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Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Our Temple in Jerusalem-Destroyed by Babylonia's Nebuchadnezzar

Nadene Goldfoot
In 422 BCE, Jerusalem was placed under siege by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar (modern day Iraq).  Interestingly, Abraham had come from Ur, which would be the area of Iraq. 

This resulted in the destruction of our First Temple 3 weeks later built by the Jewish King Solomon, who built it in 832 BCE. It stood on top of Mt. Moriah where Abraham had followed G-d's command concerning his son to be used as a sacrifice.  Building this temple had taken 7 years and had put tens of thousands of men to work.  The Ark of the Covenant was brought there.   It had stood for 410 years.

The USA is only 236 years old, born in 1776.  It's no wonder that we remember this calamity concerning our Temple with a fast day on Thursday, January 5th,  which was when Jerusalem came under seige.   Jews really teach their history to their children and themselves by remembering so many events such as this by connecting events to food.  This particular fast begins at 6:15am and ends at 5:18pm. 

The siege shouldn't have come as a surprise, for in 463 BCE the prophet Jeremiah kept warning his people to shape up and do right.  Jews had depended on having the Temple and felt G-d was with them and the Temple was that reminder.  It is said that many miracle happened constantly during this period.  Then Jews were taken into exile to Babylonia.  When Babylonians  attacked, they took away 10,000 of the best and brightest of men. 

"If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember you, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy." (Psalms 137:1-6)

Resource: http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/144569/jewish/The-First-Temple.htm
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon's_Temple
http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/Jewish_History/
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/138323

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