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Megilah Chart #5

Megilah Daf 11b

A TIMELINE OF THE YEARS OF GALUS BAVEL 


NUMBER OF YEARS FROM
THE BEGINNING OF THE
REIGN OF NEVUCHADNEZAR
______________________

0  -|-NEVUCHADNEZAR conquers Nineveh and becomes king(1)
    |
1  -|-Nevuchadnezar conquers YEHOYAKIM and appoints him as a vassal king(2)
    |
    |
4  -|-Yehoyakim rebels against Nevuchadnezar
    |
    |
7  -|-Nevuchadnezar quells Yehoyakim's rebellion, killing Yehoyakim and
    | appointing his son, YEHOYACHIN, in his place as vassal king
    |
8* -|-Yehoyachin rebels against Nevuchadnezar, and Nevuchadnezar exiles him
    | to Bavel and appoints Yehoyakim's brother, TZIDKIYAHU in his place
    |
    :
    :
    |
19* |-Nevuchadnezar blinds and exiles Tzidkiyahu, and destroys the
    | Beis ha'Mikdash on the Ninth of Av
    |
    :
    :
    |
45 -|-Nevuchadnezar 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 2nd year
    | passes he celebrates that the Jews were not redeemed by defiling 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 Hashem's "Pekidah" of
    | the Jewish people after 70 years from the time of Nevuchadnezar'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)

* = Galus
**= Ge'ulah
==========
FOOTNOTES:
==========
(1) He attained the kingship over the empire by conquering Nineveh.
(2) This occurred at the end of the first year (i.e. the beginning of the second year) of Nevuchadnezar's reign, which was the *end* of the fifth year of Yehoyakim's 11-year reign (according to RASHI; according to the IBN EZRA and RADAK, and according to 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 that 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 Nevuchadnezar'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. He therefore thought that his second year of reign was the 70th year from the time Nevuchadnezar came to power. He waits until his second year passes entirely and his third year begins in order to celebrate. (This is the way Rashi explains our Gemara, see Rashi 11b DH Nasa, Apik, Kama, Chada. This does not contradict what Rashi writes later, on 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 our Sugya.)
(7) This year was mistakenly counted by Achashverosh as two years, since he counted it both for Daryavesh and for Koresh. It is the second of the "Shanim Mekuta'os."
(8) Achashverosh thought that his third year of rulership was the 78th year from the time that Nevuchadnezar rose to power. In truth, though, it was the 76th year, because of the two years that were "Shanim Mekuta'os." (See footnotes 4, 7)
(9) The son of Esther (Tosfos Rosh Hashanah 3b, see Insights to Rosh Hashanah 4a).
(10) This Daryavesh was also called Artachshasta and Koresh (Rosh Hashanah 3b, but see Tosfos there DH Shenas, 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* after 70 years from the time *it came to power*; The Jews *returned to their land* (in the times of Koresh) 70 years after having originally been *exiled from it* in the days of Yehoyachin; 70 years after it had first *been destroyed* the *Beis ha'Mikdash was rebuilt* (VILNA GAON in a footnote to SEDER OLAM RABA).

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