פירוש על מגילה 22:17

A mnemonic: [The first initials of] Shlomo, Sancheriv, Darius and Cyrus.

He did not complete his kingship: He did not finish his kingship. As behold he was driven away, as we say in Tractate Gittin (Gittin 68b).

This works out well according to the one who said, etc.: In Tractate Gittin, in the chapter [entitled] Mi SheAchzo:

Over the heavenly ones: Over the demons.

When the king sat: It is implied [that] it was at the beginning of his reign. But then it goes back to write, "In the third year."

When his mind was settled: As at the beginning, he worried that Israel would leave from being under his hand when the seventy years of the Babylonian exile were finished. But now [his mind] was settled.

What is it: The calculation of Balshazzar and his mistake.

After the completion for Babylonia: As he reasoned - for the kingdom of Babylonia - from the day that Babylonia assumed [its] reign. And that is [when] Nebuchadnezzar took the reign from Esarhaddon, the king of Assyria

He calculated: [Meaning,] Balshazzar: Forty-five of Nebuchadnezzar and twenty-three of Evil-merodach.

And two of his: As we find that Balshazzar reigned three years. As it is written in the book of Daniel (8:1), "In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me, to me, Daniel, etc."

They were exiled in the seventh; they were exiled in the eighth: It is one exile; and the verses are to be expounded: It is written, "in the eighth year of (the reign of Nebuchadnezzar)," about the exile of Yehoyachin at the end of the book of Kings (II Kings 24:12). Yet in the book of Jeremiah - at its end (Jeremiah 52:28) - [it is written], "whom [Nebuchadnezzar] exiled in the seventh year." Rather it was eight years for [the establishment of] the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar, and seven for the conquest of Yehoyakim. As he conquered him [to be] beneath him in the second year of his reign. And he did not exile him, but he became his servant three years. And "eighteen" and "nineteen," were written about the exile of Tzidkiyahu at the end of the book of Jeremiah. And this is the destruction of Jerusalem, which was eleven years after the exile of Yehoyachin - as it is written (Jeremiah 52:5), "[until] the eleventh year of King Tzidkiyahu, etc." And what were the eighteen and nineteen? Eighteen from the conquest of Yehoyakim, and nineteen from the [establishment of] the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar.

As the Master said, "The first year, he conquered Nineveh": As it was the capital of the kingdom of Assyria, for the king was in Nineveh.

In his second, he conquered Yehoyakim: The verses are expounded in Seder Olam: It is written at the beginning of the book of Daniel (1:1-2), "In the third year of the reign of Yehoyakim [...], Nebuchadnezzar [...] came to Jerusalem [...]. And the Lord delivered King Yehoyakim into his hand." Is it possible to say this? And is it not that he did not reign until the fourth year of Yehoyakim? As it is stated in the book of Jeremiah (45) [that] the thing that happened in the fourth year of Yehoyakim, was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar! Rather what do we learn to say - "In the third year of the reign of Yehoyakim?" It was in the third year of his rebellion. After he conquered him, he served him three years and [then] rebelled against him. As it is stated (II Kings 24:1), "and [Yehoyakim] became his servant for three years, and then he turned and rebelled against him." And it teaches you here that he held up in his rebellion three years. Behold, it is six years from his being conquered; and this time he was given into his hand and he killed him, such that, "He shall have the burial of a donkey" (Jeremiah 22:19) was fulfilled. And Nebuchadnezzar crowned Yehoyachin, his son, in his place and came [back] to Babylonia. His advisers said to him, "The father rebelled against you, and you crowned his son? They say a parable - a good puppy does not come from a bad dog." So he recanted at the end of the year and exiled him; and crowned Tzidkiyahu. (Vayikra Rabbah 19, Metzora) And likewise is it written in the book of Kings at its end. It comes out that the exile of Yehoyachin was in the seventh year of the conquering of Yehoyakim. Yet behold the verse calls it the eighth year! It was the eighth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. [As] at the end of the book of Kings we learned that he conquered him in the second year of his reign.

Evil-merodach, king of Babylonia, lifted up, etc.: We learned that Evil-merodach [began to] reign in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Yehoyachin; and Nebuchadnezzar had already reigned eight years before the exile of Yehoyachin. Eight and thirty-seven is forty-five; and the twenty-three of Evil-merodach; and the two of Belshazzar.

I will take out the vessels of the Holy Temple: In the third year of his reign.

He said: Ahasuerus [said], "He certainly erred."

I will calculate, etc. the exile of Babylonia: The beginning of the exile in which Yechoniyah was exiled.

How many are lacking of the seventy, from the second year of Belshazzar? Eight - those eight years that Nebuchadnezzar reigned before he exiled Yechoniyah. As Belshazzar should not have counted them, but he did count them.

He calculated: Ahasuerus [calculated] from the second [year] of Belshazzar, until his [own] third.

And inserted those eight in their place.

One of Belshazzar: For behold, the seventy years were finished from the second year, according to his count. So he went back and counted the third.

And five of Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Persian: As it is written (Daniel 6:1), "And Darius the Mede received the kingdom." And after him, Cyrus the First reigned. For he gave permission to the exiles to ascend [back to Israel], as it is stated (Ezra 1:2), "Thus said Cyrus, etc." And it would come up in your mind now that, between the two of them, they had reigned for five years - even though it is not written in Scripture.

And two of Ahasuerus: Two of his years had already passed.

From the destruction of Jerusalem: The exile of Tzidkiyahu, when the city was burnt down. And it is explicitly written in it that one needs to count from the destruction of Jerusalem. As it is written (Daniel 9:2), "at the completion of seventy years for the destruction of Jerusalem."

Eleven: For the Temple stood that much after the exile of Yechoniyah.

How many years did he reign? Fourteen: As it is written (Esther 3:7), "in the twelfth year [...], a pur - that is, a lottery - was cast." And in the next year, the miracle was done. Behold that is thirteen, since the kings of the nations of the world count [the years] from Tishrei, so the new year began in Tishrei (in the middle of the lottery). And it is written in the next year (Esther 9:29), "to confirm this second letter of Purim." Behold that is fourteen.

Then - in the days of Cyrus - the work of the House of God ceased. As Cyrus had commanded to build [it] and then recanted about it because of enemies of Yehudah and Benyamin, as it is written in the book of Ezra. Until the second year of Darius the Second, who reigned after Ahasuerus. And he was called by three names: Darius, Cyrus and Artaxerxes.

The years were partial: There are some of those years that we counted above, the beginning of which were absorbed in the previous year. For example, we counted five years for Darius the Mede and Cyrus - you will only find four. As it is written about the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus in the book of Daniel (10:1), "In the third year of the reign of Cyrus, etc." And we learned in Seder Olam: We only exclusively found one year for [the reign] of Media in the [holy] writings. And we found three years for Cyrus in the book of Daniel (10:1), "In the third year of the reign of Cyrus, etc." And we also learned in Seder Olam: Cyrus reigned for three partial years. Behold you counted an extra year (five instead of four). And also, since a year was absorbed in the years of Nebuchadnezzar and Evil-merodach. So corresponding to this, the building waited two years [at the time of the second] Darius.