(Charts are best viewed with Courier 8 or 10 pt, screen width 6.25in/16cm/75 characters.)
Megilah Chart #5
Daf 11b
Megilah 11
A TIMELINE OF THE YEARS OF GALUS BAVEL
NUMBER OF YEARS FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE REIGN OF NEVUCHADNETZAR
| 0 | NEVUCHADNETZAR conquers Nineveh and becomes king (1) |
| 1 | Nevuchadnetzar conquers YEHOYAKIM and appoints him as a vassal king (2) |
| 4 | Yehoyakim rebels against Nevuchadnetzar |
| 7 | Nevuchadnetzar quells Yehoyakim's rebellion, kills Yehoyakim and appoints his son, YEHOYACHIN, in his place as vassal king |
| 8 * | Yehoyachin rebels against Nevuchadnetzar. Nevuchadnetzar exiles him to Bavel and appoints Yehoyakim's brother, TZIDKIYAHU, in his place |
| 19 * | Nevuchadnetzar blinds and exiles Tzidkiyahu, and destroys the Beis ha'Mikdash on the Ninth of Av |
| 45 | Nevuchadnetzar dies after reigning for 45 years. His son EVIL-MERODACH is coronated in his place (3) |
| 67 | Evil-Merodach dies after reigning for 22 years (4). His son (5) BELSHATZAR is coronated in his place. |
| 69 | Belshatzar errs in his calculation of the 70-year duration of Galus Bavel, as predicted by the prophets. As a result, when his second year passes he celebrates that the Jews were not redeemed and he defiles the holy vessels of the Beis ha'Mikdash. He is killed that very night by DARYAVESH (Darius) the Mede, who succeeds him to the Babylonian throne. (6) |
| 70 | Daryavesh, after killing Belshatzar, rules for one year (besides completing the year that Belshatzar started immediately before his death). |
| 71 ** | The kingship passes from Daryavesh to KORESH (Cyrus) the Persian. He fulfills the prophecy that predicts Hash-m's "Pekidah" of the Jewish people after 70 years from the time of Nevuchadnetzar's rise to power. (7) |
| 74 | Koresh dies after reigning for 3 years. ACHASHVEROSH becomes king in his place. |
| 76 | Achashverosh errs in his calculation of the 70-year duration of Galus Bavel, thinking that 70 years have passed from the time of the Galus of Yehoyachin. (8) He celebrates that the Jews were not redeemed by defiling the holy vessels of the Beis ha'Mikdash. |
| 86 | THE MIRACLE OF PURIM occurs, in the 12th year of the reign of Achashverosh. |
| 88 | Achashverosh dies after reigning for 14 years. His son DARYAVESH (9) inherits the throne. (10) |
| 89 ** | Daryavash gives permission to Ezra to return to Eretz Yisrael and to rebuild the Beis ha'Mikdash (11) -- exactly 70 years after the Churban of the Beis ha'Mikdash. (12) |
==========
FOOTNOTES:
==========
(1) He attained kingship over the empire by conquering Nineveh.
(2) This occurred at the end of the first year (the beginning of the second year) of Nevuchadnetzar's reign, which was the end of the fifth year of Yehoyakim's 11-year reign, according to RASHI. (According to the IBN EZRA, RADAK, and the VILNA GAON in Imrei No'am, Rosh Hashanah 3a, it was the beginning of his fifth year; see Insights.)
(3) That year was counted for both kings, which is what the Gemara calls "Shanim Mekuta'os" (half years which were counted as full years for each of the two kings).
(4) There were 22 years to Evil-Merodach's reign besides the "Shanah Mekuta'as" -- the first year in which he became king, when his father ruled for the first part of the year. Including that year, he ruled for 23 years, as the Gemara says.
(5) RASHI to Chabakuk 2:5. Some say that Belshatzar was Evil-Merodach's brother (RASHI to Daniel 2:39, 8:27).
(6) Belshatzar erred in two ways. First, he counted from the beginning of Nevuchadnetzar's reign and not from the destruction of the Beis ha'Mikdash. Second, he accidentally added a "Shanah Mekuta'as" (see footnote 4) to Evil-Merodach's reign. Consequently, he calculated that the second year of his reign was the 70th year from the time Nevuchadnetzar came to power. He waited until his second year passed entirely and his third year began in order to celebrate. (This is the way Rashi explains the Gemara (11b, DH Nasa, Apik, Kama, Chada). This does not contradict what Rashi writes later (12a, DH Tanya Nami Hachi; see MAHARSHA there). See also Vilna Ga'on in Imrei No'am, Rosh Hashanah 3a, for an alternate explanation of the Sugya.)
(7) This year was mistakenly counted by Achashverosh as two years: he counted it both for Daryavesh and for Koresh. It is the second of the "Shanim Mekuta'os."
(8) Achashverosh thought that the third year of his reign was the 78th year from the time that Nevuchadnetzar came to power. In truth, however, it was the 76th year, because of the two years that were "Shanim Mekuta'os." (See footnotes 4 and 7.)
(9) His mother was Esther (Tosfos to Rosh Hashanah 3b; see Insights to Rosh Hashanah 4a).
(10) This Daryavesh was also called "Artachshasta" and "Koresh" (Rosh Hashanah 3b; see, however, Tosfos there DH Shenas and DH v'Artachshasta).
(11) Although Koresh (the first) permitted the Jews to rebuild the Beis ha'Mikdash, he annulled his authorization due to the pressure of the "oppressors of Yehudah and Binyamin."
(12) It is evident from this Chart that the exile lasted "70 years" in a number of ways:
-The kingdom of Bavel fell 70 years after it came to power.
-The Jews returned to their land (in the times of Koresh) 70 years after they were exiled from it in the days of Yehoyachin.
-The Beis ha'Mikdash was rebuilt 70 years after it was destroyed. (VILNA GAON in a footnote to SEDER OLAM RABAH)