The following is a list of the major events leading up to the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem.
First Temple
3316: Yehoyakim ben Yoshiyahu becomes King of Judea (II Kings 23:36)
3320: Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon conquers Judea. He removes part of the Temple’s holy vessels and children of the royal family take them to Babylon (Daniel 1)
3327: Yehoyachim (Yechonia) ben Yehoyakim becomes king and reigns for only three months. Nebuchadnezzar exiles him to Babylon together with 10,000 people and the Torah Sages (II Kings 24:16)
3327: Zedekiah ben Yehoyakim becomes the last King of Judea (24:18)
3338: The First Temple is destroyed. It had stood for 410 years.
Second Temple
3768: Rome (the dominant power in Judea since 3648) begins to appoint the Kings of Judea. The first Roman appointee is Agrippas ben Aristobulus.
3788: The Sanhedrin is exiled (Avodah Zarah 9b). Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, a student of Hillel the Elder (who died in 3768), becomes Head of the Academy (Zemach David 910).
3804: Agrippas II becomes the last Roman-appointed King and Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel becomes Nassi (Prince).
3828: The Second Temple is destroyed. It had stood for 420 years.
The information was compiled from Rabbi Shlomo Rottenberg’s Toldot Am Olam by Long Island NCSY. To view more relevant articles, audio and video content for the three weeks, please visit: OU’s Pearl & Harold Jacobs Jewish Holiday Resource Center
The words of this author reflect his/her own opinions and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Orthodox Union.