Pt2 The Origins of Tisha B’Av and the Chronology of Numbers 10-14: the Date of the Destructions of the Both Temples and the Biblical Spies Episode (Taanit 29a)
This is the second and final part of a two-part series, on the occasion of the upcoming commemoration of Tisha B’Av. Part 1 is here, the outline for the series can be found there.
Part 2: The Destruction of the First and Second Temples
The Exact Date of the Destruction of the First Temple
Two verses give conflicting dates for the burning of the First Temple by Nebuchadnezzar’s general Nebuzaradan:1
7 Av (II Kings 25:8)
10 Av (Jeremiah 52:12)
חרב הבית בראשונה --
§ The Mishnah further taught that on the 9th of Av the Temple was destroyed the first time.
7 Av (II Kings 25:8–9)
דכתיב:
״ובחדש החמישי
בשבעה לחדש
היא שנת תשע עשרה שנה למלך נבכדנאצר מלך בבל
בא נבוזראדן רב טבחים עבד מלך בבל ירושלם
וישרף את בית ה׳ וגו׳״,
The Talmud explains that this is as it is written:
“And in the 5th month [=Av]
on the 7th day of the month,
which was the 19th year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the King of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
And he burnt the house of YHWH” (II Kings 25:8–9).
10 Av (Jeremiah 52:12–13)
וכתיב:
״ובחדש החמישי
בעשור לחדש
היא שנת תשע עשרה שנה למלך נבוכדנאצר מלך בבל
בא נבוזראדן רב טבחים עמד לפני מלך בבל בירושלם וגו׳״
And it is also written:
“And in the 5th month [=Av],
on the 10th day of the month,
which was the 19th year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem. And he burnt the house of YHWH” (Jeremiah 52:12–13).
ותניא:
אי אפשר לומר בשבעה,
שהרי כבר נאמר ״בעשור״
ואי אפשר לומר בעשור,
שהרי כבר נאמר ״בשבעה״
And it is taught
It is impossible to say that the Temple was burned on the 7th of Av,
as it has already been stated, in Jeremiah, that it was destroyed on the 10th.
And it is also impossible to say that the Temple was burned on the 10th of Av,
as it has already been stated that it was destroyed on the 7th, in II Kings 25:8–9.
Baraita - On 7 Av, the Babylonian forces entered the Temple’s Sanctuary, On 9 Av, toward evening, they set fire to it, It then burned through 10 Av
A baraita resolves the contradiction:
On 7 Av, the Babylonian forces entered the Temple’s Sanctuary (היכל), and proceeded to desecrate2 it
On 9 Av, toward evening, they set fire to it.
It burned through 10 Av.
הא כיצד?
בשבעה --
נכנסו נכרים להיכל,
ואכלו וקלקלו בו שביעי שמיני
How so; what actually occurred?
On the 7th of Av --
non-Jews entered the Sanctuary,
and they ate there and desecrated it, by engaging in acts of fornication, on the 7th and the 8th
ותשיעי סמוך לחשיכה --
הציתו בו את האור,
והיה דולק והולך כל היום כולו,
שנאמר:
״אוי לנו כי פנה היום
כי ינטו צללי ערב״
And on the 9th, adjacent to nightfall --
they set fire to it,
and it continuously burned the entire day,
as it is stated:
“Woe unto us, for the day has declined,
for the shadows of the evening are stretched out” (Jeremiah 6:4).
This verse is interpreted as a prophecy about the evening when the Temple was burned.
R' Yoḥanan - “I would have designated 10 Av as the fast”
R' Yoḥanan remarks he would have designated 10 Av as the fast, since “most of the Sanctuary was burned then.”
But the rabbis prefer marking the onset of destruction: “The beginning of calamity is weightier.”
והיינו דאמר רבי יוחנן:
אלמלי הייתי באותו הדור
לא קבעתיו אלא בעשירי,
מפני שרובו של היכל בו נשרף.
ורבנן —
אתחלתא דפורענותא עדיפא
And this is what R' Yoḥanan meant when he said:
Had I been alive in that generation,
I would have established the fast only on the 10th of Av
because most of the Sanctuary was burned on that day.
And the rabbis, who established the fast on the 9th, how do they respond to that comment?
They maintain that it is preferable to mark the beginning of the tragedy.
Destruction of the Second Temple
Calamities recur on inauspicious days
A baraita asserts that calamities recur on inauspicious days: “A negative event (חובה) is rolled (מגלגלין) onto a day of guilt (חייב)”.3
ובשניה
מנלן?
דתניא:
מגלגלין זכות
ליום זכאי,
וחובה
ליום חייב
And the Mishnah further taught that the Temple was destroyed for the second time also on the 9th of Av.
The Talmud asks: From where do we derive that the Second Temple was destroyed on this date?
It is taught in a baraita:
A meritorious matter
is brought about on an auspicious day,
and a deleterious matter
on an inauspicious day, e.g., the 9th of Av, on which several tragedies had already occurred.
The First Temple was destroyed on 9 Av, on a Saturday night, at the end of a Sabbatical year, during the priestly watch of Jehoiariv
The First Temple was destroyed on 9 Av, on a Saturday night (מוצאי שבת), at the end4 of a Sabbatical year,5 during the priestly watch (משמרתה) of Jehoiariv.6
אמרו:
כשחרב בית המקדש בראשונה,
אותו היום
תשעה באב היה,
ומוצאי שבת היה,
ומוצאי שביעית היתה,
ומשמרתה של יהויריב היתה
The rabbis said:
When the Temple was destroyed for the first time,
that day
was the 9th of Av;
and it was the conclusion of Shabbat;
and it was the year after a Sabbatical Year;
and it was the week of the priestly watch of Jehoiarib
The attack began interrupted the Levites’ daily song, in middle of the verse in Psalms 94:23
והלוים היו אומרים שירה, ועומדין על דוכנם
ומה שירה היו אומרים?
״וישב עליהם את אונם
וברעתם יצמיתם״,
ולא הספיקו לומר ״יצמיתם ה׳ אלהינו״,
עד שבאו נכרים וכבשום.
וכן בשניה.
and the Levites were singing the song and standing on their platform.
And what song were they singing?
They were singing the verse: “And He brought upon them their own iniquity,
and He will cut them off in their own evil” (Psalms 94:23).
And they did not manage to recite the end of the verse: “YHWH our God will cut them off,”
before non-Jews came and conquered them.
And likewise, the same happened when the Second Temple was destroyed.
Appendix - Chronology of Rulers over Eretz Yisrael during the Second Temple period (Avodah Zarah 8b-9a)
The Persian Empire (=Achaemenid Empire) ruled for 34 years during the Second Temple's existence8
The Greek Empire (=Seleucid Empire) for 180 years9
The Hasmonean dynasty for 103 years10
The Herodian dynasty for 103 years11
[...]
תני רבי יוסי ברבי:
מלכות פרס בפני הבית --
שלשים וארבע שנה
מלכות יון בפני הבית --
מאה ושמונים שנה
מלכות חשמונאי בפני הבית --
מאה ושלש
מלכות בית הורדוס --
מאה ושלש
[...]
R' Yosei the Great, i.e., R' Yosei ben Ḥalafta himself, teach:
The Persian Empire,
which ruled the world before the construction of the Second Temple, continued to do so for 34 years in the presence of the [Second] Temple, i.e., after the Second Temple was built;
the Greek Empire
ruled for 180 years in the presence of the [Second] Temple;
the Hasmonean dynasty
ruled for 103 years in the presence of the [Second] Temple;
and the Herodian dynasty
likewise ruled for 103 years.
Which occurred in 586 BCE.
For a somewhat related--and similarly detailed--chronology of the Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, in the context of kings after him, see my “Chronology, Calculations, and Royal Reigns: The 70 Years of Babylonian Exile Between the First and Second Temples (Esther 1:2, Jeremiah 29:10, Daniel 9:2; Megillah 11b-12a)”.
For other Talmudic discussion of Nebuzaradan (on the whole, a minor biblical character), see my:
“From Foes to Faithful: The Conversions of Israel's Historical Biblical Enemies and their Descendants (Sanhedrin 96b)“, section “Nebuzaradan’s Transformation: Witnessing the Miraculous and Embracing Judaism“
“Rituals, Riches, and a Deadly Deception: Shabbat Preparations, the Definitions of ‘Goodness’ and ‘Wealth,’ and the Collection of Balsam and Murex (Shabbat 25b-26a)“, section “Interpreting Jeremiah 52:16: The Trades of the Poor Deported by the Babylonians in 586 BCE – Balsam and Murex Gatherers“
““From Legal Procedure to Aggadic Pathos, Calendrical Courts to Emotional Self-Sacrifice: The Narrative Arc of a Talmudic Sugya (Sanhedrin 10b-11a)“, section “Selection of Judges: The Structure and Meaning of the 3, 5, and 7 Judges“ (derivations from verses in II Kings 25:18-19 discussing the captives taken by Nebuzaradan)
For more on Nebuchadnezzar in the Talmud, see my recent pieces:
מגלגלין זכות ליום זכאי, וחובה ליום חייב.
Compare the similar line in Shabbat.32a.5, where it’s said about people, instead of days (presumably, the maxim was originally indeed about people):
תנא דבי רבי ישמעאל:
״כי יפול הנופל ממנו״ (ממנו) —
ראוי זה ליפול מששת ימי בראשית,
שהרי לא נפל, והכתוב קראו ״נופל״.
אלא, ש:
מגלגלין זכות על ידי זכאי
וחובה על ידי חייב
The school of R’ Yishmael taught:
What is the meaning of the phrase: If the fallen falls from it?
This person was destined to fall from that roof from the six days of Creation, it was ingrained into nature.
As, although he did not yet fall, the verse calls him “fallen”
Nevertheless, the owner of the house is indicted for this, as
merit (זכות) is engendered (מגלגלין) by means of the innocent (זכאי)
and guilt by means of the guilty.
The maxim is again used for people in Sanhedrin.8a.5:
כדתניא:
ראויה פרשת נחלות שתיכתב על ידי משה רבינו,
אלא שזכו בנות צלפחד
ונכתבה על ידן.
as it is taught in a baraita:
It would have been fitting for the Torah portion about land inheritances (נחלות) to have been written by attributing it to Moses, our teacher, i.e., to introduce the halakha with the standard formulation: “And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying….”
But the daughters of Zelophehad achieved merit (זכו) as a result of their initiative in pursuing a portion in Eretz Yisrael,
and therefore the halakha was written by attributing it to them.
ראויה היתה פרשת מקושש שתיכתב על ידי משה רבינו,
אלא שנתחייב מקושש
ונכתבה על ידו
Similarly, it would have been fitting for the Torah portion concerning the punishment of the wood gatherer (see Numbers 15:32–36) to have been written by attributing it to Moses, our teacher.
But the wood gatherer (מקושש) was found guilty (נתחייב)
and the halakha was written by attributing it to him.
ללמדך ש:
מגלגלין חובה על ידי חייב,
וזכות על ידי זכאי.
This serves to teach you that
guilt is engendered by means of the guilty
and merit by means of the innocent.
מוצאי.
In general, this term can refer either to the end of a sabbatical year or to the beginning of the year that follows it.
See the same expression in:
my piece here, section “Epidemics (דבר) occur at 4 points of the Seven-Year Sabbatical Cycle (5:9)“.
Mishnah_Sotah.7.8, cited in a footnote in my piece here, section “Ritual Texts That Must Be Recited in Hebrew: A List of Eight“, item # 6 - ‘The “king’s section”’.
it’s worth noting that according to 1 Maccabees, the famous Mattathias was from the order of Jehoiariv.
R' Yosei is the traditionally ascribed author of the early rabbinic chronological work Seder Olam.
On the ranges of periods listed here, see Wikipedia, “Missing years (Jewish calendar)“, section “Details of rabbinic chronology“ (with adjustments; I adjusted the chronological order of the periods, ordering them from earliest to latest):
According to the Talmud and Seder Olam Rabbah, the Second Temple stood for 420 years, with the years divided up as follows (from earliest to latest):
34 years (352–318 BCE) = Achaemenid Empire rule while the Second Temple stood (not including additional years of Persian rule before the Temple's construction).
180 years (318–138 BCE) = Seleucid Empire
103 years (138–35 BCE) = Hasmonean dynasty
103 years (35 BCE – 68 CE) = Herodian dynasty
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).
In academic chronology, Alexander conquered the Achaemenids between 334–330 BCE.
See in that entry at length, for an extensive discussion of traditional Jewish chronology vs. academic chronology.
And see my individual notes on each list item, in the following footnotes.
For an outline of the academic chronology, see the outline of the Wikipedia entry “Timeline of the Second Temple period“, screenshot (I added red ticks highlighting especially relevant dates):
Persian Empire and the Temple:
Statement: "The Persian Empire, which ruled the world before the construction of the Temple, continued to do so for 34 years in the presence of the Temple."
Historical Dating:
The Persian Empire (Achaemenid Empire) indeed ruled during the time when the Second Temple was built, which was completed in 516 BCE during the reign of Darius I.
However, historical records show that the Persian Empire continued for about 188 years after the construction of the Temple, until it was conquered by Alexander the Great in 330 BCE.
The "34 years" mentioned in the Talmud does not align with the generally accepted historical timeline. This major chronological discrepancy is known as “the missing years”, see my discussion in the earlier note.
Greek Empire and the Temple:
Statement: "The Greek Empire ruled for 180 years in the presence of the Temple."
Historical Dating:
The Greek Empire, initiated by Alexander the Great, began in 330 BCE. His successors, the Diadochi, continued to rule parts of the former empire, leading to the Seleucid and Ptolemaic control over Judea.
The Seleucid control over Judea lasted until the Hasmonean revolt (circa 167-160 BCE), marking about 160-170 years, not exactly 180 years.
The "180 years" is somewhat close but slightly exaggerated.
Hasmonean Dynasty and the Temple:
Statement: "The Hasmonean dynasty ruled for 103 years in the presence of the Temple."
Historical Dating:
The Hasmonean dynasty began with the Maccabean revolt and is generally dated from around 140 BCE when Simon Maccabeus became the ruler, until 37 BCE when Herod the Great, backed by Rome, took control.
This period is indeed around 103 years, aligning well with historical records.
Herodian Dynasty and the Temple:
Statement: "The Herodian dynasty likewise ruled for 103 years."
Historical Dating:
The Herodian dynasty began with Herod the Great, who ruled from 37 BCE, and continued until the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE.
This period totals about 107 years, which is close to the Talmudic claim of 103 years. The slight difference might be due to counting methods or different starting points for the dynasty's rule.