The first Temple was destroyed by the Babylonian king Nevuchadnessar in the year 3338, the eleventh and final year of the reign of the Jewish king Ssidkiyahu. The story of this national calamity is recorded in Sefer Melachim II, Chapter 25.

Importantly, however, the history of Benei Yisrael’s exile from their land begins well before the year 3338; this process had gotten underway, tragically, one hundred and thirty years earlier. Slowly but surely, the gentiles took our ancestors out of Eretz Yisrael, a grueling process that began when the people started worshipping idols. Hashem loves us as His own children but just as a parent must occasionally punish his children for their misbehavior to steer them in the proper direction, so does the Almighty at times discipline His nation in order that we improve our conduct. Ultimately, these punishments work for our benefit, as they help guide us towards the fulfillment of Hashem’s will. Furthermore, the beautiful gift of Eretz Yisrael was given to us on the condition that the Jewish people observe the Torah. Once the nation strays and turns towards idolatry and ignores the service of Hashem, they have rendered themselves unworthy of Hashem’s blessings, especially this remarkable blessing of Eretz Yisrael. 

This condition of our worthiness to occupy the land appears several times throughout the Torah. The first is when Yitshak blesses his son, Yaakov. When Esav learns that Yaakov seized his blessing, he demands from Yitshak a blessing of his own. Yitshak offers him a blessing, in which he includes the prophecy, “… and it will be when you are down, you shall break his yoke from upon your shoulders” (Bereishit 27:40). As Rashi explains, when Benei Yisrael violate the Torah, Esav has the opportunity to express grief over his having been denied Yisshak’s blessings. At that point, Esav will successfully release the yoke of Yaakov from upon him, and he will achieve supremacy over his brother.

Another warning regarding the dependency of our occupation of the land on Torah observance appears in the Shema prayer. Twice each day we recite Moshe’s exhortation in Sefer Devarim (11:16-17), “Guard yourselves, lest your heart will be led astray and you will turn away and worship other gods … Then Hashem’s wrath will be kindled against you… and you will quickly be destroyed from the land…” Likewise, we are warned in Sefer Vayikra (20:22), “You shall observe all My statutes and perform them, so that the land to which I bring you to reside therein shall not expel you…” Later in Sefer Vayikra, the Torah presents the frightening “tochehah,” the list of unspeakable tragedies that Benei Yisrael will suffer should they neglect Hashem’s commandments. Here, too, the destruction of Eretz Yisrael and the people’s exile therefrom emerges as a dominant theme: “But if, despite this, you disobey Me … I will lay your cities in ruin and make your sanctuaries desolate” (26:27, 31).

Another warning of exile is found in Parashat Va’ethanan, in the section chosen as the Torah reading for the morning of Tishah B’Av: “… should you become corrupt and make for yourselves sculptured images of any likeness … I call heaven and earth this day to witness against you that you shall soon perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess” (Devarim 4:25-26).

Throughout the First Commonwealth, so long as Benei Yisrael served Hashem properly, peace and blessing abounded. The people enjoyed security and prosperity as long as they followed the teachings of the Torah. However, as they began abandoning their ancestral heritage in favor of new, idolatrous modes of worship, the exile gradually unfolded. We present here a brief historical review of the long, calamitous process of Benei Yisrael’s exile from their land.

During the reign of King Shlomo, which began around the year 2924, Benei Yisrael loyally followed the Torah and observed the mitsvot. Consequently, the kingdom flourished and grew into a regional power. So powerful was the Kingdom of Israel in Shlomo’s time that all the surrounding nations would bring regular gifts to the king, and the royal treasury grew larger and larger. After the death of King Shlomo, however, the situation began deteriorating as the nation turned to idolatry. How did this happen? What was behind this devastating trend of idol worship among Benei Yisrael?

Shlomo’s son and heir to the throne, Rehavam, was going to be crowned as king upon his father’s death. During his coronation ceremony in Shechem, representatives from the people came to the king demanding that he lower the taxes levied by his father. Rather than acquiesce to their demands, the king announced that he would now collect even more taxes, a decision that proved disastrous to this reign. The people promptly declared, “What portion do we have with David [referring to the Davidic line of royalty],” and reneged on their crowning of the new king (see Melachim I, 12). Only the tribe of Yehudah, from which the royal family of David and Shlomo descended, supported Rehavam’s reign.

And so began the long, sorrowful story of the split kingdom of Benei Yisrael. The kingdom of Yehudah in the South remained under the leadership of Rehavam, while the Northern tribes anointed Yeravam ben Nevat as king. The Northern tribes’ secession occurred in the year 2964, three hundred and seventy-four years prior to the destruction of the First Temple. Throughout this period, the nation remained divided, and the two kingdoms generally quarreled with one another. 

Upon his ascent to the newly established throne, Yeravam turned his attention to solidifying his rule. His immediate concern involved the Bet HaMikdash. Whereas the Temple served as the single, central location of ritual worship in both kingdoms, his own constituents would continue making pilgrimages to Jerusalem, the capital of the Southern kingdom, in order to bring sacrifices. The king felt that regular pilgrimages to the enemy capital might lead the people’s hearts back to their former leadership, the dynasty of King David, and caused them to rebel against him. Yeravam promptly consulted with his advisors, and it was decided that he would fashion two golden calves and erect them in Dan and Bet-El. These two sites would then become the new “temples” of the Northern kingdom. (See Melachim I, 12.) Yeravam issued an edict forbidding the population under his rule to make pilgrimages to Yerushalayim, effectively leading the nation to idol worship. This marked the beginning of the idolatrous trend among Benei Yisrael, a drastic change from the loyal adherence to the mitsvot that characterized Shlomo’s reign. This trend did not, however, stop at the borders of the Northern kingdom. The kingdom of Yehudah, subjected to the sinful influences of the North, also moved towards the worship of idols.

At this point, the gentile nations in the region no longer feared Benei Yisrael as they had during the time of Shlomo. The enemy nations began invading Eretz Yisrael, causing trouble to the entire nation.

This process of religious decline continued after Rehavam and Yeravam. Although there were several notable exceptions, the majority of their successors adopted their sinful policies. In spite of the rampant idolatry, the Almighty withheld His anger, patiently awaiting Benei Yisrael’s repentance. This period of waiting continued for two hundred and forty-one years, until the year 3205. It was then that the Assyrian king Sanheriv besieged the city of Shomron, the capital city of the Northern kingdom that was then ruled by Hoshea ben Elah. After three years of siege, Sanheriv’s army conquered the city and took control of the Northern kingdom, exiling the ten tribes to Assyria. Only the tribes of Yehudah and Binyamin remained in Eretz Yisrael. (See Melachim II 17.) Since the Northern kingdom turned to idol worship before the kingdom of Yehudah, Hashem exiled them first, withholding His wrath from Yehudah a bit longer.