Allow Me To Explain (72 of 439) – Burn It With Fire

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72. On what day did the temple burn? 2 Kings 25:8-9 vs. Jeremiah 52:12-13

Yes. Oh, wait …

2 Kings 25:8-9
Now on the seventh day of the fifth month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 He burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every great house he burned with fire.

Jeremiah 52:12-13
Now on the tenth day of the fifth month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who was in the service of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 13 He burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every large house he burned with fire.

The seventh day or the tenth? There are any number of explanations:

Ending #1 – Nebuzaradan left Riblah on the seventh day, and arrived in Jerusalem on the tenth.

The Middle East is a messed up place these days, and it screws with Google Maps. So while I can tell you the exact coordinates of the ancient city of Riblah (34°26′0″N 36°33′0″E), I can’t tell you how long it would take to walk from there to Jerusalem. If I use the rudimentary scale, I can estimate the distance between the two at about 200 miles.

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The internet says the average person walks about 3 miles per hour. So that’s a 66.7-hour walk, which is a little over two and a half days. Of course an army would move much slower, and probably not for 24 hours each day, so it’s not unreasonable to say that it might have taken three days to make that journey.

Ending #2 – Nebz came into Jerusalem on the seventh day, but didn’t set fire to the temple until the tenth.

Also perfectly reasonable. If you’ve just moved an army three days south, are you going to immediately set to work? Doubt it. Jewish historian Taanith reports,

“… strangers entered into the temple, and ate in it, and defiled it, the seventh and eighth days; and on the ninth, towards dark, they set fire to it; and it burned and continued all that whole day …”

You’re going to eat, rest, treat your troops – take a day off. Maybe you’re not the only one.

Maybe you’re going to loot. 2 Kings 25 goes on to describe the temple booty that Chaldeans destroyed and carried away, and it’s no small order: two huge bronze pillars were broken up into pieces, all of the tools were stolen, etc.

Ending #3: It burned for three days.

TempleMy house is a small cottage made mostly of wood that is more than half a century old. It would burn up like a Christmas tree in January. Solomon’s temple was a much larger building made mostly of stone. Even some of the wood that was used in its construction was completely overlaid in gold – like the entire floor. It would have taken longer to consume.

Short answer: We may never know.

Neither of the texts really go so far as to say that Nebz burned the temple as soon as he arrived in town. We’ve no reason to believe he didn’t hang around for a week – collecting kindling, evacuating priests, looting, lollygagging … who knows.

Does it mean that the Bible is in error? No. It means that Jeremiah was telling the story that he knew, as he was inspired to tell it, rather than copying it from an earlier scroll. If anything, it gives weight to the similarities between the two accounts by establishing the credibility of the second writer. (Such as 2 Kings 25:1 and Jeremiah 52:4, which both name the exact day that the armies arrived and walled-in the city.)

The question we should be asking is not, “When?” but, “Why?” 

Why did this happen? Why was a foreign, invading army allowed to starve out God’s people, until they were so weak that Jerusalem’s warriors fled before their invaders? Why was God’s holy place even allowed to be destroyed? Where was the God of Israel?

The history of 2 Kings ends with this account in chapter 25, and it’s the tragic conclusion of a bad era for Jerusalem. 2 Kings 24:3-4 tells us why this is happening to God’s people:

Surely at the command of the Lord it came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also for the innocent blood which he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and the Lord would not forgive.

Manasseh was a boy when he became king in 2 Kings 21, but he was arguably the worst king that Judah ever had. He sinned against God and he sinned against his people in terrible, terrible ways, and so God judged Manasseh and the people who followed him. Because God is love, but God is also just. (And if any one of us actually stopped to think about it, we wouldn’t want it any other way.)

It’s a climactic example of the testimony of Old Testament history. If you actually read through this section of the Bible – from Judges through the Chronicles – you quickly begin to notice an exhausting pattern of rebellion, judgment, repentance, and mercy. Over and over again, Israel defies God, opens themselves up for judgment, cries out to God to save them from their own wicked consequences, and God saves them … and then they rebel again.

It’s like watching a loved one return to the same abusive partner over and over, or exchange one destructive habit for another, again and again. And just about the time that you start to get really irritated at the whole thing you realize

this is about you.

You are Israel.

Because Christian or non-, we all do this. We all mess up over and over again. We all need help. We all need mercy.

Israel’s story is supposed to be an object lesson, that’s not an accident. It’s supposed to highlight how ridiculous this pattern is, but also how difficult it is to break. It’s supposed to wear on you, illuminate your own struggles, and help you understand how hopeless we all are on our own.

Because then Jesus shows up. He is the mercy. He suffered God’s righteous judgment on our behalf so we wouldn’t have to. All we have to do is accept the exchange.

2 Comments

  1. My website is still under-construction and not available. I really wanted to do the same thing as you by answering their “contradictions”. I would love you help you guys. My only caveat is I only use the KJV. There are contradictions in the NIV and others. (most have been corrected at some point).

    In the KJV it states in 2 Kings 25:8 on the 7th day, “came Nebuzaradan,… UNTO Jerusalem.”

    In KJV Jeremiah 52:12 on the 10th day, “came Nebuzaradan,… INTO Jerusalem.”

    I would state that to me it is showing that Nebuzaradan came upon the city of Jerusalem on the 7th day but didn’t enter the city until the 10th day.

    Hope this helps! JESUS IS LORD!

  2. Hey I just came across this. I see that it has been a while and I wanted to encourage you to keep it up!
    I’m actually seriously considering doing a youtube series on this – which is how I came across your material. Just wanted to say – you rock.

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