What Sin Caused the Destruction of the First Temple?

They struggled to answer the same question about the tragedy of their own epoch, the destruction of the Second Temple:

מקדש שני שהיו עוסקין בתורה ובמצות וגמילות חסדים מפני מה חרב?

In the days of the Second Temple people occupied themselves with Torah, mitzvot, and good deeds. So why was the Second Temple destroyed?

While traditionally, Lamentations is ascribed to the prophet Jeremiah, modern scholars argue that it is made up of five different poems, perhaps by different authors. For an overview of the text, see Adele Berlin, “An Introduction to Lamentations,” TheTorah (2013).

The note in the NJPS translation proposes that this verse describes the punishment that Zion received, not its sins. So also ibn Ezra: והטעם כי הרעה הבאה על ישראל גדולה מרעת סדום, “the meaning is that the evil [i.e. punishment] that befell Israel was greater than the evil that befell Sodom.”

The Septuagint translation removed ambiguity by translating יֵהָרֵג as ἀποκτενεῗς, an active verb in second person singular, understanding the phrase as blaming God for the blood that was spilt. The Vulgate returns to the passive: occidetur.

Where and when he lived, and even what his precise name was, is a matter of debate. Today’s scholarly consensus is that he lived in the Land of Israel in the beginning of the seventh century, in the time of the final editing of the Babylonian Talmud. See for example the discussion in Shulamit Elitzur and Michael Rand רבי אלעזר בירבי קליר פיוטים לראש השנה [Rabbi Elʿazar Berabbi Qillir: Liturgical Poems for Rosh Ha-Shana] (Jerusalem: Magnes, 2021 [repr. of 2014]), 1 [n.1].

The counting of the qinot varies. In the Ashkenazi tradition, this qinah is generally §17, §18, or §19, depending on the mahzor.

Translation from Tisha B’av Compendium, translated and annotated by Abraham Rosenfeld (New York: Judaica Press, 1986).

This is often the case with Qalir’s poetry. See Abraham ibn Ezra’s acerbic criticism of his poetry in his commentary to Ecclesiastes 5:1.

Daniel Goldschmidt, סדר הקינות לתשעה באב [The Qinot of Tisha Be’Av] (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1972), 77 provides no commentary on the phrase שכני הרעים, but it seems from some of his footnotes that he supports the understanding of the Weinreb translation mentioned below. Goldschmidt does note that many mss. of qinot do not include the last lines, beginning with the words ורוח הקודש, and writes that perhaps this entire section is an old addition to the original qinah.

Some other qinot of Qalir do enumerate sins of the Jews. See e.g. לך ה' הצדקה, and the commentary in Goldschmidt, Qinot, 79–80.

Versions of this midrashic explanation are found also in a number of other passages in classical rabbinic literature. See b. Yoma 38b, b. Sanhedrin 7a, Eichah Rabbah 1:52 and 2:23, Sifra on Lev 26:29, Qohelet Rabbah 3:1.

The singular form of the verb יֵהָרֵג might be cited to support this understanding.

See Avigdor Shinan, “גלגולה של אגדת חז"ל : מעשה בבנו של דואג בן יוסף” [The Recurrence of a Story of the Sages: The Story of the Son of Doeg ben Joseph], מחניים [Mahanayim] 7 (5754/1984): 70–75 [n. 6].

Qohelet Rabbah 3:1 provides a precise number: 252 years.

“The Prophet’s Revenge—Tomb of Zechariah,” AllAboutJerusalem, last accessed 23 July 2022.

Conflating the second-Temple prophet Zechariah (see Zech 1:1) with the first-Temple figure, Zechariah, mentioned in Chronicles. In the parallel passage in Luke 11:51 the words “son of Barachiah” are omitted.

The last phrase in the quotation from Matthew is an allusion to Joel 2:17. The theme of the Jews as murderers of their prophets appears frequently in the New Testament. See e.g. Luke 11:47-51, Luke 13:34, and Revelation 16:6.

This explanation can be found before Rashi in Sifra to Leviticus 26:29, in Yoma 38b, and in Lamentations Rabba to this verse. Rashi frequently uses a phrase like רוח הקודש משיבתם to introduce what he sees as a comment from God interpolated into the biblical text. See e.g. Rashi’s comment to Genesis 37:20.

For example:

^{איכה א:יא} כָּל עַמָּהּ נֶאֱנָחִים מְבַקְּשִׁים לֶחֶם נָתְנוּ מַחֲמַודֵּיהֶם בְּאֹכֶל לְהָשִׁיב נָפֶשׁ רְאֵה יְ־הוָה וְהַבִּיטָה כִּי הָיִיתִי זוֹלֵלָה.

^{Lam 1:11} “All her inhabitants sigh as they search for bread; they have bartered their precious things for food, to keep themselves alive.” See, O YHWH, and look well how I have become cheapened!

The first part of the verse contains the words of an observer describing the travails of Zion in third person, and then “Lady Zion” responds in first person.

See also the understanding of the Septuagint, mentioned above.

See, on the other hand, Midrash Leqah Tov (12^th century) on this verse, who follows the tradition of interpretation of Rashi and the Talmud, arguing: שלא מצינו שאומות העולם הרגו נביאים בבית המקדש—we have never heard of gentiles killing prophets in the Temple.

This explanation of the verse can also be found in the Lamentations commentaries of Rabbi Joseph Qara (1065–1135) and of Rabbi Moshe Yitzhak Ashkenazi (Ho’il Moshe; 1821–1898).

Yael Ziegler, Lamentations: Faith in a Turbulent World (Jerusalem: Maggid Books, 2021), 34. Ziegler continues, noting “The book also does not offer clear instructions to help the nation repair their traumatized relationship with God.”

Editor’s note: See discussion of this thinking in, Zev Farber, “Punishing Children for the Sins of their Parents,” TheTorah (2015).

One verse might be read as delineating specific sins: Lamentation 4:13. But the language there is obscure. Is מחטאות נביאיה a reference to: (a) sins committed by false prophets, prophets of Baal perhaps; (b) sins committed by prophets of God who failed to take responsibility; or (c) does the phrase mean sins committed by the people against God’s prophets? See Ziegler, pp. 382–384, and ibn Ezra and Midrash Leqah Tov on this verse.

Michael S. Moore, “Human Suffering in Lamentations,” Revue Biblique 90 (1983): 534–555 [p. 538].