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The missing years in the
Hebrew calendar The Hebrew calendar ( he, הַלּוּחַ הָעִבְרִי, translit=HaLuah HaIvri), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance, and as an official calendar of the state of Israel. I ...
refer to a chronological discrepancy between the
rabbinic Rabbinic Judaism ( he, יהדות רבנית, Yahadut Rabanit), also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, or Judaism espoused by the Rabbanites, has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE, after the codification of the Babylonian ...
dating for the destruction of the
First Temple Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple (, , ), was the Temple in Jerusalem between the 10th century BC and . According to the Hebrew Bible, it was commissioned by Solomon in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited by the ...
in 422 BCE (3338
Anno Mundi (from Latin "in the year of the world"; he, לבריאת העולם, Livryat haOlam, lit=to the creation of the world), abbreviated as AM or A.M., or Year After Creation, is a calendar era based on the biblical accounts of the creation of ...
) and the
academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...
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.


Siege of Jerusalem (597 BC)

Both the
Babylonian Chronicles The Babylonian Chronicles are a series of tablets recording major events in Babylonian history. They are thus one of the first steps in the development of ancient historiography. The Babylonian Chronicles were written in Babylonian cuneiform, fro ...
and the Bible indicate that
Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar II ( Babylonian cuneiform: ''Nabû-kudurri-uṣur'', meaning "Nabu, watch over my heir"; Biblical Hebrew: ''Nəḇūḵaḏneʾṣṣar''), also spelled Nebuchadrezzar II, was the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, rulin ...
captured Jerusalem. The Babylonian Chronicles (as published by
Donald Wiseman Donald John Wiseman (25 October 1918 – 2 February 2010) was a biblical scholar, archaeologist and Assyriologist. He was Professor of Assyriology at the University of London from 1961 to 1982. Early life and beliefs Wiseman was born in Emswo ...
in 1956) establish that Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem the first time on 2
Adar Adar ( he, אֲדָר ; from Akkadian ''adaru'') is the sixth month of the civil year and the twelfth month of the religious year on the Hebrew calendar, roughly corresponding to the month of March in the Gregorian calendar. It is a month of 29 ...
(16 March) 597 BCE. Before Wiseman's publication,
E. R. Thiele Edwin R. Thiele (10 September 1895 – 15 April 1986) was an American Seventh-day Adventist missionary in China, an editor, archaeologist, writer, and Old Testament professor. He is best known for his chronological studies of the kingdoms of J ...
had determined from the biblical texts that Nebuchadnezzar's initial capture of Jerusalem occurred in the spring of 597 BCE, while other scholars, including
William F. Albright William Foxwell Albright (May 24, 1891– September 19, 1971) was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist, and expert on ceramics. He is considered "one of the twentieth century's most influential American biblical scholars." ...
, more frequently dated the event to 598 BCE.


Second siege and destruction of the First Temple

According to the Bible, Nebuchadnezzar installed
Zedekiah Zedekiah (), was the 20th and last king of Judah before the destruction of the kingdom by King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. His birth name was Mattaniah/Mattanyahu ( he, מַתַּנְיָהוּ, ''Mattanyāhū'', "Gift of God"; el, Μαθ� ...
as king after his first siege, and Zedekiah ruled for 11 years before the second siege resulted in the end of his kingdom. Although there is no dispute that Jerusalem fell the second time in the summer month of
Tammuz Dumuzid or Tammuz ( sux, , ''Dumuzid''; akk, Duʾūzu, Dûzu; he, תַּמּוּז, Tammûz),; ar, تمّوز ' known to the Sumerians as Dumuzid the Shepherd ( sux, , ''Dumuzid sipad''), is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with shep ...
, Albright dates the end of Zedekiah's reign (and the fall of Jerusalem) to 587 BCE, whereas Thiele offers 586 BCE.Edwin Thiele, '' The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings'', (1st ed.; New York: Macmillan, 1951; 2d ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965; 3rd ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan/Kregel, 1983). , 9780825438257. 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 Tishrei () or Tishri (; he, ''tīšrē'' or ''tīšrī''; from Akkadian ''tašrītu'' "beginning", from ''šurrû'' "to begin") is the first month of the civil year (which starts on 1 Tishrei) and the seventh month of the ecclesiastical yea ...
in autumn, this would place the end of his reign and the capture of Jerusalem in the summer of 586 BCE.


Dating in traditional Jewish sources

A variety of rabbinic sources state that the
Second Temple The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inheri ...
stood for 420 years. In traditional Jewish calculations, based on ''
Seder Olam Rabbah ''Seder Olam Rabbah'' ( he, סדר עולם רבה, "The Great Order of the World") is a 2nd-century CE Hebrew language chronology detailing the dates of biblical events from creation to Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia. It adds no stori ...
'', the destruction of the Second Temple fell in the year 68 of the
Common Era Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the ...
, implying that it was built in about 352 BCE. (with endorsements by Rabbi
Ovadia Yosef Ovadia Yosef ( he, , Ovadya Yosef, ; September 24, 1920 – October 7, 2013) was an Iraqi-born Talmudic scholar, a posek, the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1973 to 1983, and a founder and long-time spiritual leader of Israel's ultra-Orthod ...
, Rabbi
Shlomo Amar Shlomo Moshe Amar ( he, שלמה משה עמאר; ar, سليمان موسى عمار; born April 1, 1948)Gantz, Nesanel. "A Chief Rabbi of the Past and Future". '' Ami'', November 5, 2014, pp. 26-27. is the former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Isra ...
, and Rabbi Yona Metzger)
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. While acceptance of this chronology was widespread among ancient rabbis, it was not universal: Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer, Midrash Lekach Tov, and numerous
rishonim ''Rishonim'' (; he, ; sing. he, , ''Rishon'', "the first ones") were the leading rabbis and '' poskim'' who lived approximately during the 11th to 15th centuries, in the era before the writing of the ''Shulchan Aruch'' ( he, , "Set Table", a ...
disagree with the chronology of Seder Olam Rabbah. 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 and
Seder Olam Rabbah ''Seder Olam Rabbah'' ( he, סדר עולם רבה, "The Great Order of the World") is a 2nd-century CE Hebrew language chronology detailing the dates of biblical events from creation to Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia. It adds no stori ...
, 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 The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inheri ...
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 The Seleucid era ("SE") or (literally "year of the Greeks" or "Greek year"), sometimes denoted "AG," was a system of numbering years in use by the Seleucid Empire and other countries among the ancient Hellenistic civilizations. It is sometimes ...
(which occurred in 312/11 BCE). (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, 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. The figure of 420 years is likely derived from the
prophecy of seventy weeks The Prophecy of Seventy Weeks is the narrative in chapter 9 of the Book of Daniel in which Daniel prays to God to act on behalf of his people and city ( Judeans and Jerusalem), and receives a detailed but cryptic prophecy of "seventy weeks" by th ...
in . The rabbis this passage interpreted as referring to a period of 490 years which would pass between the destructions of the
First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
and
Second Temple The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inheri ...
- 70 years between the Temples, plus 420 years of the Second Temple, starting in the 71st year after the destruction, though the passage can plausibly be interpreted in other ways.


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 Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. 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 Azariah ben Moses dei Rossi (Hebrew: עזריה מן האדומים) was an History of the Jews in Italy, Italian-Jewish physician and scholar. He was born at Mantua in 1511; and died in 1578. He was descended from an old Jewish family which, ac ...
was likely the first Jewish authority to claim that the traditional Hebrew dating is not historically precise regarding the years before the Second Temple.
Nachman Krochmal Nachman HaKohen Krochmal ( he, נחמן קְרוֹכְמַל; born in Brody, Galicia, on 17 February 1785; died at Ternopil on 31 July 1840) was a Jewish Galician philosopher, theologian, and historian. Biography He began the study of the Talmu ...
agreed with dei Rossi, pointing to the Greek name Antigonos mentioned in
Pirkei Avot Pirkei Avot ( he, פִּרְקֵי אָבוֹת; also transliterated as ''Pirqei Avoth'' or ''Pirkei Avos'' or ''Pirke Aboth''), which translates to English as Chapters of the Fathers, is a compilation of the ethical teachings and maxims from ...
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.
Solomon Judah Loeb Rapoport Solomon Judah Löb HaKohen Rapoport ( he, שלמה יהודה כהן רפאפורט; June 1, 1786 – October 15, 1867) was a Galician and Czech rabbi and Jewish scholar. Rapoport was known by an acronym "Shir", שי"ר occasionally שי ...
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 The Seleucid era ("SE") or (literally "year of the Greeks" or "Greek year"), sometimes denoted "AG," was a system of numbering years in use by the Seleucid Empire and other countries among the ancient Hellenistic civilizations. It is sometimes ...
(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.
David Zvi Hoffmann David Zvi Hoffmann (November 24, 1843, Verbó, Austrian Empire – November 20, 1921, Berlin) (Hebrew: דוד צבי הופמן), was an Orthodox Rabbi and Torah Scholar. He headed the Yeshiva in Berlin, and published research on the Pent ...
points out that the
Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah ...
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. Shimon Schwab interpreted to Biblical words "seal the words and close the book" () 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. However, Schwab later withdrew this suggestion for numerous reasons. 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.
Mordechai Breuer Mordechai Breuer ( he, מָרְדְּכַי בְּרוֹיֶאר; May 14, 1921 – February 24, 2007) was a German-born Israeli Orthodox rabbi. He was one of the world's leading experts on Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), and especially of the text of the ...
suggested that, like other works of
midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.
he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...
, the tradition chronology in Seder Olam Rabbah was never meant to be taken literally but rather was intended to be symbolic. הוראת ההיסטוריה ואמונת חכמים, ספרית המורה הדתי - תולדות ישראל א (תשלז) 71-82 Some Jewish thinkers, including
Chaim Hirschensohn Rabbi Chaim Hirschensohn ( he, חיים הירשנזון, 1857 – 1935) was a prolific author, rabbi, thinker, and early proponent of Religious Zionism. Biography Chaim Hirschensohn was born on August 31, 1857 in Safed, in the Galilee to R ...
and
Adin Steinsaltz Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz (11 July 19377 August 2020) ( he, עדין אבן-ישראל שטיינזלץ) was an Israeli Chabad Chasidic rabbi, teacher, philosopher, social critic, author, translator and publisher. His '' Steinsaltz ed ...
, 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. 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.


Critiques of academic dating

Attempts have been made to reinterpret the historical evidence to agree with the
rabbinic tradition Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. However, the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writ ...
. 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.


See also

* Traditional Jewish chronology


References

Notes 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
'', 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.)

– Jewish scholarly critique of secular dating
Fixing the Mind by Alexander Eterman
– a rebuttal of Heifetz's critique.

– Christian scholarly critique of secular dating
Significant Events In Jewish And World History
– timeline based on traditional Jewish sources {{DEFAULTSORT:Missing Years Chronology Hebrew calendar Archaeology of Israel Solomon's Temple yi:יידישער לוח#פעלענדיגע יארן אין די אידישע יאר ציילונג