Temple.[26]: 262 [16]: 82 [27]: 77 Nachman Krochmal[28] agreed with dei Rossi,[16]: 51 pointing to the Greek name Antigonos mentioned in Pirkei Avot 1:3 as proof that there must have been a longer period to account for this sign of Hellenic influence. dei Rossi and Krochmal argued that when the length of a historical period was unknown, Seder Olam Rabbah took the method of assuming the shortest possible length.[16]: 126
Solomon Judah Loeb Rapoport noted that the traditional Jewish chronology, when combined with another rabbinic tradition, places the Exodus from Egypt at exactly 1000 years prior to the Seleucid era (known in Jewish sources as "Minyan Shtarot"). He suggests that the authors of the traditional Jewish chronology intentionally omitted years from the Persian period in order to obtain this round number, with the intent that Jews who previously had counted years from the Exodus would be able to easily switch to the Seleucid era system used by Greek rulers at the time.[29]
David Zvi Hoffmann points out that the Mishnah in Avot (1:4) in describing the chain of tradition uses the plural "accepted from them" even though the previous Mishnah only mentions one person. He posits that there must have been another Mishnah mentioning two sages that was later removed.[citation needed]
Shimon Schwab interpreted to Biblical words "seal the words and close the book" (Daniel 12:4) as a commandment to obscure the Biblical chronology, so that it would not be possible to accurately calculate the time of the Messiah's arrival. Thus, according to Schwab, the traditional Jewish calendar intentionally omitted years from the Persian period.[30] However, Schwab later withdrew this suggestion for numerous reasons.[26]: 281-285 [16]: 66–67 [27]: 67–68, 93
A 2006 article in Ḥakirah journal suggested that the sages were concerned with the acceptance of the Mishnah. There existed a rabbinical tradition that the year 4000 marked the close of the "era of Torah". Thus, it is proposed, the sages arranged the chronology so that the redaction of the Mishnah should coincide with that date and thus have a better chance of acceptance.[27]: 67–115
Mordechai Breuer suggested that, like other works of midrash, the tradition chronology in Seder Olam Rabbah was never meant to be taken literally but rather was intended to be symbolic.[31]
Some Jewish thinkers, including Chaim Hirschensohn and Adin Steinsaltz, have argued that the original Jewish chronology agreed with the academic chronology, but later misunderstandings or textual corruptions of Seder Olam Rabbah gave the impression that it refers to a shorter period of time.[16] However, Seder Olam Rabbah's chronology is implicit in many different passages, and it is difficult to plausibly explain all these passages in a way that agrees with the academic chronology.[16]: 116
Critiques of academic dating
Attempts have been made to reinterpret the historical evidence to agree with the rabbinic tradition. The reinterpretation of the Greek, Babylonian and Persian sources that is required to support the traditional dating has been achieved only in parts and rejected by mainstream scholarship.[citation needed]
See also
References
Notes
According to this calculation, this year which is one-thousand, one-hundred and seven years following the destruction, which year in the Seleucid era counting is [today] the 1,487th year (corresponding with Tishri 1175–Elul 1176 CE), being the year 4,936 anno mundi, it is a Seventh Year [of the seven-year cycle], and it is the 21st year of the Jubilee" (END QUOTE). = the destruction occurring in the lunar month of Av, two months preceding the New Year of 3,829 anno mundi.
- הוראת ההיסטוריה ואמונת חכמים, ספרית המורה הדתי - תולדות ישראל א (תשלז) 71-82
Bibliography
- Dawn of the Gods: The untold timeline of Genesis, by Marco Lupi Speranza (self published, 2018) – reconstruction in accordance with Sumerian history.
- Jewish History in Conflict: A Study of the Major Discrepancy between Rabbinic and Conventional Chronology, by Mitchell First (Jason Aronson, 1997)
- Talmudic and Rabbinic Chronology, by Edgar Frank (New York: Feldheim 1956)
- Chronology of the Ancient World, by E.J. Bickerman (Cornell University Press, 1968, 1982)
- The Crime of Claudius Ptolemy. Robert R. Newton (The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 1977)
- Daniel 9 in You Take Jesus and I'll Take God by S. Levine, revised edition, Hamoroh Press, Los Angeles, 1980 – explains the Jewish understanding of Daniel 9:24–27
- The Romance of Biblical Chronology Archived 2012-05-12 at the Wayback Machine, by Martin Anstey (London: Marshall Brothers, 1913) – interprets Daniel as prophesying the crucifixion of Jesus, so the Temple as having been destroyed in 502 BCE
- R' Shimon Schwab in "Comparative Jewish Chronology in Jubilee Volume for Rav Yosef Breuer" pp. 177–197.
- David Zvi Hoffmann "Ha'mishna Rishona" (Heb.)
- Fixing the History Books, Dr. Chaim S. Heifetz's Revision of Persian History, by Brad Aaronson – Jewish scholarly critique of secular dating
- Fixing the Mind by Alexander Eterman – a rebuttal of Heifetz's critique.
- Secular Chronology by Walter R. Dolen Archived 2010-12-03 at the Wayback Machine – Christian scholarly critique of secular dating
- Significant Events In Jewish And World History – timeline based on traditional Jewish sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_years_(Jewish_calendar)
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